MERCEDES-BENZ S CLASS 2003 Owners Manual

101 Controls in detail
Locking and unlocking

Press switch2 in the trunk lid.
The trunk lid closes automatically and
the vehicle is locked. The turn signals
flash three times to confirm locking.Limiting opening height of trunk
You can limit the opening angle of the
trunk lid. The trunk lid then opens only to
approximately the height of the roof edge.
This can be useful when there is not
enough overhead clearance space, for ex-
ample. The trunk lid opening height can be
limited when transporting goods on a roof
rack (e.g. presence of an MB sport luggage
container). When activated, the trunk lid
opens to approximately the height of the
roof edge.

With the trunk lid closed, press the re-
mote control switch (
page 99) and
hold for at least five seconds.
Depending on its previous status, the
opening height restriction is then
switched either on or off.
iTo prevent a possible inadvertent lock-
out, the trunk lid will open automatical-
ly if a KEYLESS-GO card is recognized
in the area of the rear shelf or inside
the trunk.Warning!
G
Monitor the closing procedure carefully to
ensure that no one is in danger of being in-
jured. To prevent possible personal injury,
always keep hands and fingers away from
the trunk opening when closing the trunk.
Be especially careful when small children
are around. To stop the closing procedure,
press the trunk lid closing switch1 in the
trunk lid, the
Š
button on the SmartKey,
or the remote trunk lid switch (on driver’s
door control panel).
iIf the trunk lid comes into contact with
an object while closing (e.g. luggage
that has been piled too high), the clos-
ing procedure is stopped and the trunk
re-opens slightly.
The closing procedure can be stopped
at anytime by once again pressing the
closing switch in the trunk lid, the re-
mote control switch in the driver’s
door, or the
Š
button on the Smart-
Key.

102 Controls in detailLocking and unlockingPower closing assist for doors and trunk lid
Power closing assist for doors
Press the doors gently past the initial
engage position into the lock.
The doors close automatically.
Power closing assist for trunk lid

Press the trunk lid gently into its lock.
The trunk closes automatically.
Automatic central locking
The doors and the trunk automatically lock
when the ignition is switched on and the
wheels are turning at vehicle speeds of ap-
proximately 9 mph (15 km/h) or more.
You can open a locked door from the in-
side. Open door only when conditions are
safe to do so.You can deactivate the automatic locking
using the control system (
page 155).
iIt is not necessary to slam the door or
trunk lid closed. A pneumatic pow-
er-assisted mechanism draws doors
and trunk lid closed quietly and auto-
matically once door and trunk lid has
been latched. When the pneumatic
power-assisted mechanism has
stopped, doors and/or trunk can be
re-opened.
Warning!
G
To prevent possible personal injury, always
keep hands and fingers away from the door
or trunk opening when closing a door or the
trunk lid. Be especially careful when small
children are around.
The pneumatic power closing assist mecha-
nism cannot be interrupted once it has been
engaged.
To prevent personal injury, never actuate
the closing assist mechanism by tampering
with the door or trunk lid latch.
iThe doors unlock automatically after an
accident if the force of the impact ex-
ceeds a preset threshold.
The vehicle automatically locks when
the ignition is switched on and the
wheels are turning at vehicle speeds of
approximately 9 mph (15 km/h) or
more. You could therefore lock yourself
out when the vehicle

is pushed


is on a test stand

103 Controls in detail
Locking and unlocking
Locking and unlocking from the inside
You can lock or unlock the doors and the
trunk from inside using the central locking
switch. This can be useful, for example, if
you want to lock the vehicle before starting
to drive.
The fuel filler flap cannot be locked or un-
locked with the central locking switch.The switches are located in the center con-
sole.
Central locking/unlocking switches1Locking
2Unlocking
Locking
Press central locking switch1.
If both doors are closed, the vehicle
locks.Unlocking

Press central unlocking switch2.
The vehicle unlocks.
Warning!
G
When leaving the vehicle, always remove the
SmartKey from the starter switch, take the
KEYLESS-GO* card (if so equipped) with you
and lock the vehicle. Do not leave children
unattended in the vehicle, or with access to
an unlocked vehicle. Unsupervised use of
vehicle equipment may cause an accident
and/or serious personal injury.
iYou can open a locked door from the
inside. Open door only when conditions
are safe to do so.
If the vehicle was previously centrally
locked with the SmartKey or the
KEYLESS-GO* card (if so equipped) it
will not unlock using the central locking
switch.
If the vehicle was previously locked
with the central locking switch:

While in the global remote control
mode, the vehicle is unlocked com-
pletely when a door is opened from
the inside.


While in the selective remote con-
trol mode, only the door opened
from inside is unlocked.

104 Controls in detailSeats
SeatsInformation on seat adjustment can be
found in the “Getting started” section,
(page 34).
Lumbar support
You can adjust the contour of the seat’s
lumbar support to best support your spine.
The thumbwheel is located on the lower
side of the seat.
1Thumbwheel
Make sure the ignition is switched on.
All the lamps in the instrument cluster
should light up.

Set the lumbar support between 0
and 5.
Easy-entry/exit feature
With the easy-entry/exit feature activated,
the steering wheel tilts upwards and the
driver’s seat moves to the rear.
This allows easier entry into and exit from
the vehicle when the driver’s door is
opened. However, the engine must be
turned off.
When the SmartKey is inserted in the start-
er switch or you have pressed the
KEYLESS-GO* start/stop button once and
the driver’s door is closed, the steering
wheel and the driver’s seat return to their
last set positions.

105 Controls in detailSeats
You can activate the following functions:

Steering column
Only the steering column is adjusted.


Steering column and seat
Both the steering column and the seat
are adjusted.
The easy-entry/exit feature can be
switched on or off in the Settings menu of
the Control System (
page 156).
Head restraints
Information on head restraint adjustment
can be found in the “Getting started” sec-
tion (
page 37).Front seat head restraints
Removing front head restraints

Press switch1 upwards and hold until
the head restraint is fully extended.

Pull out head restraint.
Warning!
G
You must ensure that no one can become
trapped or injured by the moving steering
wheel and driver’s seat when the
easy-entry / exit feature is activated, the
driver’s door is being opened, and the en-
gine is turned off or the SmartKey removed
from the starter switch. Do not leave chil-
dren unattended in the vehicle, or with ac-
cess to an unlocked vehicle. Unsupervised
use of vehicle equipment may cause an
accident and/or serious personal injury.
Warning!
G
For your protection, drive only with properly
positioned head restraints.
Adjust head restraint to support the back of
the head approximately at ear level.
Do not drive the vehicle without the seat
head restraints. Head restraints are intend-
ed to help reduce injuries during an acci-
dent.iTilt the seat backrest to the rear for
easier removal and installation of the
head restraints.

106 Controls in detailSeatsInstalling front head restraints:
Press switch1 upwards and hold for
about five seconds.

Push the head restraint down until it
engages.

Adjust head restraint to desired posi-
tion (
page 35).
Rear seat head restraintsFolding rear head restraints back

Make sure the ignition is switched on.
All the lamps in the instrument cluster
should light up.

Press switch1.
The rear head restraints will fold back-
ward.Placing rear head restraints upright

Pull the rear head restraint forward un-
til it locks into position.
Rear head restraint tilt
The read head restraint angle can be ad-
justed manually.
Warning!
G
For safety reasons, always drive with the
rear head restraints in the upright position
when the rear seats are occupied.
Keep the area around head restraints clear
of articles (e.g. clothing) to not obstruct the
folding operation of the head restraints.iYou can adjust the angle manually by
pulling or pushing the head restraints
by hand.
!Make sure that the head restraints en-
gage when adjusting them manually.
Otherwise, their protective function
cannot be ensured.

107 Controls in detailSeats
Power head restraints, rear*
You can fold the rear head restraints back-
ward or forward using head restraint fold-
ing switch. The switches are located

on the front center console
(page 106):

Make sure the ignition is switched
on.
All the lamps in the instrument clus-
ter should light up

Press switch1 briefly.
The rear head restraints will fold
backward.

Press switch1 and hold.
The rear head restraints will fold up-
right.


on the rear section of the door for ad-
justing the respective head restraint:
Make sure the ignition is switched
on.
All the lamps in the instrument clus-
ter should light up

Press switch1 up.
The rear head restraints will fold up-
right.

Press switch1 down.
The rear head restraints will fold
backward.
Multicontour seat*
The multicontour seat has a movable seat
cushion and inflatable air cushions built
into the seat backrest to provide additional
lumbar and side support.
The seat cushion movement and the seat
backrest cushion height and curvature can
be continuously varied with regulators on
the right side of the seat after turning the
SmartKey in the starter switch to
position2 or pressing the KEYLESS-GO*
start/stop button twice.

108 Controls in detailSeats1Shoulder region support
2Side bolster adjustment
3Massage function (PULSE)
4Lumbar region support
Adjusting the multicontour seat in the or-
der listed above is recommended.
Make sure that the ignition is switched
on.
All lamps in the instrument cluster light
up.Shoulder region support

Press
æ
or
ç
on switch1.
The air cushion inflates or deflates.
Lumbar region support

Press
k
or
j
on rocker
switch4.
This selects the air cushion you wish to
adjust.

Press
æ
or
ç
on rocker
switch4.
The air cushion inflates or deflates.Side bolsters adjustment

Adjust the side bolsters so that they
provide good lateral support using
switch 2.iWhen the engine is turned off, the last
cushion setting is retained in memory
and the cushion is automatically ad-
justed to this setting when the engine
is restarted.

109 Controls in detailSeats
Massage function (PULSE)
You can reduce muscle tension during long
trips by periodically using the massage
function. 
Press button3.
The indicator lamp on button3 lights
up. The air cushions in the lumbar re-
gion inflate and deflate (pulse).
Drive-dynamic seat*
The drive-dynamic seat automatically ad-
justs the lateral support provided by the
seat backrest to your driving style.
1Activate drive-dynamic function
The drive-dynamic seat electronically con-
trols the air pressure in the air chambers of
the seat backrest side bolsters. This func-
tion improves driving comfort and plea-
sure.Activating

Press button1.
The indicator lamp in the button lights
up.
Deactivating

Press button1 again.
The indicator lamp in the button goes
out.
iThe massage function switches off au-
tomatically after approximately eight
minutes. The indicator lamp extinguish-
es.
iYou can adjust the characteristics of
the drive-dynamic seat using the con-
trol system (
page 159).

110 Controls in detailSeatsSeat ventilation*
The switch is located on the door. Seat
ventilation can be activated manually with
the SmartKey in starter switch position1
or2 (
page 31) or by the summer open-
ing feature (
page 190).
The blue indicator lamps on the switch
show the ventilation level selected:
1Seat ventilation switch

Make sure the ignition is switched on.
All lamps in the instrument cluster light
up.
Switching on seat ventilation

Press switch1.
Three blue indicator lamps above the
switch light up.
Continue pressing switch until the de-
sired seat ventilation level is reached.Switching off seat ventilation

Press switch1 repeatedly until all indi-
cator lamps go out.
Level3
Three indicator lamps lit
2
Two indicator lamps lit
1
One indicator lamp lit
off
No indicator lamp lit
iThe seat ventilation is automatically set
to the highest level if activated via sum-
mer opening feature (
page 190).
!If one or all of the lamps blink on the
seat ventilation switch, there is insuffi-
cient voltage since too many electrical
consumers are switched on. The seat
ventilation switches off automatically.
The seat ventilation will switch back on
again automatically as soon as suffi-
cient voltage is available.