Bullet Tooth

Yesterday, I was driving north on I-35 here in OKC, going to my annual member-guest golf tournament at normal interstate speeds. I was getting ready to exit off and was thinking about all the money I was going to....

BAM

I was totally disoriented. Since I turned 40 a few months ago, I have noticed that my reflexes are not what they used to be, but this was ridiculous. I had no idea what just happened. In all honesty, I thought I had been shot. Then I thought I must have been in an accident. Finally, when the smoke cleared (literally), I figured out that the curtain airbags on the passenger side went off. In addition, my seatbelt went cowgirl tight, the car immediately began dialing 911 and the hazard lights came on.

I finally got everything shut off and my seatbelt unlatched. I began thinking that I must have hit something. The short version of the story is that I did not hit anything. I didn't hit so much as a pot hole. The airbags just went off. Thank goodness that no one was in the car at the time. I could not help but think about my 6 month old being in the back when the rear door air bag went off. I am very fortunate in that regard.

I called 800.for.merc and my car was towed in. I have an 04 with 65K or so on the clock. I do have an extended warranty, but I have no idea yet at this point whether it covers this problem. I called my indy shop and they were the ones that told me to call MB immediately. They believe that MB should fix this. I have already recevied a call back from MB about it, but I missed the call.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Has this ever happened to anyone else on here?
2. Do you have any suggestions about how to handle this with MB?

My belief is that this is not a normal mechanical failure, such as a belt or alternator. This is a purely a defect which could have been a disaster. I can only imagine what might have happened had the driver airbag gone off while was I was running down the interstate.

Help a brother out here.

Fr33kn63

wow thats terrible!!! Very good arguement to put the child seat, as I do with my 1 1/2 year old, to keep the seat in the middle of the back seat since we never know if something like that is going to happen.
My car is newer with fewer miles and no I havent had this happen and dread the day it does...if at all.
It would sound to me that MB will take care of this. I guess I could be wrong, but thats the angle I would be approaching this from. Extended warranty or not.
Best of luck and keep us updated with what happens!

whoover

https://mbworld.org/forums/mercedes-tech-talk/223973-airbags-depoly-no-reason.html

LitiGATOR

That could have been catastrophic, glad you weren't injured. I'd think that MB would be on their "hands and knees" to resolve this issue as expeditiously as possible.

Fr33kn63

+1

Bullet Tooth

I just left the dealership. Apparently, the deployment was NOT inadvernent, as there was a small bit of damage on the underneath of the car. It appears that a piece of metal or other object must have been laying on the road that I neither saw nor heard. The object bounced into the side rail which left a nickel sized hole in the black undercarriage cover and dent in the side rail, causing the airbags to deploy on the passenger side of the car.

I probably didn't hear the object hit because of the instantaneous explosion inside the car.

This is going to be expensive, but is not the fault of MB. I have no idea what it was and from the size of the dent, it was probably not very big. I guess the cars in front and behind me were just luckier than I was.

Thanks for the support and info, however.

jangy

I think that part has been thought of. That's why the baby should be facing the rear and in a bucket style seat (which means side protection, too). I never thought of the rear, which is where i put my kids anyway. The front "turns off" for babies, but I haven't looked into what the rear has.
I love my MB for safety, so i hope yours comes out fine. I have no issues on the company making marketing choices based on ROI, but would hate to think that they would not want to make sure that this is "normal". I guess you have to pay, but I'd say it is on the edge of the grey zone of a warranty or personal issue. I'd have to see the damage. The point is not was there a hit. the point is should that hit have deployed any airbags? If so, then the car did as it should and you are SOL (but safe). If that is just how it works, then you can beg the question of just what was that deployment protecting? For example, you will hear of many impacts including those that cause body damage where the airbags DO NOT deploy. members ask if their system is bad or whatever only to find out that the airbags would not have done anything in that situation and therefore were not designed to deploy. Like I say, fine line.

gonzjed

HOLY COW...glad your'e ok. At least you didn't get a black eye or busted clavical. good luck

C43AMG

IMHO....something doesn't sound right.How could a piece of metal striking the undercarriage cause the airbags to deploy?I would seek another opinion before I accept the dealerships explanation.

///AMG4EVER

I'm glad you are OK man.

Now, I thought you needed to activate at least two sensors in order to deploy the airbags... I will get a second opinion before jumping into conclusions. Call Sunil from Motorwerks at 832 419 8084 to see what he says.

LZH

I agree with the above and also find it odd that something like that would cause a deployment - please explain further what happened to the undercarriage and post some photos if you can. It takes ALOT to cause a bag to deploy....something does not sound right.

BTW - I grew up in OKC

Can Drive 55

The object could have hit the car in the vicinity of one of the air bag sensors. That might explain how such a small impact put the SRS into action. At least we know the system is sensitive and that it works well when triggered. Glad there were no injuries.

ChicagoX

Can you ask to see the data "snapshot" ? Whenever there is an airbag deployment, the ECU stores the data just before and after the event.

Yacht Master

Side impact sensors must be on a "hair pin trigger" cause there is no crush zone.

I would be interested in any photos you may have, of the damaged areas.

2005E55AMGLOL

this happend with my M3. driving down a road doing 55 and bam airbags deploy.

longstory short, towed to dealership. they called BMW N/A> they sent out a investigations team. fixed under warranty. for those 3 weeks i got a cadillac CTS-V as a loaner. and they gave me a free extended maintanence plan when i threatened a lawsuit.

baldmike73

if it was set off due to faulty system = PAID

glad you are alright. if does tip in your favor could be a great time to pick up a new E63 at dealer cost and have them give you top dollar for your 55.

Blacksport350

Sorry to hear that!

As to the deployment, it should take a "significant" SIDE IMPACT to set those bags off. If you were going down the road forwards and hit something hard enough to deploy them, the fronts should have gone off. I think the dealership is trying to save their butts.

One thing to check is if the damage to the car looks fresh or has it been there a while (is there any dirt in or on it)?

I would call your insurance company and based on your answer to the question above, let them know what you found. Either they will cover it, or MB will.

Bullet Tooth

Now you guys are making me feel weird about this. I took what they told me as gospel. I wish I would have taken pictures of the damage. There was damage in either 2 or 3 places on the undercarriage. The front-most damage was done to the black plastic cover under the engine. It put a hole in the plastic there.

The second spot was the spot on the side rail. I am operating from memory here, but my recollection is that it was under the B pillar between the two doors. There was a nickel to quarter sized whole in the black plastic with a similar sized dent in the metal. The tech told me that is what set off the airbags.

The insurance adjustor looked at it today and cleared it for repair. Should I get pictures taken?

C43AMG

...ABSOLUTELY....IF it happens again , you'll wish you did. I'll take it one step further.I wouldn't put the key in the ignition until someone from MB insoected the car.

Fikse

this sounds like BS from the dealer, they'll come up with anything to show they "should" have gone off.... those are side impact air bags, not under car impact airbags....

Suprfknman

I went over a loose manhole cover and it kicked up as the left front tire went over it and ripped a hole under the drivers seat and shattered the lower rail under the drivers door. It was a hard hit and the manhole cover was launched 20 feet. No airbag deployment and no fault messages happened. There was a hole through the floorpan when the drivers seat and carpet came out I could put my hand through. It missed the fuel lines by a few inches. With all that damage and no airbag deployment I dont see how a small dent could set anything off. Someone needs to get a diagram with the location of all the airbag sensors. I dosnt make sense for a single sensor to set the airbags off by itself anyways I would think it would require side a side impact sensor and some type of center sensor detecting decelleration or a hard strike.
Will

Bullet Tooth

OK. I just went to the dealer and took a few pictures. I did not have my digital camera at the office today, so I had to borrow my secretary's disposable camera that she takes to the bar with her. I took 6 pictures of the undercarriage, because that is all that was left on her camera. I also took 3 with my phone. I have to wait until Monday on the ones from the disposal camera. Please bear with me on the ones from my phone.

The first 2 pictures are of the dent which they say caused the bags to deploy. The last one is of a slice taken out of part of the gas tank. It did not puncture the gas tank. The damage is not nearly what is shown in the above post. I know the quality sucks, but it is the best I can do right now.

I have not posted pictures on here before, so I hope this works.

D Bst

Mercedes Tech center info looks to show sensors in the passenger footwell area...

See page 7 of this doc...

http://www.mercedestechstore.com/pdf...2008-22-02.pdf

Blacksport350

IMHO, It is highly unlikely that that damage caused the airbags to deploy. Even if the damage is in the area of a sensor, they are just not that sensitive. In general, these sensors measure deceleration NOT impact. In other words, a minor impact to the bottom of the car would do nothing and it takes very little to cause the damage you have in those pics.

MarcusAndTania

My bags went for no reason... however there are small scratches on the undercarrage... Look at the pictures and you decide if it would have caused the side airbags to go off.... Both of them in the seats.

Here is my thread...

https://mbworld.org/forums/slk-class-r171/265355-airbags-deployment.html