Mercedes airbag recall

[Lambchop 4]

Wife bought a Mercedes from Mercedes main dealer, we got a letter through the door saying her model had an airbag fault and if you bring in they’ll fix. She rings up and they say as long as airbag light doesn’t come on its fine . Last week airbag light came on and her steering wheel buttons down work. So I ring up Mercedes and they say they’ll look. Hour later they say oh we’ve done what we were meant to your airbag/steering wheel is still faulty didn’t fix anything . That’s not our issue . Can I pursue this further with Mercedes or is it not worth it ?Took to my mechanic and he says it needs  airbag squib, so 280 for squib and whatever he wants for fitting . Is there any chance Mercedes will admit fault and pay for squib or am I just gonna have to get my guy to do it and pay? 

[Frank Cannon 812]

Is the car still under warranty with MB, if yes then, well yes. 

[petrol head 46]

Mercedes customer service was shocking, well it certainly used to be, call Milton Keynes and complain, it usually get's you somewhere?

[Halfpenny 114]

AFAIK this MB recall is for faulty clocksprings fitted to 2011-2017 cars.

If the wheel controls don't work then that does point to a faulty clockspring, or possibly some other part of the steering wiring harness if a new clockspring didn't fix it. Unfortunately the quality of these wiring harnesses is not great.  A faulty squib shouldn't stop the wheel buttons from working though, so I am a bit doubtful of your mechanic's diagnosis.  Do the buttons light up when lights are switched on?

I must say its very poor of the dealer to do work on the SRS and send you away with the light on (even if not related to their work) they should at least explain the fault to you - I would assume they did diagnosis?

[Lambchop 4]

Nope no diagnosis, having read a bit of the recall it says there if there is loose wiring from airbag it’s not earthed correctly and could possibly set airbag off. I think Mercedes just put a clock spring in and that’s that. Buttons don’t light or work also horn doesn’t work. They did manage to send me a ‘health check video’ trying to flog a load of shite that didn’t need doing . Gonna complain see if it gets me somewhere. Don’t know how they admit fault , and then refuse to actually fix the issue . 

[Jas 1]

Hey

IIRC for this recall they were replacing the entire steering column control module that comes with the clockspring affected.

I've seen the steering wheel buttons, horn and sometimes times the indicators and other stalks fail because of a duff module, a replacement steering column module, a code and off it goes.

Can you get them to confirm they replaced the steering column as a whole unit? I'd be in awe if one has failed that quickly, but as per what halfpenny says, I do doubt the squib diagnosis, and ideally you're going to want to find someone with a star/xentry not a generic code reader. If the is still serviced at Mercedes or is it still within the 1 year of purchase roadside assistance will be able to xentry scan it for you.

My money is on something being damaged or not fitted correctly during the recall unfortunately

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by Jas

[Halfpenny 114]

14 minutes ago, Jas said:

Hey

IIRC for this recall they were replacing the entire steering column control module that comes with the clockspring affected.

I've seen the steering wheel buttons, horn and sometimes times the indicators and other stalks fail because of a duff module, a replacement steering column module, a code and off it goes.

Can you get them to confirm they replaced the steering column as a whole unit? I'd be in awe if one has failed that quickly

I believe they just replace the rotary coupler (clockspring) and add an extra earth. Its about a 20 minute job.  I don't think they replace the column module unless they've recently increased the scope of the recall.

Its quite possible that the column module has indeed failed, but the dealer should explain what is going on. Bad to do work on SRS then just send a customer away with SRS light on and no explanation. We wouldn't do that.  Column modules do fail and IIRC were around £600 last time I priced on.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Halfpenny

[Jas 1]

Just now, Halfpenny said:

I believe they just replace the rotary coupler (clockspring) and add an extra earth. Its about a 20 minute job.  I don't think they replace the column module.

Its quite possible that the column module has indeed failed, but the dealer should explain what is going on. Bad to do work on SRS then just send a customer away with SRS light on and no explanation. We wouldn't do that.  Column modules do fail and IIRC were around £600 last time I priced on.

As embarrassing as it is to be a tech that did a fair few of those recalls in the past, you might be right about only the clock spring being replaced - Its been a while and we did also do a lot of those steering column modules as well that came as one unit.

If its just the clockspring that has been replaced now it will be the module itself up the duff I'd bet. Might not be down to the recall then, but I again, at least offer to diagnose it for the customer (at least, imho)