Originally Posted by cnolke

So I just finished, and it wasnt quite as straightforward as I had hoped, but I could do it much more easily if I had to do it again.

First, the Mercedes star on the cover is pretty much permanently applied. Im not sure what the part number it is, if there is one, but I would recommend a new one versus moving one over. I moved mine over, and it looks fine, but its not on there as well as it was on the original airbag cover.

To remove the cover/airbag/horn "pod", one needs to use the two indents on the side of the wheel. The tool isnt a Torq 30, but a torx 20 works fine in order to find the spring clips that get pushed in order to release each side of the "pod". It took about 1/2 an hour of feeling around in there for what to do, and I'm happy to report its a wire spring clip that needs to be pushed in towards the center.

Once the pod pops out from the wheel assembly, I left it plugged in. I'm pretty hesitant to mess with airbag electronics. It can just rotate and move around enough with the harness still attached. I have no idea if one needs to do something like undo the battery or discharge the system, etc. in order to prevent the airbag going off, but I treated it like a bomb and that seems like a reasonable way to work with it.

Taking the front cover off of the "pod" is tricky. I took apart a spark plug feeler gauge and used the thickest blades. I'd pry each clip around the cover and slip a feeler blade all the way in, holding that clip open. There are something like 10 or 11 clips, so you have to work your way around. Getting the cover off takes a bit of coaxing. Lots of gently prying all around, slowly working it out. Once you get the cover off, you'll understand that you just uncontainered the airbag. It is deflated, but the previous cover was holding it together with the back. At this point I transferred the star over. The star had about 15 small tabs that had been pressed through the other cover and then melted wide, holding the star on. I had to flatten all the tabs to allow the star to be pried off and inserted into the new leather cover. Like I mentioned earlier, this isnt all that ideal. It wont come off, but it's not the original level of connection, and its on the front of the airbag cover. I wouldnt want a small Mercedes star poorly attached to the front of an airbag if I could help it. No need for projectiles in an accident.

Tucking the airbag together in the new cover takes a little finesse. After packing it all up nicely, the new cover has the same 10-11 holes that the clips slide into, so that needs to be finessed together and all the clips positively engaged. Once that is all finished, make sure the airbag harness isnt coiled up, and push the pod back into the wheel center. The two large male connectors will fit past the spring clips and the pod will snap into place on the steering wheel. One should turn the car on to verify the horn works and that the pod is centered and properly attached.

My new leather steering wheel center needed a bit of leather conditioner to match the nappa leather of the seats. No big deal. Now it looks and feels great.

I'll post a couple pictures once I get some good light.

Originally Posted by unagi1

I was planning on having the battery disconnected, not in the mood to have the airbag blow up unexpectedly

Does the whole deal with resetting the switches on windows/pano (after reconnecting battery) also apply to w212 like it did on w211?