Knee Bag - Mercedes-Benz CLA Operator's Manual

bag ; deploys in front of and above the glove
box.
The front air bags increase protection for the
driver's and front passenger's head and
chest.
They are deployed:
at the start of an accident with a high rate of
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vehicle acceleration or deceleration in a
longitudinal direction
if the system determines that air bag
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deployment can offer additional protection
to that provided by the seat belt
independently of other air bags in the vehi-
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cle
The release time of the front air bags is
dependent upon the use of the seat belt.
If the vehicle rolls over, the front air bags are
generally not deployed.
Your vehicle has adaptive, two-stage front air
bags. The air bag control unit evaluates vehi-
cle deceleration or acceleration in the event
of a collision. In the first deployment stage,
the front air bag is filled with part of the total
available propellant gas, thereby reducing the
risk of injury. If the air bag control unit rec-
ognizes within a few milliseconds that the
vehicle is being braked or accelerated faster
than originally predicted, the front air bag is
filled with the maximum amount of propellant
gas available.
The deployment of the front-passenger front
air bag is also influenced by the weight cate-
gory of the front passenger, which is deter-
mined by the Occupant Classification System
(OCS) ( page 47).
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The lighter the passenger-side occupant, the
higher the vehicle deceleration rate required
(predicted at the start of the impact) for sec-
ond stage inflation of the front-passenger
front air bag. In the second stage, the front air
bags are inflated with the maximum amount
of propellant gas available.
Occupant safety
The front-passenger front air bag will only
deploy if:
the system, based on the OCS weight sen-
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sor readings, detects that the front-
passenger seat is occupied
the PASSENGER air bag OFF indicator lamp
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on the center console is not lit
( page 47)
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the air bag control unit predicts a high
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impact severity
The front air bags are not deployed in situa-
tions where a low impact severity is predic-
ted. You will then be protected by the fas-
tened seat belt.
Knee bags
Driver's knee bag : deploys underneath the
steering column and front-passenger knee
bag ; underneath the glove box. They
deploy together with the front air bags. They
are designed to operate together with the
front air bags in frontal impacts if certain
thresholds are exceeded. The knee bags
operate at best in conjunction with correctly
positioned and fastened seat belts.
Knee bags provide increased protection for
the driver and front passenger against the risk
of:
knee injuries
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thigh injuries
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lower leg injuries
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