2011 Mercedes SL-Class Owner's Manual - Page 44

42 Occupant safety Driver and passenger front air bag and driver's side knee bag are deployed Rin Rif the event of certain frontal impacts Safety and security the system determines that air bag deployment can offer additional protection to that provided by the seat belt on whether the respective seat belt is in use of the head-thorax air bags Rdepending Rindependently The front air bags in this vehicle have been designed to inflate in two stages. This allows the air bags to have different rates of inflation. The rate of inflation is based on the vehicle deceleration rate as assessed by the air bag control unit. The passenger front air bag deployment is additionally influenced by the passenger's weight category as identified by the Occupant Classification System (OCS) (Y page 43). The lighter the passenger-side occupant, the higher the vehicle deceleration rate required for second stage inflation of the passenger front air bag. The air bags will not deploy in impacts which do not exceed the system's preset deployment thresholds. You will then be protected by the fastened seat belts. The front air bags will not deploy in the event of a rollover unless the vehicle's rate of longitudinal deceleration or acceleration exceeds the preset deployment threshold for the front air bags. The passenger air bag will only be deployed if Rthe Knee bag Knee bag = is designed to provide increased protection for the driver against the risk of injuries to the knees, thighs and lower legs. Knee bag = is located on the driver side lower instrument panel. It is designed to operate together with the driver front air bag in certain frontal impacts if the system determines that air bag deployment can offer additional protection to that provided by the seat belt. Knee bag = operates best in conjunction with a properly positioned and fastened seat belt. Head-thorax air bags G Observe Safety notes, see page 39. Head-thorax air bags : are designed to provide increased protection for the head and thorax but not for the arms. Head-thorax air bags : are deployed Ron Rin Rif the impacted side of the vehicle system, based on OCS weight sensor readings, detects that the passenger seat is occupied 45 indicator lamp in the center console is not lit (Y page 43) impact exceeds a preset deployment threshold instances with a high rate of lateral vehicle deceleration or acceleration the system determines that air bag deployment can offer additional protection to that provided by the seat belt on whether the seat belt is in of the front air bags of the ETDs use Rthe Rdepending Rthe Rindependently Rindependently The passenger head-thorax air bag : will only deploy if the OCS senses that the