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? I know Volvo has an "insurance" policy on the 960 and (all?) cars: if I died in the 1st 40k miles on the car from a roll-over or frontal impact, Volvo will pay my family 250 grand. Pretty confident, huh?

One comment I will make though, is it wasn't until 1995 that Volvo added a 3rd headrest in the 2nd row seat as a safety feature, and it is not a plush one either. Mercedes has had them in their wagons since the early 80's.

Oh yeah...one more question. 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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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

Mercedes used to have a 10 year replacement period for airbags. They have extended the replacement interval to 15 years.

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

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.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Speaking of active safety, when I lived in Germany the car dealers had a chart on the wall showing the relative visability of various colors. My BMW was orange but I think there was a yellow available. Germany also requires that any car manufactured there have tires that are capable of withstanding the performance of the car they are mounted on. Not so in the U.S.

In comparison, I simply reference the Ford Explorer or the fact that Walmarts doesn't sell a tire with an A heat rating.

European car companies rely on world class automotive engineers to solve safety issures. Too many others rely on government civil servants who couldn't get a job in the real world.

Mercedes Benz may have occasional wind burn from pushing the envelope too far but if it wasn't for MB, there would be far more people killed or injured worldwide.

just curious... how many in the north east region 'dared' to take out their w124's out in the snow this weekend ?
While I saw atleast 12 other benzes, S, C, E class stuck on the side roads refusing to go anywhere while the fwd cars were passing them right by. For the 8 I've put in the old 260E so far in the last 3 years, I could've easily have bought 3 old camries and rode them at different times all through the snow storm without having to worry about not being able to climb even the slightest street slopes ... oh well !
Perhaps I should now invest another 1200 in snow tires/wheels as I'm sure will be suggested at this point. or should i just go buy an old tercel for that money and not worry about it's maintenance ?

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Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

I really dont know what is so hard to getting around in a RWD car in the snow and ice. I had one for my first car and now my benz, and neither have any trouble. I pass FWD's and 4WD's in them. Especially my first car. Long story there...

You people who cant drive RWD cars in snow need to learn a little something about the laws of physics.

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http://comp.uark.edu/~dmgill/signature.jpg

I drove my 1992 300D on snow the day before yesterday.

ABS seems to work as I expected.

I get some more slip on acceleration. Mine has no ASR.

That is due to F:R weight distribution:
typical RWD 50% : 50%
typical FWD 60% : 40%
So usually FWD has more traction. But if one has many passengers on rear seat and heavy luggage in trunk, RWD has more traction.

I also got some oversteer. Fortunately, I quickly responded to oversteer so that I could avoid my car spinning. FWD car might have had understeer, which may be easier to manage.

I live adjacent to a well-off area in suburban Washington...the winter "beaters" are spectacular...mid-'60s Benzes, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Caddilacs...ALL big rear wheel drive tanks.

In the "old money" Baltimore neighborhood I grew up in during the '50s and '60s, there were still tons of prewar cars in daily use. One old lady kept a '38 Buick Roadmaster up on blocks in her garage, the tire chains on permanently.

Jim B+. I don't use my Mercedes in the winter in Wisconsin. By the the time it snows her I'm in Florida, where , naturally it works perfectly. With so little maintenace requried on the car I never take it to any dealer for "fixes". The car, with 200,000 ,mile so far runs just like it was new. The way I bought it. BTW, I never let the kids use it and I think this is important. What say you?

TROVERMAN,

When I was searching for a used car,

many MB's also had their SRS checked and air bag replaced at their 10'th year.

I could see a sticker indicating the airbag replacement on the inside of glove box or B pillar.
My 1992 MB 300D has such a sticker too.

When I first saw such stickers, I thought the car had an accident.
I called a technician at a Volvo dealer whether the replacement was likely to be due to regular maintenance or accident.
The Volvo technician annoyingly said he never saw such an airbag replacement sticker. Does Volvo educate people at Volvo dealer?

Took mine out to play the other day in the white stuff.

It was my SDL, with all season tires. The car never slides like my old '85 300D used to, but it can be hassleing to get it moving from a stop sometimes. Never, ever lose control of it. Its just too heavy.

The only better RWD MB in the snow is thas got to be the W124 wagon.


1st place W124 wagon (my sister's)

2nd place W126 300SDL + 350SD(mine)

3rd place W210 E420 (mine, and yes ESP does help a lot. But on the slightest grade, it gets stuck.)

4th place W124 300D turbo 300E(these car's have really light rear-ends! Absolutely nightmares to drive in snow without weight in the trunk.)

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Mercedes E 220 CDI Classic

Ähem, schon kaputt: Die Plastikhäkchen hielten nur kurz.


Poor build quality of 2000 MB E class under test by AutoBild in Germany.

http://www.autobild.de/artikel_automarkt.php?artikel_id=1227&artikel_seite=0&typ=1&merkliste=0&auswahlliste=1

honestly, I'd rather have cheap plastic in my W124 and have it "not" break down every month rather than the other way around !

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Whether you think you can or cannot, Either way you're right!. by Henry Ford.

Found the sticker on the door for the airbags--15 year replacement date. The Volvo is ten. Living in NH, we got 25" of snow. Tried driving it (it is a RWD E Class Wagon) and it couldn't go anywhere. It needs Nokian tires, which will be bought this week, and it should go better. Made it home, almost spinning out a lot of the time, and brought out the vehicle which goes anywhere in snow with zero problems: THE RANGE ROVER (albeit @ 10mpg!)

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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

I bought a 1995 S600 with 120,000 miles on it last April. I've wanted one of these beautiful beasts for a long time. I fell in love with it at first sight. It appeared very well taken care of, and I still think it was. However, it's been in the shop at least 3 times since I bought it. Check Engine light, SRS light, Steering Angle Sensor, and a broken heater line manifold. That manifold problem is probably what pushed me very close to the edge. I could see no way to change it without possibly pulling the engine. I decided to let the dealer handle it. The dealer quoted a reasonable price, and about 3 days to fix it. 10 days later, I finally got the car back. The dealer said they had at least 10 solid hours of work in the car, and at $120 an hour, that could have been pretty expensive (I have to say that the dealer, Loeber Motors in Lincolnwood IL was very decent about it. They honored their quote, and they always treat me good). I'm very concerned about the repair and maintenance issues on a car like this. It's like people say...when it's running good, it's an amazing car to drive. But when it's time to fix it, it hurts. As much as I love this car, I will probably sell it this summer. I am just not comfortable knowing that such high costs for maintenance are lurking around the corner.