1996 W210 Airbag blew suddenly!!!

[ajax25]

Hey guys..

Newbie here...Sorry if this matter had been brought up before but I've spent hours trying to find the same problem happened to me but just couldnt find it.

What happened was, normally the SRS light on my dashboard appeared to be illuminated for about 1-2 minutes after ignition which I've learned that indicates a non-critical issue with the airbag and it will still functioning as normal.

However when I was driving yesterday around 40 MPH on an exit near a motorway, I pressed on the brake and suddenly I heard a loud POP sound like a balloon bursting and the seatbelts were tightened/stretched almost instantaneously like I was hitting or crashed into something but I wasn't. It felt kind of weird as the SRS acting like I was in an accident. Me and my wife suffered from a minor chest and abnominal pain due to the seatbelts acting crazy.

Luckily I still can control my car and drive normally eventhough I felt like being strapped or cemented to my seat. There were no airbags pop out at all from the weird incident and there was a burning smell/short circuit kind of smell throughout the car. The car now drives normally apart from the SRS light now is illuminating all the time and I cant get the passenger seatbelt to work. Mine is ok but not the passenger as it stuck.

Hopefully some of you guys here can share a view on this weird incident that happened to me. What actually happened to the airbag?. Is this problem is expensive to fix? Feel like I need to replace a new airbag which will cost a fortune. Is there anything else that I could do? Your helps and views will help a lot. I was wondering the whole day yesterday did I just ran over a GHOST trying to cross the road??

 

[whitenemesis]

I would strongly suggest you get the car to the workshop asap!

There is obviously something amiss with SRS, you pretentioners have gone off (hence the smell) and the belts will now not react properly.

 

[Ellsy Tanners]

Take it to a main agent and get them to check it out, something is very wrong there, as under no cercumstances should the srs system activate with braking alone.

 

[television]

And last but not least you must follow the advice above

 

[type49]

Have you had any water leaks inside the car? There are two side impact sensors under the front seats on the floor, if full of water, these can give problems, although I've never known them to set anything off unexpected. Suggest a dealer for this one. Many dealers offer upto 60% off labour rates for older cars so hunt around. Where are you based?

 

[ajax25]

Thanks for the reply guys.Sorry for the late response, been bit busy the whole weekends...I would agree with whitenemesis that the pretensioners on the passenger side might have been activated, I've done a bit of searching that the Pop sound might had been caused by a small explosion to activate the pretensioners. But only the passenger seatbelts got stuck after that not on the driver side. I would guess that dealer should be the right option to go to and hopefully nothing much than the a pretensioners being faulty and nothing wrong with the airbags. I dont have any idea whether the car had any water leaks or not but so far I cant seemed to find any. But anyhow I 'll send the car to the garage and will wait the results. That 60% off labour sounds pretty good type49, would like more info about that or could just ask the dealer straight...Im based in Leeds by the way...cheers

 

[type49]

That 60% off labour sounds pretty good type49, would like more info about that or could just ask the dealer straight...Im based in Leeds by the way...cheers

Also check out some of the local independants

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=31546

 

[OlafMaxwell]

As far as I know there was a recall in the US for a problem with passenger side air bag activation. It was a few years back and was apparently related to a heat issue.