Instead of a conventional suspension and damping system with coil springs and gas-pressure shock absorbers, some Mercedes-Benz models are equipped with AIRMATIC, a system which combines a pneumatic suspension with the Adaptive Damping System (ADS).
All of its components mainly consist of pneumatic lines, pneumatic suspension struts on all wheels, an air compressor, a central air reservoir, solenoid valves and actuators, a central ECU and various pitch and yaw sensors on the vehicle’s body. Everything is connected via a CAN (Controller Area Network) databus and fed to a multitude of microprocessors which decide the suspension’s behaviour during different driving maneuvers and road surfaces.
AIRMATIC – Airmatic
