GL-450 Takata Airbag Recall Do I Continue to Drive the death trap?
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Junior Member
Joined: May 2013
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E55-AMG
GL-450 Takata Airbag Recall Do I Continue to Drive the death trap?
My problem is this I know the airbag is recalled and the dealer confirmed the SRS light that is on is in fact the defective part. After a few weeks I thought about it and decided to call back and ask this question. I said "so the system recognizes the problem so it is safe to drive the suv right"? Well umm not exactly and that's what I got for an answer from the dealership. So what am I just supposed to not drive my suv until they have a replacement part? Has anyone else thought that maybe Takata should provide rental cars or at the very least the dealership should disable the damn airbags how is that not standard procedure? Surely I am not the only one who has an issue with the dealer knowingly letting you drive away with a potentially deadly airbag malfunction.
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 711
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From: NW corner of CONUS
2008 GL 320 CDI, 2004 VW V10 Touareg TDI
The answer really depends on the assumed mode of failure of the air bag / igniters. There are 3 possible situations:
1. The air bag fails to go off at all - when it is supposed to. [If there have been any instances of this it has not been reported in any news I have heard about]
2. The air bag goes off when it shouldn't. This can cause additional injury over and above whatever injury (or not) the 'accident' might cause. Presumably it wasn't supposed to go off because the forces were too small to cause injury. In this case you would be better off without having the air bag at all. I have not heard that this failure mode has been observed either.
3. The air bag fires when it should BUT the explosive force is too great or unaccounted for parts turn into shrapnel and cause additional injury (cuts, bleeding, perhaps loss of sight, etc). If there had been no air bag system you would have probably been injured anyway but the air bag, which should have kept you from being fatally injured did so but caused 'collateral damage'.
Very few of us have ever been in an accident where the air bags have deployed, or needed to. So what are the chances YOU will be in one of these between now and the time when Mercedes can fix this for you?
If you can live with those odds [VERY small] then drive - maybe a little more carefully.
Be Safe
1. The air bag fails to go off at all - when it is supposed to. [If there have been any instances of this it has not been reported in any news I have heard about]
2. The air bag goes off when it shouldn't. This can cause additional injury over and above whatever injury (or not) the 'accident' might cause. Presumably it wasn't supposed to go off because the forces were too small to cause injury. In this case you would be better off without having the air bag at all. I have not heard that this failure mode has been observed either.
3. The air bag fires when it should BUT the explosive force is too great or unaccounted for parts turn into shrapnel and cause additional injury (cuts, bleeding, perhaps loss of sight, etc). If there had been no air bag system you would have probably been injured anyway but the air bag, which should have kept you from being fatally injured did so but caused 'collateral damage'.
Very few of us have ever been in an accident where the air bags have deployed, or needed to. So what are the chances YOU will be in one of these between now and the time when Mercedes can fix this for you?
If you can live with those odds [VERY small] then drive - maybe a little more carefully.
Be Safe
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Joined: May 2015
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From: Miami, FL
2003 CL 600
According to the NHSTA, who is enforcing the recall, the failure is that the inflator (metal tube full of explosive chemicals) is getting wet inside from humidity and has no dessicant to prevent that. IF the inflator is wet and then is activated during a crash, there is a chance that it will explode rather than burn, so instead of just hot gas to inflate the bag, you may have an explosion that shatters the metal canister and can potentially shoot metal pieces out that can hit occupants.
There is a nice website set up with full info. So far there are only a few cases reported of this specific issue causing problems out of millions of crashes. Almost all of the offenders are very old, 2001-2005 Honda vehicles. It's a time and location thing, if you have a new car there's no way it's been compromised yet, and if you live in a dry climate it almost never will be compromised, but that's not acceptable so they are changing them all anyway. It's going in waves because there are appx. 85 MILLION out there that will have to be replaced, and that's going to take time.
Takata said they fired 30,000 of the returned units off, and had shrapnel issues with 265 of them or so. It's low percentage, but there is obviously a problem there and they are working to correct it at a tremendous cost to them.
There is a nice website set up with full info. So far there are only a few cases reported of this specific issue causing problems out of millions of crashes. Almost all of the offenders are very old, 2001-2005 Honda vehicles. It's a time and location thing, if you have a new car there's no way it's been compromised yet, and if you live in a dry climate it almost never will be compromised, but that's not acceptable so they are changing them all anyway. It's going in waves because there are appx. 85 MILLION out there that will have to be replaced, and that's going to take time.
Takata said they fired 30,000 of the returned units off, and had shrapnel issues with 265 of them or so. It's low percentage, but there is obviously a problem there and they are working to correct it at a tremendous cost to them.
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 711
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From: NW corner of CONUS
2008 GL 320 CDI, 2004 VW V10 Touareg TDI
The odds of something happening (according to the Takata data) is 265/30,000 or less than 1%. So if the odds of a crash where you NEED it happens is, 1 in 10,000 crashes [for example], then a messed up igniter would only POTENTIALLY get you more hurt in 1% of those times.
If it were me I wouldn't be overly concerned.
If it were me I wouldn't be overly concerned.
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E55-AMG
So again, now a year later not a single response here answered the question. I don't give a damn about takata and their bottom line or how many need replacing. I need a safe reliable vehicle to get my kids around. Now I am having more problems with this POS and I want to sell it. I might as well just say in the ad, by the way you have to be a complete idiot to buy this car because it is a grenade on wheels. I am literally stuck with this unreliable SUV. If anyone wants to pitch in and go class action against Mercedes and Takata I am all in I will spend 6 grand on a lawyer long before I pay that to get a god damn air suspension fixed. What a nightmare this 2010 Mercedes Benz GL-450 has been.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2015
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From: Miami, FL
2003 CL 600
So again, now a year later not a single response here answered the question. I don't give a damn about takata and their bottom line or how many need replacing. I need a safe reliable vehicle to get my kids around. Now I am having more problems with this POS and I want to sell it. I might as well just say in the ad, by the way you have to be a complete idiot to buy this car because it is a grenade on wheels. I am literally stuck with this unreliable SUV. If anyone wants to pitch in and go class action against Mercedes and Takata I am all in I will spend 6 grand on a lawyer long before I pay that to get a god damn air suspension fixed. What a nightmare this 2010 Mercedes Benz GL-450 has been.
Trade your car in at carmax and get something Japanese, will be more reliable and cheaper to own.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
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From: Emmett, ID, USA
2007 GL450
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2015
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From: Allentown, PA
'08 GL 320 CDI
You asked about whether or not you should continue to drive it. It actually appears that you did get some thoughtful responses and answers to that. While no one can tell you "yes" or "no" to whether you should drive it - that's 100% your call - they did give you their well-thought out feelings and suggestions. Please take this as friendly advice (and there is no ill will meant), but it's a little rude to say that they weren't being helpful. Especially since they all responded within a day to your question, yet you waited 8 months to respond back. Based on that timeframe, alone, it sounds as though it really isn't that big of an issue to you. Personally, if I was THAT worried about it, I would have taken care of it a whole lot faster. Again, don't take any of this the wrong way, it's not meant in a derogatory way.
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2011 GL 450
I stopped driving my 2011 GL450 with 19K miles and have been waiting patiently since January 2017 to get another email or letter from MB that the parts are available now to replace. the airbags. We are in New York and the estimate is for December 2017. I am wondering if affected MB vehicles in Zone A, viz. Texas, Florida, Georgia etc. are currently being replaced. Any information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2014
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2011 Mercedes GL450
I live in Georgia and as of October, they still had no parts available. When I went to trade it in on a Lexus LX570 the dealer said Mercedes has no fix for the issue yet and that my GL value is low based on the fact that a dealer cannot resale the car that has a pending recall. I’m not sure if this is true or maybe just that dealers policy but it is ridiculous that it is taking Mercedes so long to get this situation under control. Glad I got rid of mine.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 380
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From: Illinois
2019 Audi Q8, 2015 GL63, & 2005 E500W4
I live in Georgia and as of October, they still had no parts available. When I went to trade it in on a Lexus LX570 the dealer said Mercedes has no fix for the issue yet and that my GL value is low based on the fact that a dealer cannot resale the car that has a pending recall. I’m not sure if this is true or maybe just that dealers policy but it is ridiculous that it is taking Mercedes so long to get this situation under control. Glad I got rid of mine.
