The $K\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $K\ensuremath{\beta}$ satellite and hypersatellite x-ray lines emitted by highly ionized sulfur projectiles passing with energies from $65\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{MeV}$ up to $122\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{MeV}$ through carbon foils of thickness of $15\text{\ensuremath{-}}210\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{g}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ have been recorded using a Si(Li) detector. The additional hypersatellite $K{y}^{h}$ peak proves that for such high energies of the sulfur ions very high subshells ($4p$ and $5p$) could be occupied. In order to study the dynamics of formation of $K$-shell vacancy fractions of sulfur projectiles passing through a carbon foil the dependence of sulfur $K$ x-ray production cross sections on foil thickness has been examined separately for each recorded line using the three component model. For each projectile energy the values of $K$-shell hole production cross sections and $K$-shell electron capture cross sections (both common for all recorded x-ray lines in the case of each projectile energy) have been fitted, as well as the specific values (for each recorded x-ray line) of $K$-shell hole filling cross sections, which are directly connected with average lifetimes of appropriate states of sulfur ions. The obtained ``experimental'' values of $K$-shell vacancy production cross sections are much higher than the theoretical predictions. This suggests that apart from the ionization process the excitation from $K$ shell into higher shells is responsible for a production of $K$-shell vacancies, which has been confirmed by recent classical trajectory Monte Carlo calculations.