Hi guys,

I own a 1999 E220cdi (model W210) and I'm experiencing a small issue since last week.

Both the SRS-warning light in the instrument cluster and the "airbag off" amber light next to the gear selector light up... but ONLY when transporting someone in the passenger seat..

What could this be? I'd like to get this fixed because I'm afraid the passenger side airbag won't inflate when being hit head-on, which scares me.

I've also noticed a crack in the left seam of the airbag in the dash.. which wasn't present before.. I don't know if these things are all related to each other, the seam may just have let loose because the car was exposed a couple of hours to extreme sunlight end high temperatures on a parking lot..

Anyone had one or both of these occurences with their car?


I'll post a pic as soon as I can, as to show what I mean, referring to the "cracked seam" .

Thanks in advance !

P.

You need to have a scan done on the SRS system to find the problem...

The passenger seat has a seat recognition sensor & they do fail...

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The passenger seat occupant sensor is mounted underneath the leather. The seat has to be removed, and the leather removed from the seat. My friend owns a seat upholstery shop and he did it in less then half an hour for $40. The part cost me $130 online. Actually what fails is the wire between the sensor and the harness underneath the seat. The rocket scientists at mercedes strap the wire tightly to a sharp edge underneath the seat and everytime a passenger sits down, it pushes pressure on the wire. Eventually it cuts through and you get the condition you described. There is no way to bypass the sensor because its a totally over engineered data signal device.

The best I can tell it is only useful if your using a Mercedes Infant car seat that plugs into the harness. The passenger airbag off light doesnt come on if there is no passenger like it does on newer american cars. In other words, it's a totally useless, over engineered system that frequently fails and costs Mercedes owners big bucks. A system for an infant car seat THAT SHOULD BE IN THE BACK SEAT ANYWAY. Dealers get about 600 for the repair.

That said, I still love me E320 :-)

Did you find out what happened ??

Mine just did the same thing right down to the crack in the dash.