Restraint System - Mercedes-Benz C Class Owner's Manual

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 an-
other object, e.g. another vehicle. This
may cause your vehicle to accelerate or
decelerate extremely quickly. During this
acceleration or deceleration, the vehicle
occupants will be propelled in the opposite
direction to the force of the impact. This
means that the vehicle occupants risk
being injured on the vehicle interior or on
parts of the vehicle. The purpose of sup-
plementary restraint systems, i.e. princi-
pally the seat belts supplemented by belt
tensioners, belt force limiters and airbags
where necessary, is to minimise this risk
of injury. However, seat belts and airbags
are generally unable to prevent injuries
caused by objects penetrating the vehicle
from the outside.
Seat belts and restraint systems for chil-
dren are the most effective restraint sys-
tems as they effectively reduce the move-
ment of the occupants in case of impact.
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PRE-SAFE * (preventive occupant safety
system) and SRS (Supplemental Restraint
System) provide additional protection and
consist of:
I Belt tensioners
I Belt force limiters
I Airbags
i
An airbag increases the protection of ve-
hicle occupants wearing a seat belt. However,
airbags are only an additional restraint system
which complements, but does not replace, the
seat belt. All vehicle occupants must wear their
seat belt correctly at all times, even if the ve-
hicle is equipped with airbags. This is because
– on the one hand – airbags are not deployed
in all types of accident, as in some situations
airbag deployment would not increase the pro-
tection afforded to vehicle occupants, provided
they are wearing their seat belt correctly.
On the other hand, airbag deployment only pro-
vides increased protection if the seat belt is
worn correctly, because:
I the seat belt helps to keep the vehicle oc-
cupant in the best position in relation to the
airbag
I for example, in a head-on collision, the seat
belt can more adequately prevent the occu-
pant from being propelled towards the force
Nur fuer internen Gebrauch Nur fuer internen Gebrauch
of the impact, and is thus better suited to
prevent injury
Thus, in accident situations where an airbag is
deployed, it only provides protection in addition
to the seat belt if the seat belt is being worn
correctly.
G
Risk of injury
Modifications to or work performed incor-
rectly on restraint systems (seat belts, an-
chorages, belt tensioners, belt force limiters
or airbags) or their wiring, as well as work
on other networked electronic systems,
may prevent the restraint systems from
working correctly. Airbags and belt ten-
sioners could fail, e.g. in the event of an ac-
cident, the deceleration force of which
would normally be sufficient to trigger the
systems, or could be triggered unintention-
ally. Never carry out any modifications on
the restraint systems. Never tamper with
electronic components and their software.