Ok-
I really really want to get a 1983-1985 300D or a 1984-1990 190D. However, my mom is pretty firm that she wants me to have a car with an airbag, which means getting an '86 or later. However, I prefer the 4 cylinder or 5 cylinder engines for their fuel economy, and the 300 series didn't have the 5s again until the early 90s, which is not as desirable to me.

I prefer the older styling, and have heard great things about the reliability of those models (well, just the 300Ds at least).

Yes yes, I'm 25 and free to do as I please, but just what have you folks experienced in your 300D/SDs and 190Es with and without airbags that might help me make a decision?

Gruesome details should probably be spared, if possible. I'd just like to hear stories explaining times you truly feel an airbag or not having an airbag either saved your life or didn't really matter at all.

Thanks so much for helping out this prospective Mercedes-Benz owner!

-Aaron

I was rear-ended at probably 30 mph in my 1979 300SD. Bent the frame and quarter panels. Did $3,000 damage to the insurance company. No one was hurt, my mom did think later that night that her neck didn't feel right. She was in the back seat and non 6.9's rarely had read headrests.
David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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I think that all Mercedes are safe- with or without airbags. You may be interested to know that Mercedes actually offered an optional driverside airbag as early as 1984, on the 300SD, 300SE, 500SEL and I think even the 190E and 190D and was also optional for 1985 on these cars. One of the best safety features are good safety belts and a car with a good, strong safety cage and the heavier the car- the better.
You mother sounds like my mother. To this day- if I say anything about buying a car without an airbag- she will say- "you need a car with an airbag for safety". My oldest car (89 Pontiac) does not have an airbag, but it is a full-size wagon and really is a safe car anyway. Particularly when I first started driving solo back in the early 1990s - she would insist on me having an airbag equipped car, but since airbags were not installed in mass numbers of cars until 1990- it would have required me buying a nearly new car. Some cars had them years before- but 1990 was the year they really started making their way into cars, due to the federal goverment requiring some form of a automatic restraint system. Some cars added airbags, while some cars added 3-point door mounted automatic belts and some had the motorized shoulder belt, with manual lap belt.

I was in a moderate car crash in 1994, in a then new 1994 Mazda Protege'. The car did not have airbags. I had back injuries and bruises, but no life threatening injuries. It was a rental, as my aunts car was in a crash the week before and it was her rental car. I always said- if we had to have a crash in a new 1994 car, why did we have to be in one of the rare 1994 model cars without an airbag?

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2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited 4wd
1991 Lincoln Town Car Executive
1991 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1988 Mercedes 300SEL
1972 Chevrolet Caprice Kingswood Estate 9-passenger wagon
1973 Pontiac Grand Ville
(Prior MB's: 1974 240D, 1985 380SE, 1984 190D, 1993 400SEL)

Fortunately, My aunt who just turned 40yrs old had a terrible accident in 1987 when she was 3 weeks married and 22yrs old. She was driving a brand spankin new 88' CRX si. It was her wedding present. An elderly man pulled out in front of her and she hit him solid at the rear axle going about 45mph. She had a broken arm and crushed feet and ankles. She was in a wheelchair for almost a yr and had multiple surgeries. No airbag of course.

She got over that accident and was JINXED again in 95' when she was 7mos pregnant and had her then 5yr old in the car, when the same thing happened. A driver pulled out in front of her and she hit them at about 35-40mph, but she was driving a 94 Taurus wagon that had dual airbags and she only had superficial airbag burns on her arm.

Sure a 88' CRX and a 94' Taurus wagon are much different in weight and size but it goes to show aibags DO HELP in serious injury and helped protect her newborn child.

My aunt and her husband share a love for MB now. They recently purchased a Starmarked 00' e320 wagon 4 her and the girls and happily reside outside of Houston, Tx.

Footnote- The lady that ran over her cheatin husband in her s500 was their dentist and lived in the same hood as them!

later

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Current stable......
17' Rogue SV 70k
11’ Saab 9-5 NG 94k
10’ e550 4matic 185k

sold
02' e320 210k
00' e430 167k
01' e320 171k (regret sale)
91' 300d 2.5t 300k (sold to ecoofidaho)
79' 240d 177k (old yellow my avatar)
87' 300d 169k (junk but fast)
85' 300tdt 261k (RBM parts delivery)
85' 300dt 68k (one owner cream puff)
82' 240d 250k
84' 300dt 198k (sold to diesel don)
91' 190e 2.3 61k
88' 260e 140k

I gave my 1982 300d to my son for his nineteenth birthday to get him out of the death trap Honda he bought. Two months later he was traveling 45 mph. When a Honda racing a Honda at a little over 100mph clipped the drivers side rear spinning the Benz 3 and a half times, The Benz was totaled yet drivable my son was quite sore for a week. Well I was at the accident scene the other boys engine was in his passenger compartment. Yes his air bag and a trauma center saved his life but his life was in serious jeopardy as opposed to my son’s lack of injuries. You think your Chevy sprint is safe because its got airbags Ill take a tank of a 300d or SD for a game of head on with you any day. Because you see weight wins in a crash. On a lighter note, I submitted a $250,000 dollar claim to his ins co claming that since I gave matt the MBZ for safety at night matt now cried out Bentley Bentley in his sleep and only felt he could be safe in a Bentley. The insurance adjuster had a great laugh and offered us 2 grand for the car finally they gave us seven grand for the car and that was hardly fair considering I can honestly say it was the best 300d in Northern California.
Grateful dad Dave S.

I just totaled my 84 300D 4 weeks ago. I hit a flatbed Freightliner smack in the right front wheel. It was not a semi but carried Corian. No damage to the Corian! The Freighliner was a 2002 Penske Lease model and ended up with a had a cracked front fiberglass fender. He drove the truck 2 blocks away to the local Penske repair place just to check out the suspension.

My car on the other hand was wiped out. Hood, both fenders (just the first foot), headlights, radiator, bumper. Bent the tie rods and the left side of the frame inside the engine compartment had started to crumple. Suprisingly the A/C system still had pressure when we striped the car last Saturday.

I wasn't paying attention, almost ran a red light, slammed on the brakes and skidded 50 feet into the truck which was already in the intersection. My fault.

I had a bruised shoulder from the seat belt. I figured that I probably had another 5 or 10 feet to skid to a stop if the truck wasn't there. The tow truck driver said most all air bags would have engaged based on the damage to my car.

Bought another 300D. Same year. Better color. 1/4 less mileage. The damage may have been less with a car equipped with properly working ABS.

I have witnessed a head on between a Civic (with air bags) and an old Caddy Sedan de Ville (without air bags) at around 50 mph. Everyone got out of their cars and the worst injury was the guy driving the Civic had cut his arm real bad on the a piller.

I totaled out a BMW 2002 around '75 when I hit a tree running in excess of 65 mph. The seat belt (and the way the car was built) saved my butt. I did have a bad bruise on my shoulder where the belt held me in and a small glass cut on my left hand.

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Jim

I had just completed $600 worth of repairs to my "free" '81 VW Rabbitt LS diesel to drive it from Greenville, SC to St. Louis, MO. Coming through a small town the day before I was to leave a '98 Lincoln Continental pulled out in front of me and I struck him in the drivers rear axle dead on at 60 mph! The VW stood up on it's nose, twisted to the right and landed facing the direction I had just come from. I totaled the VW AND the Lincoln. I walked away with only a small bruise on my left shoulder.

The silver lining is that the car was given to me just a few months earlier. I spent the $600 getting the A/C back in order as well as replacing the front struts and new brakes all the way around. His insurance company gave me over $2,000 for the car! I was thrilled!

Kevin

I've had two fairly serious crashes in cars without airbags (Mazda 1983 Mazda 323 and 1986 Acura Integra) and escaped injury. If those flimsy Japanese cars were enough to protect me, then imagine how much better the Mercedes is. Tell your mom the Mercedes-Benz has always built the safest cars on the road, with or without airbags.

Please remember that the airbag is a supplemental device, while your primary protection in an accident comes from the seat belt. I never even start the engine without first putting on the seat belt.

Now, if your choice is a Mercedes without an airbag versus some other make with an airbag, then this story becomes relevant. An acquaintance of mine was driving on an interstate in her Mitsubishi when the airbag suddenly deployed. It so startled her that she ended up crashing the car. Of course the airbag was deflated by then, so she ended up smacking the steering wheel. I once read somewhere that Mercedes is the only make that has never had a report of an unintended airbag deployment.

If you still need evidence for your mom, just run a search on "crash", "accident", "totalled" and similar words here on Mercedesshop. We've had quite a few reported just in the past few months, all without serious injury.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

I've been in two serious accidents. One was in an 86 Hyundai Excel, and the second in an 88 Mitsubishi panel van .

The Hyundai wreck was from falling asleep at the wheel (young and dumb back then). Car went off the side of the highway, caught air, and nosed down in a rock bed at the bottom of the ditch. Worst I got was bruised ribs from the seatbelt.

Second wreck was in the company van. It was one of those jap jobs that had the engine under the drivers seat. I was going to a client to pick up their PC to be repaired. A woman in a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee (temp tags still on car) pulled out right in front of me to make a left as I entered the intersection. Totalled both cars. To add insult to injury to this gal, her husband came up right behind her in ANOTHER brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee with temp tags on it as well. Again, on this wreck, I was wearing my seatbelt. I am a believer in the value of seatbelt use, and NOBODY rides in my car without wearing one.

This is not really a collision story but I believe it's related. My wife was watching the news and there was a story on vehicle safety, which cars are the safest in collision tests, etc, etc. The interesting point she was telling me is that they read off a list of cars that they considered 'dangerous', or almost saying they were a road hazzard because of the fact that you would not want to hit these listed vehicles in a collision cause of the damage they would do to your tin-can, ABS'd, dual Air-bagged new POS.

On the top of the list after all of the highway trucks were 'any older Mercedes Benz'!!!

Not only are the anti-diesel people hating our cars, but now we're going to have every 'consumer-report' readin' individual scared of us too!

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'85 300SD 'Otto' new to us Sept. '07
'82 300SD 'Jurgen' (July '06 fan shaft broke, toasted rad, 3am in the morning 60km from home, walked 16km hitchhiking.... )
'70 SS Chevelle (finally back on my property, in the shop on stands)



"The thinking required to solve a problem cannot be the same thinking used to create it!"-Einstien

Now, to answer a question you didn't ask, antilock brakes can be a very handy feature to have. And panic stopping a car with ABS requires a very different technique than a car without it. Whichever car you get, you need to take it someplace where you can practice panic stops. As a young driver, this is something you really need to learn, and the time to do it is not when somebody pulls out in front of you!

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

Totalled the Beetle (spin & impact), and the driver's side seat airbag deployed. I don't know if it made a difference.

On another occasion (Chrysler LHS), I had the front airbags deploy, but I was caught by the seatbelt, and I never made contact with the airbag. I did get minor airbag friction burns on my arms where I was holding the steering wheel.

Thanks for all the anecdotes so far, folks!

My sister has totalled two Saturn SL2s, neither one her fault (at least according to insurance adjuster), and both full on frontal smacks at 40+mph. Both times the airbags deployed. She's about my height 5'9" and sits reasonably far back from the wheel. She says both times the airbag did hit her in the face, but not very hard, and the seatbelt retained her the most. She also says she could feel the ABS working both times, so like many of you have been saying, perhaps it's something I should also be looking for.

I never drive without my seatbelt. I imagine that the airbag might help with whiplash by preventing the head from going too far forward?

I guess there's another part to this question. I haven't yet test driven a Mercedes Benz. From what I vividly remember of every mid 80s Volvo (also safe, also big) that I have driven, I did always feel very safe, but when driving through winding mountain passes i felt like it wasn't the structural safety of the car, but the handling that I was concerned about. A nice safety cage doesn't do you much good if you go skidding into a crevasse. Any thoughts on that?

-Aaron

So far my SDL has been handling very predictably and nicely in the snow and ice. Understeer isn't a problem unless i'm on the brake pedal, but that's a no-brainer. The only problem i've had is going uphill, which is to be expected with a RWD car without a limited slip differential.