Customer was in today with his 99 E320 and showed me the dash. This thing is cracked everywhere, even almost completely around the airbag. Anyone else seen this ? This is a low mile car that has not been in the sun much at all.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

They are a weak spot on the W210 definitely. I wonder how expensive the replacements are? Mine has a couple cracks but I'm sure more are around the corner. Makes the old W124 and W126 dashes look bulletproof in comparison.

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

Common with the W210s. Mine is in good shape actually, black too. I've read posts where guys have fixed the crack with putty and then painted with a latex paint tinted to match the dash.

If a crack starts, you could probably stop it from further expanding by sealing the edges with clear nail polish or something similar.

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

I just bought a used '98 W210, with a black interior. It's got two of three small cracks in the dash, mostly around the vents and one on the passenger airbag cover. I don't know if the car was garaged in its past life or not.

By contrast, my mother has a '99 that she bought new with a tan interior, and has always been garaged from Texas sun. The interior is as good as the day it was new.

Cheers, John

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'98 E300TD (W210) | Sold 6/09 with 205k and counting
'04 VW Touareg V10TDI

Ive Replaced several W210 dash pads...Its a Known Problem...Cracks around the passenger airbag and the center defroster vent ...

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MBENZNL.com

Are the replacement pads upgraded so as not to crack in the same fashion?

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

My mom's '99 E430 had cracked badly in those two spots.

My 2000 E430 is just starting to crack in the same locations.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

My '99 has a cracked dash cover, just like my 85 did. I think my '95 didn't, but I'm sure it would have if I had kept it longer. Based on my experience, 2/3 of all Mercedes have cracked dashes.

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Prost!

Yikes,,, another reason to stick with the 124's. I doubt that the replacement dashes are any better, unlike the new wiring harnesses for the 124's.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

Yep, if you have all of the "kinks" worked out of your W124's, like the wiring harnesses, head gasket on the M104, and possibly the throttle actuators, I'd say stick with 'em.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Mine has it, but it's not that bad.

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With best regards

Al

Yep they all do it, I think a new one is like $500.

Don't feel bad a W126's dash runs $700 last I heard.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200