2008 Mercedes SL-Class Owner's Manual - Page 74

Safety and Security Occupant safety The passenger air bag will only be deployed if: the system, based on OCS weight sensor readings, senses that the passenger seat is occupied the 5/ indicator lamp in the center console is not lit ( page 78) the impact exceeds a preset deployment threshold Knee bag The knee bag is located on the driver's side lower instrument panel. It is designed to operate together with the driver front air bag in certain frontal impacts exceeding a preset threshold. The knee bag operates best in conjunction with a properly positioned and fastened seat belt. 1 Head-thorax air bag The head-thorax air bags are deployed: in side impacts exceeding a preset deployment threshold on the impacted side of the vehicle independently of the front air bags The head-thorax air bags are not deployed in impacts which do not exceed the system's deployment threshold. Head-thorax air bags Occupant Classification System The Occupant Classification System (OCS) automatically turns the passenger front air bag on or off based on the classified occupant weight category determined by weight sensor readings from the passenger seat. i The system does not deactivate the head-thorax air bag and the emergency tensioning device. Occupants must sit properly belted in a position that is as upright as possible with their back against the seat backrest and feet on the floor to be correctly classified. If the occupant's weight is transferred to another object in the vehicle (e.g. by leaning on armrests), the OCS may not be able to properly approximate the occupant's weight category. 74