Safety
Vehicle features and options
This chapter describes all standard, country-specific and optional features offered with the
series. It also describes features that are not necessarily available in your car, e.g., due to
the selected options or country versions. This also applies to safety-related functions and
systems. The respectively applicable country provisions must be observed when using the
respective features and systems.
Airbags
- Front airbag, driver
- Front airbag, front passenger
- Head airbag
- Side airbag
- Knee airbags
Front airbags
Front airbags help protect the driver and front passenger by responding to frontal impacts in
which safety belts alone would not provide adequate restraint.
Side airbags
In a lateral impact, the side airbag supports the side of the body in the chest and lap area.
Head airbags
In a lateral impact, the head airbag supports the head.
Knee airbag
The knee airbag supports the legs in a frontal impact.
Protective action
Airbags are not triggered in every impact situation, e.g., in less severe accidents or rear-end collisions.
Information on how to ensure the optimal protective effect of the airbags
- Keep at a distance from the airbags.
- Always grasp the steering wheel on the steering wheel rim, holding your hands at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions, to keep the risk of injury to your hands or arms as low as possible when the airbag is triggered.
- There should be no person, animals, or objects between an airbag and a person.
- Do not use the cover of the front airbag on the front passenger side as a storage area.
- Dashboard and windshield on the front passenger side must stay clear - do not attach adhesive labels or coverings and do not attach brackets or cables, e.g., for GPS devices or mobile phones.
- Make sure that the front passenger is sitting correctly, i.e., keeps his or her feet and legs in the footwell; otherwise, leg injuries might occur when front airbag is activated.
- Do not place slip covers, seat cushions or other objects on the front passenger seat that are not approved specifically for seats with integrated side airbags.
- Do not hang pieces of clothing, such as jackets, over the backrests.
- Make sure that occupants keep their heads away from the side airbag and do not rest against the head airbag; otherwise, injuries might occur when airbag is activated.
- Do not remove the airbag system.
- Do not remove the steering wheel.
- Do not apply adhesive materials to the airbag cover panels, do not cover them or modify them in any way.
- Never modify either the individual components or the wiring in the airbag system. This also applies to steering wheel covers, the dashboard, the seats, the roof pillars and the sides of the roofliner.
Even when you follow all instructions very closely, injury from contact with the airbags cannot
be ruled out in certain situations. The ignition and inflation noise may lead to short-term
and, in most cases, temporary hearing impairment in sensitive individuals.
Malfunction, deactivation and after deploying the airbags
Do not touch the individual components immediately after the system has been triggered;
otherwise, you may risk burns.
Only have the airbags checked, repaired or dismantled and the airbag generator scrapped by
the service center or an authorized repair shop for handling explosives.
Non-professional attempts to service the system could lead to failure in an emergency or
unintentional activation of the airbag - both may lead to injury.
Warnings and information on the airbags are also found on the sun visors.
Functional readiness of the airbag system
When the ignition is on, the warning lamp in the instrument cluster lights up briefly and
thereby indicates the operational readiness of the entire airbag system and the belt tensioner.
Airbag system malfunctioning
- Warning lamp does not come on when the ignition is turned on.
- The warning lamp lights up continuously.
