Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class Owner's Manual page 49

Safety
Occupant safety
Occupant safety
Restraint systems
This section will familiarise you with the
most important features of the restraint
systems in your vehicle. In the event of an
accident, your vehicle may collide with
another object, e.g. another vehicle. This
may result in rapid acceleration or deceler-
ation of your vehicle. During this accelera-
tion or deceleration, the vehicle occupants
will be moved in the opposite direction to
the force of the impact. There is therefore
the risk of vehicle occupants injuring them-
selves on the vehicle interior or on parts of
the vehicle. The purpose of supplemental
restraint systems – first and foremost the
seat belts supplemented where necessary
by belt tensioners, belt force limiters and
airbags – is to minimise this risk of injury.
However, seat belts and airbags are gener-
ally unable to prevent injuries caused by
objects penetrating the vehicle from the
outside.
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The most important restraint systems are:
Seat belts
Restraint systems for children, since
they are the most effective means of
reducing the extent to which occu-
pants are moved in the event of an
accident
Additional protection is provided by:
The SRS (Supplemental Restraint
System) comprising:
Belt tensioners
Belt force limiters
Airbags
Roll-over bars (Cabriolet)
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An airbag increases the degree of protection
for vehicle occupants wearing a seat belt and is
therefore to be considered only as an additional
restraint system to the seat belt. Airbags are not
a substitute for wearing a seat belt correctly at
all times. This is because, on the one hand, air-
bags are not triggered in all types of accident, as
in some situations their deployment would not
increase the protection enjoyed by the vehicle
occupants, provided they are wearing their seat
belts correctly.
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And on the other hand, airbag deployment
only provides increased protection if the seat
belt is worn correctly, because:
the belt helps to keep the vehicle occupant
in the best position in relation to the airbag
the belt protects to a large extent the vehicle
occupant from being propelled towards the
force of impact, e.g. in the event of a frontal
collision, and is therefore better able to
reduce the risk of injury
In an accident in which an airbag is triggered, its
deployment will only enhance the protection pro-
vided by the seat belt, if the seat belt is worn cor-
rectly.