Operation Manual

Seat belts may sustain non-visible damage in
an accident, e.g. due to glass splinters. Modi-
fied or damaged seat belts may tear or fail,
e.g. in an accident. Modified Emergency Ten-
sioning Devices could accidentally trigger or
fail to deploy when necessary. This poses an
increased risk of injury or even fatal injury.
Never modify the seat belts, Emergency Ten-
sioning Devices, belt anchorages or inertia
reels. Make sure that the seat belts are
undamaged, not worn out and clean. Follow-
ing an accident, have the seat belts checked
immediately at a qualified specialist work-
shop.
Only use seat belts that have been approved for
your vehicle by Mercedes-Benz.
Proper use of the seat belts
Pay attention to the safety notes about the seat
belt (
Y page 47).
All vehicle occupants must fasten the seat belt
correctly before setting off. Make sure that all
occupants are wearing their seat belts correctly
for the entire journey.
When fastening the seat belt, make sure that:
R
The seat belt tongue is inserted into the belt
buckle that belongs to the seat.
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The seat belt is tightened across your body.
Avoid wearing bulky clothing, e.g. a winter
coat.
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The seat belt is not twisted.
Only then can the forces produced in the
event of an accident be evenly distributed
across the belt.
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The shoulder section of the belt must always
be routed across the center of the shoulder.
The shoulder section of the belt should not
come into contact with your neck and must
not be routed under the arm. Where possible,
adjust the seat belt to the appropriate height.
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The lap belt must be taut and as low as pos-
sible over your lap.
The lap belt must always pass across your hip
joints and never across your stomach or
abdomen. Pregnant women must take partic-
ular care. If necessary, the lap belt can be
pushed down across the hip joints and pulled
tight using the shoulder section.
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The seat belt is not routed over sharp, pointed
or fragile objects.
If these item
s a
re on or in your clothing, e.g.
eyeglasses, pens, keys, etc., stow these items
in a more suitable location.
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Only one person should use each seat belt at
any one time.
On no account should babies or children
travel sitting on the lap of another vehicle
occupant. During an accident, they could be
crushed between the occupant and seat belt.
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Objects are not secured with a seat belt if the
seat belt is being used by one of the vehicle’s
occupants.
Also make sure that there are no objects, e.g.
cushions, between the occupant and the seat.
Seat belts are solely intended for the protection
and restraint of the vehicle occupants. To
secure objects, luggage or loads, always
observe the "Loading guidelines" (
Y page 325).
Rear beltbags
i
Observe the "Important safety notes" sec-
tion (
Y page 50).
Depending on the vehicle's equipment, the
outer rear seat belts are equipped with a belt
bag. This can be seen from the BELTBAG iden-
tification on the rear seat belt.
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WARNING
In an accident, the belt bag may damage a
non-approved child restraint system. As a
result, the child restraint system may not be
able to provide the intended level of protec-
tion. This poses an increased risk of injury or
even fatal injury.
For this reason, a child restraint system with
an integrated seat belt should always be
installed using LATCH-type (ISOFIX). In a vehi-
cle with optional belt bags for the rear seats,
you should only ever use a booster seat with
integrated backrest that has been tested and
approved by Mercedes-Benz in conjunction
with a belt bag. Never use a seat belt equipped
with a belt bag to secure a forward or rear-
ward-facing child restraint system or a boos-
ter seat that has not been approved. For infor-
mation on approved child restraint systems,
48
Occupant safety
Safety