MANOS75

maybe some one knows if this is true, every time someone sits in passenger seat i get a message on dash saying airbag is activated and i should refer to owners manuel and when they get up it says airbag deactivated see owners manuel, should it be showing that message every time someone sits there .

jdupa

I get the opposite, when I am dropping someone off and they get out of the front passenger seat, the warning message "Front Passenger Airbag Disabled, Refer to Manual" appears. Never did that before, but coincides with the software coding done by the dealer lately.

Polar Bear

That means it is getting conflicting readings from the weight sensor as to whether someone is in the seat. You may be able to have the WSS calibrated with SDS and make the error go away.

dvmak

Why is that conflicting? If they get in then it should read "Activated" and when they get out it de-activates ??? I've always had that message

killatee18

I took my car to the dealership to get the headlight bulb replaced. The next morning when I drop off my friend he gets out of the car and I get a message that says "Passenger Airbag Disabled, see owners manual" or something of that sort. I NEVER used to get that message!! Do you think the dealer did something when they replaced my bulb?? Will this message always appear when the passenger gets out of the car?? I also noticed when you turn the car off and restart the message is gone.

Polar Bear

I have never seen it on the I/C in my car unless someone is moving around in the passenger side seat, raising up off of the seat for a moment and sitting back down. After this is done a few times the system is confused and will cause that light to come on.

There is a light above the hazard light switch that should indicate if the airbag is activated or not. The I/C usually only shows error messages from what I have seen.

konigstiger

Polar Bear is correct. Fault code is set after accident or when the initial start-up/recalibration test routine does not complete properly, mention DTB S-B-91.60/171 JUL08 and the dealer will calibrate WSS sensors.

MB211

RTFM------This is a normal message.

adisco93

I just saw this warning message come up as well on my car this morning. I have owned the car for 2 months and this is the first time it has come up. Should i follow the same instructions above and ask the dealer to check out DTB S-B-91.60/171 JUL08?
Car is still under warranty, shd this be covered for free?

konigstiger

Yes covered by warranty, stored fault code will identify if a malfunction exists. DTB addresses weight-sensing system (WSS) to recalibrate sensitivity if needed.

lkchris

We occasionally get "off" message when seat is occupied.

This is usually caused by having moved seat rearward until it jams into something in the rear footwell.

rhinodc

Well I just had this lovely problem too. If the message shows then the sensor is out of spec and it is not registering the accurate weight of the passenger, so the airbag will not use the smart deploy to adjust for kids, light, heavy passengers etc. The car must be hooked up to the star system and recalibrated. The fun part is that nothing is actually broken with the car. If you are in your first 50k miles you are golden. If you are over 50k like me at 54k, even with a CPO warranty to 100k mi. and an MBZ extended warranty covering me till 2013, Mercedes will NOT cover the repair as nothing is actually being replaced. So, I am out of luck spending $136 to have them fix this saftey issue with the damn car. Apparently the warranties mean nothing...My car has been sitting at Laguna Niguel MBZ for 2 days while they have been talking to MBZ corporate to see if they will cover my repairs, now it will be sitting for at least another day so I can get word from the manager if they (Laguna Niguel MBZ) will do me a favor and cover the repair.

---vent---(off color language had been removed, lol)--- funny how a car company that is marketed as one of the safest cars on the road will not fix a saftey issue with their cars from a customer that still has 2 active factory warranties on the car!!!! Thanks MBZ, really makes me want to have a MBZ as my next car....Wife heard this and immediately changed her plans of us buying a GL....

WEBSRFR

Argh! This error message showed up in my car this evening when the from passenger got off and the passenger in the back seat joined me up front. I am very distressed to hear this might not be covered by the CPO warranty. Has this happened to anyone else recently? Any ideas?

rhinodc

Well the story about nothing being broken and needing replaced so warranty repair was not option was a load of crap. If if is not functioning then it is broken in my book. After much *****ing as I always have that dealer service my car they finally told me that they would do it as a favor for me. All it required was for then to hook the car to the diagnostic comp and reset the sensor. I'm still amazed that they just didn't fix it upfront when I brought the car in. They even had me in a loaner for 4 days im sure that cost them more than the 20 mims it took the tech to reset the sensor. Normally They even bring me my car after an oil change to swap back a loaner where my office is 15 miles away. But *****ed about resetting a sensor. Good luck. They eventually did it for me.

Be wary of the cpo warranty. I had a trim piece with cracked chrome and they replaced it no prob in regular warranty. Now cracked again and w cpo and extended warranty they say tr piece is my problem and it's 165$ for a little 2 inch long plastic piece of crap. Still not happy with Mbz. Some times bend over backwords to offer amazing service and other times treat you like crap for something so simple.

konigstiger

"May" apply - repairs are covered for 12 months unlimited mileage even if this period brings you past initial factory warranty expiration.

kkanuck

Is there not a weight sensor in the passenger seat, and if a smaller person under a certain weight sits in the passenger seat, it will automatically deactivate the airbag?

rhinodc

That's the sensor. Apparently it can just randomly go out of spec and must be recalibrated by resetting it with the star diagnostic computer. Since the sensor does not need to be replaced the warranty will not cover it per Mbz corporate. At least that was my problem. I read similar stories on other threads as well. Problem is that once it goes out of calibration it disarms the airbag when an adult sits in the seat creating a saftey issue as the airbag will not fire.

WEBSRFR

Mercedes should cover this under CPO warranty. Apparently this situation sorted itself out. If it didn't, and Mercedes refused to cover this I would NOT have been happy and I would have escalated this until it got resolved, as a matter of principle.

I think the catalyst for this was when my 200# front passenger got off and the 100# rear passenger got in the front passenger seat. She's a 20-something adult so the air bag sensor should not have thrown a fit and disabled the air bag like it did!

rhinodc

I was told that the original factory warranty covers everything. The Cpo covers all parts needing replaced not including interior trim pieces. Mercedes denied the repair stating that the sensor was not actually broken and did not need to be replaced and therefore I was responsible to cover the labor to have the sensor recalibrated. After much complaining the dealer decided to recalibrate it for me as "a favor". Or maybe because I had a loaner c class hostage for the prior 4 days. Trust me I am still pissed about this situation. And also my recent denial to fix the little chrome handle on the sliding center console which apparently is not covered by Cpo or extended warranties either. But was replaced already under the factory original warranty at 40000 miles. Now at 60000 mi I'm apparently screwed even with two warranties carrying to 100000 mi and 6/13. FYI my seat sensor denial was at barely 1000 mi past original warranty expiration.

My biggest gripe is it is an easy fix for a SAFTEY ISSUE from a company who says they are one of the safest cars on the road.

WEBSRFR

I agree. For the duration of the drive I had an adult in the passenger seat and the airbag was disabled because something is screwy with the logic of the air bag sensor mechanism. God forbid there was a front end collision, she would have not had the benefit of an airbag. Mercedes should absolutely cover this under the CPO warranty and I'm glad they did the right thing for you.

The sensor seems to be back to normal now. I suppose this is one of those W211 gremlins... FWIW this is the e-mail I got from the dealer when I e-mailed them an image of the IC display stating the airbag is disabled:

"Good morning. There could be an issue here but I doubt it. If there was a failure occurring you would be getting the SRS malfunction message on the instrument cluster display. If you see the message again with someone sitting in the right front seat let me know and we will have you bring the car in and get it tested. Have a great weekend."

mampersat

There was a water bottle behind the passenger seat. My friend had moved the seat back and it was kinda wedged. I pulled it out and the warning went away.

brbhan

Does anybody have a fix aka 'Tips and Tricks' for the following:
Getting a message on odometer about airbag being activated/deactivated upon ingress/egress of passenger. All dash lights are normal. It is just this text message that is bugging me. Depressing any of the buttons on left side of steering wheel rids this msg. But it comes back again when pass. seat is occupied/vacated.


Dealer wants upwards of $215 for a recalibration. Gosh, there's gotta be a push-button somewhere. Thanks


Oh, btw just found out 1. Motor Oil spec for CDI engines has been revised, from 229.51 to 229.52; also applies to gasoline AMG's. 2. Mobil 1, spec 229.52 is marketed under MERCEDES label by agreement w/Mobil. Therefore, carton (of 6 qts) does NOT say it is Mobil 1. Carton is marked Fully Synthetic.
Source: Mercedes dealership (have dealt w/them since 1975)

brbhan

Correct. I just had the problem fixed at dealership. Cost was one hour of labor. They blamed it on the three floor mats I had at the back. One mat was kind of oversize and was getting folded under pressure when seat was slid back. Why three? I hate throwing out good stuff

Nicholas Hott

So I think I had the same problem only when a passenger sits in the seat the airbag is activated and then when they get out the airbag is just disabled but I get the annoying seat belt chime on the right side of the dash and I have to click in the seatbelt to disable it. So I was reading about how some people had things what's underneath the seat nothing was underneath the seat however what I did do was move the passenger seat all the way to the rears far as it would go and then I lowered the backrest horizontal as far as it would go and the seatbelt red light went off and haven't had a problem since.

rickgurri

This is so annoying, I get this message all the time. Is there no way to turn this warning off?