So my family and I were in a 6 car crash yesterday ( Oct. 22 ). Our E63 was the 3rd car in the 6 car crash. The thing is, my E63 stopped just in time so I did not hit nor was there any damage to the front of my car and the car in front ( rear bumper) of me.

Here the photos of the car in front and mine car:





Here are photos of the cars behind of me:






Here is my question. Both of my front seat head rest popped apart and gave me and my wife major whiplash and thus us needing to visit the doctor this AM. Please don’t tell me this is not normal and can ask MBusa to review the fault?


Your input would be greatly appreciated.

I’d think MB would be able to argue that it was the accident itself that gave you the whiplash over their safety feature. Just focus your lawsuit on the vehicles behind you and save yourself from years of bs. It’s already going to be a mess as the insurance companies try to divvy up the fault.

Right. The first words will be "how do you know what caused your whiplash, the accident or the headrests?" followed by "thanks to PRE-SAFE, the headrests prevented even more whiplash." Then, if it ever made it's way to court, MB would likely produce testing data that shows the headrests don't cause any whiplash whatsoever. I'm sure there's been lots of testing of the headrests in the event of an unintentional or low speed deployment.

Hope you are doing OK. Did the pickup truck hit you? Your whiplash is caused by the car hitting you, your safety systems probably worked as designed. I'd take it to a dealer ASAP to have the systems checked out. You are going to have an insurance claim on your hand, but since you didn't hit the car in front of you I suspect you are 0% at fault. You need to push for diminshed value once your car is fixed since it will no longer have a clean record and could be worth ~15% less than had it not been in an accident. You may need a lawyer.

Thanks for your inputs, the Toyota 4Runner was in front of me and the black Honda Civic was the one that was behind me which hit me.

I would like to note that a lawsuit didn’t even cross my mind. although it might need to happen if the the head rest are not supposed to popped out like on both of the front seat headrest. My second question I supposed is that if the headrest are supposed to be some kind of safety feature which I don’t see how popping out like that during maybe a 5mph impact didn’t deploy the rear airbags which I supposed to be a luxury feature as an Mercedes AMG owner?

I guess it really comes down to is the headrest supposed to popped like it did on both seats and why the rear airbags didn’t deploy when the headrest popped.

What are your thought? My thought is if I had a chance in the development and manufacturing process this is consider the not within norm. Do you guys want your headrest to pop out during rear impact that low rate?

Thanks.

Airbags shouldn’t deploy in a low speed impact. I’m sure the headrests have different parameters for activation and I’d be willing to bet they worked as intended by the factory. Either way, thankfully you and your wife only suffered mild soft tissue injuries and nothing severe.

The headrest was designed to deploy in case of a impact to the back of the car, there is no way you can win against MB usa as this was how the headrests were designed to protect u AGAINST whiplash.

Conjecture on my part, but I would also guess that airbags/headrests only deploy if there is an occupant in the corresponding seat.

Yes, The head rests are designed to pop forward like that to help reduce whiplash

I hope you and your family are ok. My advice is to delete your posts and not talk about insurable claims on-line. Get a lawyer.
Good luck and be well.

+1 and at least let your insurance company sort it out.

Exactly what others have said. The headrests did not "pop apart". This is an intentional feature designed to reduce the impact of whiplash, and is a federally approved safety device. You got whiplash from the rear impact. It was limited precisely due to the head rest "popping apart". Move on...

Update. Thanks for the input guys. So the update is glad I had the front, back and interior dash cam on. The headrest as said is supposed to pop out during impact, but my interior cam showed a good 2 second after the impact so my head rest deployment did not work as it suppose to because it deployed after the fact.

Just leaving everything to the lawyer as me and my wife are getting chiropractor to help with the pain.

Thanks guys.

Side note, both Mercedes and BMW does this with the headrest.

I am no lawyer, but you know you are in a sense taking a battle against a cub to one against a full grown lion right?

Your whiplash/medical expenses, interior damage, exterior damage etc etc should be fully covered by the other person's insurance. By providing evidence that your car did not function as intended, you are lifting liability away from that insurance company and giving it to mercedes and going to sue them for medical and other expenses....good luck man, you will need it and I will be very surprised if you get a dollar out of that approach.

My priority is different when it comes to the safety of me and my family or passager. I can not Imagine any air bags in our cars that is suppose to deploy on impact and it doesn’t deploy for a good 2 second after, then what is the use of the airbags. I’m am sure the highway safety commission will concur with me that the head rest did malfunction.

Repairs and compensation from the insurance is a separate issue. Being rear ended is one thing, malfunction of its safety function that can cause serious bodily harm is another.

Im sure my daughter who was scared to death pointing out on the dash cam video that states, daddy, why did the head rest popped out like that after the accident and the car is at a full stop can supersedes any doubts.

Just don’t want owners of expensive cars face the reality that it does happen.

I also not saying you should not pursue it. What I am saying "all in due time" and don't post such evidence on a public forum.

​​​​​​If I was the other guys insurance, I will NOT take liability for all your injuries. After all if your car was in good working condition, said injuries could have been prevented with such a minor bump.

^^^ this. I’d recommend asking the mods to delete the thread for you. Not disputing what may or may not have injured you.

I have following your posts or comments and have gain lots of knowledge about my E63 and really appreciate all of the inputs.

I just can get my brain to think the headrest was doing what it is suppose to do when deployment after the fact and not simultaneously deployment upon impact.

This accident to me and my family is to gauge how safe my E63 is and well...... I’m sure I’m probably 1 out of 100 E63 will do that, but it doesn’t change the fact that the safety feature didn’t work as it was intended.

and go see an orthopedist who can send u to a physical therapist..dont waste your time with a chiro who will bill up the case for 30 visits and not do diddly

Let’s try not to go there. I’ve seen the bills and performed case reviews for insurance companies and attorneys and while I won’t speak for the entire profession or for every case, I know for a fact that for typical soft tissue injuries such as these that I get patients better quicker and cheaper than an ortho and physical therapist.

My career has some side effects of neck and back pain. Chiro has helped me waaaay more than Ortho ever did.
Now I do at least twice a month, more if I make time and it's kept me sane for real cheap

ok i take it back..i shouldnt have generalized...my bad... heck i didnt even notice your screename till now...again my bad

i guess it seems most of the chiros i have dealt with really havent done much with patients i c....

Thanks guys.

Reminds me more of this thread...

Deadly Mercedes Experience

Same car too. Welcome back!