2004 Mercedes C-Class Owner's Manual - Page 57

Safety and Security Occupant safety Warning! G To help avoid the possibility of injury, please follow these guidelines: (1) Occupants, especially children, should never place their bodies or lean their heads in the area of the door where the side airbag inflates. This could result in serious injuries or death should the side airbag be activated. (2) Always sit upright, properly use the seat belts and use an appropriately sized infant or child restraint system for all children 12 years old or under. (3) Always wear seat belts properly. If you believe that, even with the use of these guidelines, it would be safer for your rear seat occupants to have both rear door mounted side airbags deactivated, then deactivation can be accomplished upon your written request to do so at your authorized Mercedes-Benz Center at an additional cost. Accident research shows that the safest place for children in an automobile is in the rear seat. Should you choose to place a child 12 years old or under in the front passenger seat of your vehicle, you must properly use a BabySmartTM1 child restraint which will turn off the passenger front airbag. BabySmartTM will not, however, turn off any side impact airbag. It should be noted that with respect to both front and rear side impact airbags there is a possibility for a side airbag related injury if occupants, especially children, are not properly seated or restrained when next to a side airbag which needs to deploy rapidly in a side impact in order to do its job. 1 Please contact your local authorized Mercedes-Benz Center or call our Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-FOR-MERCedes (1-800-367-6372) for details. i Airbags are designed to activate only in certain frontal impacts (front airbags) and in side impacts (side impact and head protection window curtain airbags) which exceed preset thresholds. Only during these types of impacts, if of sufficient severity to meet the deployment tresholds, will they provide their supplemental protection. The driver and passengers should always wear their seat belts. Otherwise it is not possible for airbags to provide their supplemental protection. BabySmartTM is a trademark of Siemens Automotive Corp. 57