SL/R230: Airbags in SL's
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2006 SL600, 2001 S500, 1996 SL320
Airbags in SL's
I was reading in another part of the forum about the airbags in our vehicles, and there seems to be a lot of debating whether or not airbags will deploy in the car if seat belts are NOT being worn.
Does anyone know for sure what is true? Is a seatbelt required to be worn for the airbags in the car to work if required?
By the way: I now always wear mine, in high school I was thrown thru a rear door side window in an accident, it wasn't fun, and I am very lucky to be alive.
Any feedback will be appreciated, we have a lot of airbags in these SL's.
Does anyone know for sure what is true? Is a seatbelt required to be worn for the airbags in the car to work if required?
By the way: I now always wear mine, in high school I was thrown thru a rear door side window in an accident, it wasn't fun, and I am very lucky to be alive.
Any feedback will be appreciated, we have a lot of airbags in these SL's.
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From: UK
SL55 AMG
Well of course the first "S" in SRS stands for Secondary Restraint System and I don't suppose the air bags provide any protection worth speaking about if you're not wearing a seat belt. It's possible they dont fire the air bags in this situation to prevent your face getting scorched by the thing going off. Small compensation though if you're going to die anyway in the next 1/10 of a second.
"Good news, bad news. The good news is his/her face was not disfigured by the air bag going off. The bad news is he/she still died in the accident."
The message is clear, if you don't wear your seat belt, you're mad.
"Good news, bad news. The good news is his/her face was not disfigured by the air bag going off. The bad news is he/she still died in the accident."
The message is clear, if you don't wear your seat belt, you're mad.
Last edited by blueSL; Dec 31, 2004 at 11:20 AM.
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Originally Posted by StephenK
I was reading in another part of the forum about the airbags in our vehicles, and there seems to be a lot of debating whether or not airbags will deploy in the car if seat belts are NOT being worn.
Does anyone know for sure what is true? Is a seatbelt required to be worn for the airbags in the car to work if required?
By the way: I now always wear mine, in high school I was thrown thru a rear door side window in an accident, it wasn't fun, and I am very lucky to be alive.
Any feedback will be appreciated, we have a lot of airbags in these SL's.
Does anyone know for sure what is true? Is a seatbelt required to be worn for the airbags in the car to work if required?
By the way: I now always wear mine, in high school I was thrown thru a rear door side window in an accident, it wasn't fun, and I am very lucky to be alive.
Any feedback will be appreciated, we have a lot of airbags in these SL's.
First of all, airbag systems for the US are different than those for the rest of the world.
With that in mind, here is some information quoted from Mercedes about the airbag system in the R230 SL:
"Depending on the nature and the severity of the accident, the restraint systems control module deploys precisely the airbag, side airbag and emergency tensioning retractor units which are necessary for offering protection to the occupants. During activation the data of the front passenger seat occupied and child seat occupied recognition sensor will be considered.
"Additionally, the switch states of the seat belt buckle switch are considered."
The document goes on about the unlocking of the doors, the activation of the emergency hazard lights, shutting down the engine, initiating an E-call, etc. But it says nothing about if the seat belt switches are only used to determine whether to fire the belt tensioners or not. The various airbags other than driver's and driver's side are activated if the system deems necessary.
Ah, found another document which goes over airbag deployment strategies. It states that the deployment logic considers acceleration values of the airbag sensors, switch state of the seat belt switches, and for the front passenger seat, the seat occupied sensor. It also goes on to state that the individual triggering strategies will not be listed, as they are subject to change as new data are learned, and that it also depends on the function check of the system.
-s-
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Originally Posted by blueSL
Well of course the first "S" in SRS stands for Secondary Restraint System and I don't suppose the air bags provide any protection worth speaking about if you're not wearing a seat belt.
-s-
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From: UK
SL55 AMG
Secondary, supplemental, whatever.
When the educationally challenged Princess Diana died in an S Class in 1997, Mercedes-Benz were quick to point out that she was not wearing a seat belt and that in that case (I paraphrase), all bets were off.
It's clear that all occupant safety engineering is based on the fundamental assumption that you're wearing a seat belt. If you think an air-bag alone is going to save you, you're living in cloud-cukoo land.
When the educationally challenged Princess Diana died in an S Class in 1997, Mercedes-Benz were quick to point out that she was not wearing a seat belt and that in that case (I paraphrase), all bets were off.
It's clear that all occupant safety engineering is based on the fundamental assumption that you're wearing a seat belt. If you think an air-bag alone is going to save you, you're living in cloud-cukoo land.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,559
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From: Las Vegas, NV USA / London, UK
GL320CDI / C63 Edition 507 Coupe (EDP) / E63 S (on order) / G500 / Smart Brabus
Originally Posted by blueSL
Secondary, supplemental, whatever.
When the educationally challenged Princess Diana died in an S Class in 1997, Mercedes-Benz were quick to point out that she was not wearing a seat belt and that in that case (I paraphrase), all bets were off.
It's clear that all occupant safety engineering is based on the fundamental assumption that you're wearing a seat belt. If you think an air-bag alone is going to save you, you're living in cloud-cukoo land.
When the educationally challenged Princess Diana died in an S Class in 1997, Mercedes-Benz were quick to point out that she was not wearing a seat belt and that in that case (I paraphrase), all bets were off.
It's clear that all occupant safety engineering is based on the fundamental assumption that you're wearing a seat belt. If you think an air-bag alone is going to save you, you're living in cloud-cukoo land.
-s-
