weight MERCEDES-BENZ C350 2006 W203 Owner's Manual

ContentsTechnical data.................................. 425
Parts service ...................................... 426
Warranty coverage ............................. 427
Loss of Service and Warranty
Information Booklet...................... 427
Identification labels............................ 428
Layout of poly-V-belt drive ................. 429
Engine ................................................ 430
Rims and Tires ................................... 432
Same size tires ............................. 434
Mixed size tires ............................ 435
Minispare wheel ........................... 436
Electrical system................................ 437
Main dimensions................................ 438
Weights .............................................. 439Fuels, coolants, lubricants, etc. ......... 440
Capacities .................................... 440
Engine oils.................................... 442
Engine oil additives ...................... 442
Air conditioning refrigerant .......... 442
Brake fluid .................................... 442
Premium unleaded gasoline ......... 443
Gasoline additives ........................ 443
Fuel requirements ........................ 444
Coolants....................................... 444
Windshield washer and headlamp
cleaning system* ......................... 448
Technical terms............................... 449Index................................................. 455

36 Getting startedAdjusting
Manual seat adjustment
1Seat fore and aft adjustment
2Seat cushion tilt
3Seat backrest tilt
4Seat heightSeat fore and aft adjustment

Lift handle1.

Slide seat to the desired position.
Adjust seat to a comfortable seating
position that still allows you to reach
the accelerator/brake pedal safely.
The position should be as far rearward
as possible, consistent with ability to
properly operate controls.

Allow handle1 to reengage with an
audible click.

Check for proper engagement before
driving.
Warning!
G
According to accident statistics, children
are safer when properly restrained in the
rear seating positions than in the front seat-
ing position. Thus, we strongly recommend
that children be placed in the rear seats
whenever possible. Regardless of seating
position, children 12 years old and under
must be seated and properly secured in an
appropriate infant, or toddler restraint, or
booster seat recommended for the size and
weight of the child. For additional
information, see “Children in the vehicle”
(page 74).
A child’s risk of serious or fatal injuries is
significantly increased if the child restraints
are not properly secured in the vehicle
and/or the child is not properly secured in
the child restraint.
!W h e n m o v i n g t h e s e a t s , m a k e s u r e t h a t
there are no items in the footwell or
behind the seat. Otherwise you could
damage the seats.

45 Getting started
Driving
Driving
Fastening the seat beltWarning!
G
Do not lay any objects in the driver’s foot-
well. Be careful that floor mats or carpets in
the driver’s footwell have sufficient clear-
ance for the pedals.
During sudden driving or braking maneuvers
the objects could get caught between the
pedals. You could then no longer brake or
accelerate.Warning!
G
Always fasten your seat belt before driving
off. Always make sure your passengers are
properly restrained, even those sitting in the
rear and pregnant women.
Failure to wear and properly fasten and po-
sition your seat belt greatly increases your
risk of injuries and their likely severity in an
accident. You and your passengers should
always wear seat belts.
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 wearing your
seat belt. The air bags can only provide the
protection they were designed to afford if
the occupants are using their seat belts
(page 69).
Warning!
G
According to accident statistics, children
are safer when properly restrained in the
rear seating positions than in the front seat-
ing position. Thus, we strongly recommend
that children be placed in the rear seats.
Regardless of seating position, children
12 years old and under must be seated and
properly secured in an appropriate infant or
toddler restraint, or booster seat recom-
mended for the size and weight of the child.
For additional information, see “Children in
the vehicle” (
page 74).
A child’s risk of serious or fatal injuries is
significantly increased if the child restraints
are not properly secured in the vehicle
and/or the child is not properly secured in
the child restraint.

64 Safety and SecurityOccupant safetyWarning!
G
To reduce the risk of injury when the front
air bags inflate, it is very important for the
driver and front passenger to always be in a
properly seated position and to wear their
respective seat belts.
For maximum protection in the event of a
collision always be in normal seated position
with your back against the backrest. Fasten
your seat belt and ensure it is properly posi-
tioned on your body.
Since the air bag inflates with considerable
speed and force, a proper seating and hands
on steering wheel position will help to keep
you at a safe distance from the air bag.
Occupants who are unbelted, out of position
or too close to the air bag can be seriously
injured or killed by an air bag as it inflates
with great force in the blink of an eye:

Sit properly belted in a nearly upright
position with your back against the seat
backrest.


Adjust the driver seat as far as possible
rearward, still permitting proper opera-
tion of vehicle controls. The distance
from the center of the driver’s breast-
bone to the center of the air bag cover
on the steering wheel must be at least
10 in (25 cm) or more. You should be
able to accomplish this by a combina-
tion of adjustments to the seat and
steering wheel. If you have any prob-
lems, please see your authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center.


Do not lean your head or chest close to
the steering wheel or dashboard.


Keep hands on the outside of steering
wheel rim. Placing hands and arms in-
side the rim can increase the risk and
potential severity of hand/arm injury
when driver front air bag inflates.


Adjust the front passenger seat as far as
possible rearward from the dashboard
when the seat is occupied.


Occupants, especially children, should
never place their bodies or lean their
heads in the area of the door or the rear
side trim panel where the front side im-
pact air bag and/or rear side impact
air bag* inflates. This could result in se-
rious injuries or death should the air bag
be triggered. Always sit nearly upright,
properly use the seat belts and use an
appropriately sized infant or toddler re-
straint or booster seat recommended
for the size and weight of the child.
Failure to follow these instructions can re-
sult in severe injuries to you or other
occupants.
If you sell your vehicle, it is important that
you make the buyer aware of this safety in-
formation. Be sure to give the buyer this
Operator’s Manual.

65 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Warning!
G
Accident research shows that the safest
place for children in an automobile is in the
rear seat.
It should be noted that with respect to both
front side impact air bag and/or rear side
impact air bag* there is a possibility for a
side impact air bag related injury if occu-
pants, especially children, are not properly
seated or restrained when next to a side im-
pact air bag which needs to deploy rapidly in
a side impact in order to do its job.
To help avoid the possibility of injury, please
follow these guidelines:
(1) Occupants, especially children, should
never place their bodies or lean their
heads in the area of the door where the
front side impact air bag and/or rear
side impact air bag* inflates. This could
result in serious injuries or death should
the front side impact air bag and/or rear
side impact air bag* be activated.
(2) Always sit nearly upright, properly use
the seat belts and for children 12 years
old and under, use an appropriately
sized infant or toddler restraint or boost-
er seat recommended for the size and
weight of the child.
(3) Always wear seat belts properly.
If you believe that, even with the use of
these guidelines, it would be safer for your
rear seat occupants to have the rear mount-
ed side impact air bags* deactivated, then
deactivation can be accomplished upon
your written request to do so at your autho-
rized Mercedes-Benz Center at an additional
cost.
Please contact your local authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center or call our Customer
Assistance Center at 1-800-FOR-MERCedes
(1-800-367-6372) for details.
iAir bags are designed to activate only
in certain frontal impacts (front
air bags), or side impacts (front side
impact air bags, rear side impact
air bags* and head protection window
curtain air bags) which exceed preset
thresholds.
Only during these types of impacts, if of
sufficient severity to meet the deploy-
ment thresholds, will they provide their
supplemental protection.
The driver and passengers should
always wear their seat belts. Otherwise
it is not possible for air bags to provide
their supplemental protection.
In cases of other frontal impacts, an-
gled impacts, roll-overs, other side im-
pacts, rear collisions, or other
accidents, the air bags will not be acti-
vated. The driver and the passenger will
then be protected by the fastened seat
belts.

67 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
When you sell your vehicle we strongly
urge you to give notice to the subsequent
owner that it is equipped with an SRS by
alerting them to the applicable section in
the Operator’s Manual.Front air bags
1Driver’s air bag
2Passenger front air bag
Driver and front passenger air bags are
deployed


in the event of certain frontal impacts


if impact exceeds a preset deployment
threshold


independently of the front side impact
air bags and/or rear side impact
air bags*


In addition, improper repair work on the
SRS creates a risk of rendering the SRS
inoperative or causing unintended air
bag deployment. Work on the SRS must
therefore only be performed by qualified
technicians. Contact an authorized
Mercedes-Benz Center.


For your protection and the protection
of others, when scrapping the air bag
unit or emergency tensioning device,
our safety instructions must be fol-
lowed. These instructions are available
from your authorized Mercedes-Benz
Center.


Given the considerable deployment
speed, required inflation volume, and
the textile structure of the air bags,
there is the possibility of abrasions or
other, potentially more serious injuries
resulting from air bag deployment.
iThe front air bags in this vehicle have
been designed to inflate in two stages.
This allows the air bag to have different
rates of inflation that are based on the
rate of relevant vehicle deceleration as
assessed by the air bag control unit.
On the front passenger side, the front
air bag deployment is additionally influ-
enced by the passenger’s weight cate-
gory as identified by the Occupant
Classification System (OCS)
(page 77).
The lighter the front passenger side
occupant, the higher the vehicle decel-
eration rate required for the second
stage inflation of the air bag.

68 Safety and SecurityOccupant safetyThe air bags will not deploy in impacts
which do not exceed the system’s deploy-
ment thresholds. You will then be protect-
ed by the fastened seat belts.
The passenger front air bag will only be
deployed if

the system, based on OCS weight sen-
sor readings, senses that the front pas-
senger seat is occupied


the 56 indicator lamp in the
center console is not lit (
page 80)


the impact exceeds a preset deploy-
ment thresholdFront side impact air bags, rear side im-
pact air bags*, window curtain air bags
1Window curtain air bag
2Front side impact air bags
3Rear side impact air bags*The front side impact air bags, rear side
impact air bags* and window curtain
air bags are deployed


on the impacted side of the vehicle


in impacts exceeding a preset deploy-
ment threshold


independently of the front air bags
The front side impact air bags, rear side
impact air bags* and window curtain
air bags are not deployed in impacts which
do not exceed the system’s deployment
threshold.
The front passenger side impact air bag
will only deploy if the system senses that
the front passenger seat is occupied.

75 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
!
The use of infant or child restraints is
required by law in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, the U.S. territo-
ries and all Canadian provinces.
Infants and small children should be
seated in an appropriate infant or child
restraint system properly secured by a
lap-shoulder belt or, if so equipped, a
child restraint lower anchorage system
that complies with U.S. Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards 213 and 225
and Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety
Standards 213 and 210.2.
!A statement by the child restraint man-
ufacturer of compliance with this stan-
dard can be found on the instruction
label on the restraint and in the
instruction manual provided with the
restraint.
When using any infant or child restraint
system, be sure to carefully read and
follow all manufacturer’s instructions
for installation and use.
Please read and observe warning labels
affixed to inside of vehicle and to infant
or child restraints.
Warning!
G
According to accident statistics, children
are safer when properly restrained in the
rear seating positions than in the front seat-
ing position. Thus, we strongly recommend
that children be placed in the rear seats
whenever possible. Regardless of seating
position, children 12 years old and under
must be seated and properly secured in an
appropriate infant or child restraint recom-
mended for the size and weight of the child.
The infant or child restraint must be properly
secured with the vehicle’s seat belt, the seat
belt and top tether strap, or lower anchors
and top tether strap, fully in accordance
with the child seat manufacturer's instruc-
tions.
Children can be killed or seriously injured by
an inflating air bag. Note the following im-
portant information when circumstances re-
quire you to place a child in the front
passenger seat:


76 Safety and SecurityOccupant safety

Your vehicle is equipped with air bag
technology designed to turn off the front
passenger front air bag in your vehicle
when the OCS senses the weight of a
typical 12-month-old child or less along
with the weight of a standard appropri-
ate child restraint on the front passen-
ger seat.


A child in a rear-facing child restraint on
the front passenger seat will be
seriously injured or even killed if the
front passenger front air bag inflates in
a collision which could occur under
some circumstances, even with the air
bag technology installed in your vehicle.
The only means to completely eliminate
this risk is to never place a child in a
rear-facing child restraint in the front
seat. We therefore strongly recommend
that you always place a child in a
rear-facing child restraint in the back
seat.


If you must install a rear-facing child re-
straint on the front passenger seat be-
cause circumstances require you to do
so, make sure that the 56 indi-
cator lamp is illuminated, indicating that
the front passenger air bag is deactivat-
ed. Should the 56 indicator
lamp not illuminate or go out while the
restraint is installed, please check in-
stallation. Periodically check the
56indicator lamp while driving
to make sure the 56indicator
lamp is illuminated. If the
56indicator lamp goes out or
remains out, do not transport a child on
the front passenger seat until the sys-
tem has been repaired. A child in a
rear-facing child restraint on the front
passenger seat will be seriously injured
or even killed if the front passenger front
air bag inflates.


If you have to place a child in a
forward-facing child restraint on the
front passenger seat, move the seat as
far back as possible, use the proper
child restraint recommended for the
age, size and weight of the child, and
secure child restraint with the vehicle’s
seat belt according to the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions. For
children larger than the typical
12-month-old child, the front passenger
front air bag may or may not be activat-
ed (
page 78).
Warning!
G
Infants and small children should never
share a seat belt with another occupant.
During an accident, they could be crushed
between the occupant and seat belt.
A child’s risk of serious or fatal injuries is
significantly increased if the child restraints
are not properly secured in the vehicle
and/or the child is not properly secured in
the child restraint.


77 Safety and Security
Occupant safety
Occupant Classification System
The Occupant Classification System (OCS)
automatically turns the front passenger
front air bag on or off based on the classi-
fied occupant weight category determined
by weight sensor readings from the front
passenger seat.
Occupants must sit properly belted in a
nearly upright position with their back
against the seat backrest and feet on the
floor to be correctly classified. If the occu-
pant’s weight is transferred to another
object in the vehicle (e.g. by leaning on
armrests), the OCS may not be able to
properly approximate the occupant’s
weight category.Both driver and the front passenger should
always use the 56indicator lamp
as an indication of whether or not the front
passenger is properly positioned.
Children too big for a toddler restraint must
ride in seats using regular seat belts. Posi-
tion shoulder belt across chest and shoul-
der, not face or neck. A booster seat may be
necessary to achieve proper belt positioning
for children from 18.6 kg (41 lbs) until they
reach a height where a lap/shoulder belt fits
properly without a booster.
When the child restraint is not in use,
remove it from the vehicle or secure it with
the seat belt to prevent the child restraint
from becoming a projectile in the event of
an accident.
Do not leave children unattended in the
vehicle, even if the children are secured in a
child restraint system. Unsupervised
children in a child restraint system may use
vehicle equipment and may cause an acci-
dent and/or serious personal injury.
iThe system does not deactivate the
front passenger side impact air bag,
the window curtain air bag and the
emergency tensioning device.
iIf your seat, including your trim cover
and cushion needs to be serviced in
any way, take the vehicle to your
authorized Mercedes-Benz Center.
Only seat accessories approved by
Mercedes-Benz may be used. Warning!
G
If the 56indicator lamp illuminates
when an adult or someone larger than a
small individual is in the front passenger
seat, have the front passenger re-position
himself or herself in the seat until the
56indicator lamp goes out.
More information about air bag display mes-
sages (
page 357).