2011 Mercedes C-Class Owner's Manual - Page 53

Occupant safety properly restrained. You and your passengers should always wear seat belts. Failure to wear and properly fasten and position your seat belt greatly increases your risk of injuries and their likely severity in an accident. If you are ever in an accident, your injuries can be considerably more severe without your seat belt properly buckled. Without your seat belt buckled, you are much more likely to hit the interior of the vehicle or be ejected from it. You can be seriously injured or killed. In the same crash, the possibility of injury or death is lessened if you are properly wearing your seat belt. The air bags can only protect as intended if the occupants are properly wearing their seat belts. Do not make any modifications to the seat belts. This can lead to unintended activation of the ETDs or to their failure to activate when necessary. Do not bleach or dye seat belts as this may severely weaken them. In a crash they may not be able to provide adequate protection. Have all work carried out only by qualified technicians. Contact an authorized Mercedes-Benz Center. 51 Correct use of the seat belt G Warning RSeat USE SEAT BELTS PROPERLY belts can only work when used properly. Never wear seat belts in any other way than as described in this section, as that could result in serious injuries in the event of an accident. REach occupant should wear their seat belt at all times, because seat belts help reduce the likelihood of and potential severity of injuries in accidents, including rollovers. The integrated restraint system includes SRS (driver front air bag, driver's side knee bag, front-passenger front air bag, side impact air bags, pelvis air bags, window curtain air bags for the side windows), Emergency Tensioning Devices, seat belt force limiters, and front seat knee bolsters. The system is designed to enhance the protection offered to properly belted occupants in certain frontal (front air bags, driver's side knee bag, and ETDs) and side (side impact air bags, pelvis air bags, window curtain air bags, and ETDs) impacts which exceed preset deployment thresholds. RNever wear the shoulder belt under your arm, across your neck or off your shoulder. In a frontal crash, your body would move too far forward. That would increase the chance of head and neck injuries. The seat belt would also apply too much force to the ribs or abdomen, which could severely Z G Warning Never ride in a moving vehicle with the seat backrest in an excessively reclined position as this can be dangerous. You could slide under the seat belt in a collision. If you slide under it, the seat belt would apply force at the abdomen or neck. That could cause serious or even fatal injuries. The seat backrest and seat belt provide the best restraint when the wearer is in a position that is as upright as possible and the seat belt is properly positioned on the body. G Warning Never let more people ride in the vehicle than there are seat belts available. Make sure everyone riding in the vehicle is correctly restrained with a separate seat belt. Never use a seat belt for more than one person at a time. G Warning Damaged seat belts or seat belts that have been subjected to stress in an accident must be replaced and their anchoring points must also be checked. Only use seat belts which have been approved by Mercedes-Benz. Safety