Hey guys, I just wanted some input on this situation I'm stuck in..

So lately a light on my dashboard has been coming on saying "front left passenger airbag disabled" and I brought it into MB to check it out. Guy just told me today that it's due to a "seatbelt buckle malfunction." Does this make sense to anyone?!

He said it's a faulty buckle and they need to order the new part and because my SRS light is on, my airbag won't deploy if I get into an accident. So for all this they are charging me a lovely $450. Sweet

If anyone can gimme their thoughts on this, I'd appreciate it cause I honestly think that if it's not an airbag problem; just fualty electronics (somehow), I might try to just tough it out for now and deal with that annoying warning. Either that or try bringing it somewhere else to fix. This just really makes no sense to me..

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

 

Just so we can rule it out....when this light came on, were you driving, or parked or whatever with engine on.... and had something heavy sitting on passenger seat and removed it without opening the passenger door?

 

I've seen the same warning because my wife has this habit of pushing her feet into the footwell floor very firmly to flex her legs, effectively lifting her weight off the passenger seat. However, my warning does not include the word, "left". The common factor here is that the vehicle, rightly or wrongly, is sensing that the passenger is out of position (which includes the consequence of being unbelted), and therefore, the airbag's risk/benefit relationship may be unfavorable. So, it decides it will not deploy the passenger airbag and risk additional injuries to the passenger. This should have no effect on the driver airbag. If you are able to use your rear seat for passengers, you can go awhile. However, if I had to carry someone in the right front seat, this would be a VERY HIGH PRIORITY repair for me.

 

It's been on for almost a week before I brought it in. I never put anything heavy in the front seat cause if I do have something heavy, I'll usually just drive my dads car or something. It's on 24/7 whether I'm driving or parked or anything else. It gets irritating looking at it constantly and having to always press the "ok" button on the steering wheel and then have it go away for 30 seconds only to come back again.. They said it was driver's side airbag too so I dunno

 

Yeah it's definitely a high priority to me to fix it if it will affect any of the airbags. You think that if someone sits in a awkward position it can throw off the sensors? If that was the case, I dunno because I sit the same way whenever I drive lol. I don't even want to drive anyone cause I'm not trying to have anyone get hurt god forbid I get into an accident and the airbag is all screwed up

 

My prior comments only apply to the message for the front passenger warning. If you have been told this affects the driver air bag, you may as well drop it off at the dealer tonight. STOP DRIVING IT until this is fixed.

 

The warranty doesn't cover these malfunctions?

 

My 50k warranty just went up like 1000 miles ago

 

I get this too but not because my wife pushes her legs into the floorboard, but more because she weighs like a feather. Usually have to get her to centralize her weight a bit more and not slouch and the light will go off.

 

I'm confused about the "front left" issue. Passenger airbags are in front, off to the right side in the door or on top by the door/roof.

 

Speculation: This may be one of those language usage issues. Passengers and occupants may be synonymous for MB, one in the front right, who drives in some English speaking countries, and one in the front left, who drives in other English speaking countries. But, one software program covers all contingencies!

 

Here's a picture I took with my cellphone. That's what it constantly says and they blame the seatbelt buckle

 

Yes, that is the driver airbag. I would definitely get it checked. The dealer would know best. They can plug in and check the error codes. I don't think that they have any other sensors besides the seat belt for the front driver. Perhaps maybe a clip on the door has gone bad? At any rate, if you get it done at the dealer and you pay and the problem still exists, they should refund you and/or fix it for free.

 

OK, forget my last post! It doesn't say "passenger". But, get it fixed tomorrow! And, stop taking photos at 60mph!

 

LOL thanks guys for all the help. It's actually been at the dealer the past two days -_- and they gave me a fresh white c350 to play with

I told them by tomorrow I'll have an answer so since it seems like this isn't a small issue, guess I'm gonna be paying that $450 blehhhhhalhefouawhfelkadjfwaef

 

funny enough ive just had to replace my drivers seat buckle and i now have a airbag malfunction error....i think mine is due to having simply disconnected the drivers seat harness. ill get it reset from an independent garage at some point i think.

 

Being that close to the 50k mark,im willing to bet that MB would be willing to cover it as an out of warranty "Good Will" repair. The manufactor has the ability to do so within a certain window from expiration.

 

The exact same thing happened to me, at about 25000 miles, i still had warranty so they replaced the seat. after it got replaced it never showed up again

 

This exact thing happened to me I put some groceries in the passenger seat then the light came on. What does this mean for me?

 

This happened once on my 2004 Acura MDX, except no detailed message - just the plain 'ol airbarg light flashing. Turned out to be a seatbelt buckle in the rear bench seat. However Acura has a lifetime warranty on seatbelt components, which they covered it under.

 

The seat belt latch has a sensor in it when the buckle tab is inserted. A tiny wire will break and cause the error. Check YouTube on how to replace the unit. Check here to get started. The process is generally the same.