There was a forum post about 2-3 years ago from a guy in New Jersey (I think) who got into a crash in his pre-facelift W124 and reported that the original airbags worked as designed. I tried searching for the post but I couldn't find it even though I've run across it a couple of times.

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1974 Porsche 914 | 1980 Porsche 911SC
2002 Porsche 911 | 2002 Mitsubishi Montero | 2011 VW Golf