Mercedes-Benz 2008 C-Class Automobile User Manual


 
39
Safety and Security
Occupant safety
When you sell your vehicle we strongly
urge you to give notice to the subsequent
owner that it is equipped with an SRS by
alerting them to the applicable section in
the Operator’s Manual.
Front air bags
1 Driver air bag
2 Front passenger front air bag
The front air bags are designed to provide
increased protection for the driver and
front passenger against the risk of injuries
to the head and thorax.
Driver and front passenger front air bag are
deployed:
ț in the event of certain frontal impacts
ț if impact exceeds a preset deployment
threshold
ț if the system determines that airbag
deployment can offer additional pro-
tection to that provided by the seat belt
ț depending on whether the seat belt is
in use
ț independently of the front side impact
air bags, rear side impact air bags*
and/or the window curtain air bags.
ț For your protection and the protection
of others, when scrapping the air bag
unit or emergency tensioning device,
our safety instructions must be fol-
lowed. These instructions are available
from your authorized Mercedes-Benz
Center.
ț Given the considerable deployment
speed, required inflation volume, and
the textile structure of the air bags,
there is the possibility of abrasions or
other, potentially more serious injuries
resulting from air bag deployment.
Warning! G
Only use seat covers which have been
tested and approved by Mercedes-Benz for
your vehicle model. Using other seat covers
may interfere with or prevent the
deployment of the front side impact air bags
or the rear side impact air bags. Contact an
authorized Mercedes-Benz Center for avail-
ability.
i
The front air bags in this vehicle have been
designed to inflate in two stages. This allows the
air bag to have different rates of inflation that are
based on the rate of relevant vehicle decelera-
tion as assessed by the air bag control unit.
On the front passenger-side, the front air bag de-
ployment is additionally influenced by the pas-
senger’s weight category as identified by the
Occupant Classification System (OCS)
(
page 41).
The lighter the front passenger-side occupant,
the higher the vehicle deceleration rate required
for the second stage inflation of the air bag.