My 1995 Range Rover Classic has the same requirement. Land Rover also recommends airbag replacement every 10 years. Ironically, most Land Rovers don't last that long. God bless the Classics!

I wouldn't sweat it.

I have read some studies about frontal airbags and their minimal effects in most collisions. I don't remember where I read them though. Im sure you could find some information in the search engines if the topic interests you.

Logic however would allow one to draw some conclusions. Most Minor accidents don't result in passenger compartment deformation especially in a Mercedes (I believe my 126 was designed to sustain a 50mph collision with a solid barrier and still be able to operate the doors). If the passengers are both wearing their seatbelts what exactly are they going to collide with and be injured from in an accident? Airbags are great for extreme accidents when the dash starts to move into the passengers compartment, however in such a solid car the speeds required to deform the cabin are much higher than we "normally" have here in the states.

Don't get me wrong. I like having the Airbags in my 140, however in an older car without side airbags they provide minimal benefit. My 126 does not have airbags and I am glad they are not there so I don't have to worry about 24 year old first generation technology accidently deploying in my face. I don't feel any less safe in the 126 because it has seatbelts and a "similar" energy absorbing front end. The airbags I think are the most important are the side airbag because doors are much thinner than the entire front clip of a car and seatbelts only work front to back rather than side to side.

In smaller subcompact cars even a front airbag provides a lot of benefit because it takes less energy to deform the passenger compartment of these cars.

A lot of the saftey ratings for some of the newer cars are somewhat misleading. Smaller lighter cars have less mass and therefore have less overall crash energy with a solid barrier. In the "real world" you have the mass and crash energy of more than one vehicle in sometimes more than one direction. In full size S class vs Honda Civic Im glad Im the guy thats driving the S class.

Basically, that is the whole issue about airbag ageing. The chemical components which trigger and inflate the bag on an accident degrade through time.

First, it was thought that 10 years was the limit for those chemicals. As originally equipped W126s and W124s aged, it was proven that the limit could be raised to 15 years without trouble.

As with any industry "expiration date", I would assume those 15 years could be easily and safely extended maybe to 17 or 18 years. After that, you are simply playing the luck factor.

Buying an used airbag (similar in age to the one fitted to your W124) from E-bay should be useless and a waste of time and money (as the chemicals would be degraded similarly).

The only safe bet would be obtaining a recently manufactured airbag with fresh components.

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A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]

Hmmm.... I guess it depends on the level of attachment that you have for the car.... The car in question is a 1987 300E.... Those have a pretty good range in price depending on the condition...... The airbag on the car has a cut in the plastic covering.... A used airbag would provide a cosmetic fix and have a workable airbag..... The new part is a considerable percentage of the car's value...... Used parts might not be what you would want to put on your own car but they are certainly not a waste of time and money....

My old Audi had an expiration date too. I disconnected the bag on my 88 560SL. For reasons already stated by previous posters, it is not worthwhile to have it connected. The car is driven around town 95% of the time, so the chances are that it might be involved in a low speed fender-bender rather that a high speed crash. Not worth it.

JL

Hmmm... I don't think I would disconnect it. Mercedes recently did a test on a 1981 model car that was equipped with an airbag. The bag functioned correctly and would have provided "some" protection in a high energy collision. If your sitting at a light and a semi comes roaring through the intersection and smashes into you that airbag might come in handy and possibly save your life. Its impossible to predict what happens on the road. While in 99% of cases it might not provide much additional protection its that 1% that can kill you.

There is still surplus WWII ammunition that works!

I think the risk of a low energy deployment or no deployment is much greater than an inadvertant deployment, so it makes no sense to disconnect or otherwise disable the airbag system.

The less exposure the car has had to very high temperatures, the less likely the propellant has degraded, and an electrical fault will light the "airbag" indicator on the dash. The system is microprocessor-based and goes through a self-test every time you turn on the ignition.

On average airbag systems probably have much more life that most think, but the OEMs are just covering their tails for that time when someone has an accident and it doesn't deploy and some lawyer sues for millions.

Duke

I have heard of a test that Volvo is supposedly conducting where they have stored airbags in a harsh environment (desert?) for many years (20+?) and test deploy one each year. To date, no failures. I agree that it is far safer to leave the bag connected and while the front bags do not provide the safety of the systems in use today, I believe that the statistics indicate more that just a "little" protection over no airbag, with one study indicating as many as 6,000 lives saved by airbags, not to mention decrease in severity of injuries sustained.
OliverB

Recall that Mercedes calls this system SRS or Supplemental Restraint System. Its primary purpose is to protect idiots who don't use their seat belts, although it will also provide additional protection to belted drivers in extreme dead head-on collisions, such as into a solid wall, which are extremely rare.

Most "head-on" vehicle collisions are offset type where the cars strike a glancing blow and then spin off to the side. An unbelted driver may be protected from the initial collision, but they are likely to be ejected from the vehicle and end up just as dead as if there was no airbag.

Crash certification testing requires testing with both belted and unbelted crash dummies, but it only simulates the rare dead head-on collison, not a typical offset head-on collision.

Duke

As said in the previous post, airbags were first introduced to protect people who would not use seatbelts. Using a properly adjusted seatbelt will give good protection in most frontal impacts, the main advantage of the SRS system is the seat belt tensioners which fire on impact and pull you back into the seat reducing the risk of contact with wheel,dash,screen. Side impact is I feel the most lethal incident these days,and although strenghthening bars and curtain airbags can give some protection, if you are hit side on by anything travelling at speed you are going to be very lucky to survive. So keep you wits about you when pulling out at junctions.
Geo.

I saw a program a while back and its theme was the future used car market.
With the air bag saftey system well past 10yrs from introduction. Many many used cars will be sold with air bag systems well past the intended life spand.
Installing a new system will cost more than what the car is worth. So most people will not update thier system. The big concerns are, will the air bag deploy on impact or will it deploy on its own as you are driving down the road?
On this program they stated many times when the air bag would deploy on its own, which in some cases caused accidents. Some deployed while sitting in the driveway. I think this issue will start getting alot more attention in the next 5 yrs. when the systems are getting even older.

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Stable:
1973 450sl
1978 red diamond ice vette
1975 steel blue convertable vette
2002 steel blue dakota quad.

Not sure about these cars, but replacement of airbag (driverside) on some require the entire new steering wheel. I think it is built into the wheel. You just do not remove the bag and install it into your old wheel. Someone correct me if I am wrong.......

Also keep in mind, if you get one on e-bay, chances that it could be as old as yours.

BTW - my 1990 Lexus LS400 also had a sticker that said to replace it in 2000, but I heard they had a 20 year extension on the Lexus, but not 100% sure if it was so or not. Good luck!

You can remove the air bag on a W126 without pulling the wheel. Its pretty simple actualy did it once, someone needed the plastic cover and I had a spare.

I can safely say that I am not the slightest bit concerned about this.

If you want new air bags that bad cough up the money for a new car. Even new Kia's blow up like a ballon when you are hit. They have like 10 side impact airbags, nice to know if you are ever hit.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I don't think an airbag blasting me in the face would cause an accident. Once while in the middle of a takeoff roll I had a door pop open on the rented Cessna 172 I was flying. It scared the hell out of me but I managed to keep composed enough to keep the aircraft under control and close the door once I got the plane higher off the ground.

Its highly unlikely that recent airbags will deploy on their own. While it could happen and could scare the hell out of you if you don't throw your hands in the air and start screaming hysterically you can maintain control of the car and pull over to do some really good swearing.

The automotive industry for years has been trying to introduce the concept of the disposable car. In a lot of cases the scare mongering about airbags is just another thing to scare you out of an older car and into a new car.

Most bags fit inside the steering wheel and can be replaced independantly of the steering wheels. Do a search on ebay for airbags and you will see just the center part of the steering wheel for sale.