Batman

I have a 1997 E320 with 87,500 miles on it. My SRS light came on the other day and I took it to the dealer today. They told me there is an "open contact" on the airbag in the steering wheel. "The airbag is defective." To fix it, they want $1,200. What do you guys think? Is this a common problem? My headlights/foglights burn out a lot. Is that common? The dealer told me "they run high voltage, what do you expect?" How much could I expect to get for this car if I wanted to sell it (assuming of course that I fixed the airbag problem)?? I guess I should ask, what are common problems for this car? (sorry for the long post)
Thanks

Hal H

I'd suspect that your voltage regulator (charging system) isn't working properly -

It's probably putting out too high a voltage and this is shortening the life of bulbs (and other components possibly). This can be load tested to see how its behaving.

Don't know about the airbag stuff - don't have much experience with that.

Juke-box

I've had the lighting problem too..changed at least 3-4 bulbs in one year. it gets a nnoying wwith your car looking like with one eye shut....or the tail lights with only one working..

and high voltage? i don't think the lights are even as bright as my sister's Lexus GS! and HERs doesn't burn out half as often as mine! infact, i'm not sure if her's ever burned out at all! how can this be? Lexus vs. M-B reliability? or did i just have a bad car?

Juke

mbtech208

I've never seen a bad driver's airbag unit. I've seen bad side-airbags, but never a front airbag fail. Anything is possible though, and I don't doubt your dealer is telling the truth. Most of the $1200 cost is for the airbag, not labor. Installing a new airbag is a snap. As far as the lights are concerned, Mercedes have had problems with lighting for a long time, particularly your model E-class. Headlamps, parking lights, foglights, sidemarker lights, license plate lights, brakelights, and taillights are commonly defective on the 210 E-class. There's nothing you can do about it, that's just the way it is with these cars.

Batman

Hey Juke, looks like it's not just your car. That's what the dealer told me, "that's just the way these cars are." As for the airbag, I'm going to take the car to the other dealer in town and ask them to tell me why the light is on. I'll let you guys know what they say.

Batman

Alright, the accurate diagnosis is in. The clock spring contacts are broken. (Also referred to as the SRS Contact Spiral). Part number 170-460-01-49. Now, if you guys could just tell me where I can get the cheapest factory replacement parts, that would be great. If you live in Columbus Ohio, or you're in the area, do NOT take your car to Crown Mercedes in Dublin. They're a bunch of a$$hole$. $ervice, my a$$. When I asked the guy there to tell me why my SRS light was on, he said "Well it's going to take a while, it's not like we can just plug it into a computer and it'll tell us what's wrong with it." That's exactly what they do. Jerks.

Again, I would appreciate it if you guys could tell me where to get factory Mercedes parts for a good price. Thanks.

Dublin

I disagree with your comment on Crown. I've been to many other dealerships, even Potters. Crown is the only place that seems to get the job done. Try going to Potters once and see how they treat you. For a place that is as busy as they are in a small facility like they are in, they do a damn good job.

yipikaye

Hi batman, your nickname is pretty cool, btw, I have the SRS light came on twice on my new E. I just have it for one month. I took it to the dealer and they reboot the system, and they said if they light come on again, they have to change the code or something. Lucky enough for me that this is under warranty. I think there is no problem with your SRS Airbag, only computer problem, which is caused by the computer to send a false code. Ask your dealer aout that, dont let them rip off your money. Ask them to reboot the system. Godd luck

phungpho

Hey Robin, sorry Batman.
I had the same problem with my Ford Mustang. It seems to me there are 3 scenario:
1. Computer somehow sends a wrong code. Reset the CPU.
2. spring contacts (front or rear) are broken or may be just loose.
3. Airbag but not likely. Big bugs to repair.

With my Ford, the Dealer reset the CPU. The light went off for couple months and one sunny day it went on again. They checked again and found nothing. they reset the CPU again and this time it last just few days. Back to the dealer, this time they told me one of the 2 spring contacts is broken. 400 or 500$ to fix it. I am tired of that, traded it in for a Honda Civix. Good luck.

E320

Batman,
dont' spend big $$$ what you can do is go to ebay germany and bid on a nice wood/leather steering then bring it to an MB indy shop and have them replace your steering wheel with the spring contact.About the lightning issue if you always have a bad bulb on tailights then you have a defective tailamps cause the power runs only on the metal plate.If you want i have a spare tailamps left and right including the trunk part I sell it to you for $50+shipping.Just unplug the battery for 3 mins. and it will clear the srs light if the assuming that it's only a fault code.