Vehicle Level Control; Introduction; Airmatic - Mercedes-Benz 2009 S-Class Operator's Manual

AIRMATIC

Introduction

The AIRMATIC consists of two components.
The Adaptive Damping System (ADS)
( Y page 373) and the vehicle level control
( Y page 373).
Adaptive Damping System (ADS)
The fine tuning of the damping is dependent
on:
road surface conditions
R
your driving style
R
vehicle loading
R
your personal settings
R
The program mode selector switch (C/S)
Y
( page 351) is used to adjust the suspension
tuning.
Driving program Suspension tuning
C Comfort
comfortable
(default setting)
S Sport sporty
for dynamic driving
X
Start the engine.
X
Press the program mode selector switch
(C/S) ( Y page 351) to select the desired
driving program.

Vehicle level control

G Warning!
To help avoid personal injury, keep hands
and feet away from wheel housing area, and
stay away from under the vehicle when
lowering the vehicle chassis.
Your vehicle automatically adjusts its ride
height to increase vehicle safety and to
reduce fuel consumption.
You can choose between raised or normal
level.
The vehicle chassis ride height is raised or
lowered according to the selected level
setting and to the vehicle speed. With
increasing speed, ride height is reduced by up
to approximately 0.8 in (20 mm). With
decreasing speed, the ride height is again
raised to the selected vehicle level.
i These height adjustment are so small that
you may not notice any change.
Select the raised level only when required by
current driving conditions. Otherwise, the
Controls in detail
Driving systems
handling may be impaired and the fuel
consumption may increase.
The following vehicle level settings can be
selected when the vehicle is stationary and
the engine is running:
Level
Normal For driving on normal roads. The
indicator lamp is off.
Raised For driving on rough roads or
with snow chains. The indicator
lamp is on
Vehicle level control switch
1
Indicator lamp
2
Z
373