Quote:
Originally posted by TROVERMAN
Info: my 96 Volvo 960 wagon has front & side bags, but they must be serviced or replaced in 10 years or they may fail. Is this the case with my 95 E320's bags? ...
...On the door pillar (the Volvo) a red label says the seat belts must also be serviced or replaced because some "pyrotechnic mechanism" will fail after that period. Anyone heard anything on this, and is it the same in the Benz?
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The bags in MB's were originally labelled for 10 years, and that was amended to 15 years some time ago. No stickers in your car? Most folks have them.
The SRS system uses ETR's (Emergency Tensioning Retractors) that are basically explosive charges in the seatbelt retractor that fire to take up slack in the seatbelt during a collision and compensate for seatbelt stretch. Some experts think that better headrests, strong seat-back frames (don't break during a rear collision) and ETR's, combined, produce a much better system than airbags. So, Mercedes' systems rely primarily on those items, and use the airbags ONLY in the most severe instances.
People need to stop relying on the "star" rating system. While it's a good indicator of the ability of a car to withstand certain collisions, it means nothing in the event of roll-over, offset crash (IIHS test is good) or rear-end collision. It also has nothing factored on for active safety, where many "safe" vehicles fail. I would trade all the airbags in the world for superb brakes, great tires, predictable handling and other things like heated washer fluid, heated mirrors, and so on.
Now, Lexus, in it's wisdom, copied Mercedes. Mercedes used to hold the patent on many safety features now found in every car, but vowed never to enforce them. They actually encourage makers to copy their efforts. That GS sustained enough damage to write the car off (not that hard actually) but the cabin is intact. None of the pillars are even strained at all. The "appraiser" talks about the huge impact that moved the engine. The driveline in all good cars is designed to move, both absorbing impact forces (instead of deflecting them towards you) and keeping from jumping in your lap. I stand by my assessment (based solely on the pics) that the car did it's job, and did it well. No one was hurt, but the car. That's the desired result.