2019 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Air Bags & Restraints Problems

While traveling at highway speeds with adaptive cruise control safety systems engaged, the vehicle failed to detect a hazard immediately ahead in its lane. The Forward Collision Warning failed to alert the driver, and the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) failed to initiate automated emergency deceleration. Manual emergency braking was attempted by the driver in the final milliseconds, but the vehicle's braking system failed to sufficiently decelerate the vehicle, resulting in a high-energy frontal collision. Despite severe structural deformation concentrated entirely on the front fascia and crumple zones, the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) completely failed and no airbags deployed. The driver sustained injuries to the neck, back, and ribs. The vehicle has been declared a total loss by insurance and is available for inspection at a salvage facility. The manufacturer was notified over a month ago (Case #21986205) but has failed to pull the Event Data Recorder (EDR) telemetry or provide an engineering review timeline. No prior warning lamps or system malfunction messages were present before the incident.

The driver and passenger seat belts do not retract at all.

On May 23, 2023, the audible and visual seat belt alerts activated to notify me that the driver and/or passenger that the seat belt was not properly secured. However, both the driver and/or the passenger had the seat belt on at all times the car was moving. We tried unbuckling then re-buckling to the seat belts to see whether this would affect the alerts, but it did not. We took the car to the Mercedes-Benz dealership on May 31, 2023, but they could not replicate the problem and it resolved on its own. At the time of this first occurrence, our car had 25,053 miles. Our car now has about 32,000 miles. This past weekend, on February 3, 2024, the problem recurred and the visual and audible alerts continue to be activated. I did a web search and I noticed there is a recall for my model, make and year (2019 Mercedes-Benz E300), for what appears to be the SAME problem, but for some odd reason, my car is not on the recall list. The NHTSA campaign number is 19V-788. Both the audible and visual seat belt alerts remain activated and we are extremely concerned that this could lead to an improperly functioning system in the event of a crash. We had voiced these concerns to the dealership in May 2023, but they said they were not able to do anything because they could not find a faulty code. They told us to bring the car back in if the issue arose again. Please add our VIN to this recall. In the meantime, we have scheduled an appointment with the dealership to look at this problem again. Also, I took videos of these occurrences that I am happy to share, but it appears I am unable to upload them below. I took screenshots instead and uploaded them, along with the invoice statement from when we took the car to the dealership in May 2023.

I HAVE ISSUES WITH MY SEATBELT AND THE CAR IS NOTIFYING ME THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH IT, AND WHEN I CALL MERCEDES BENZ, THERE IS NOBODY HELPING ME. I CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY WERE DISMISSIVE TO MY COMPLAINT AND TOLD ME THAT THEY HAD NO PARTS TO FIX THE DEFECTIVE SEATBELT. I THEN CALLED MERCEDES BENZ CORPORATE OFFICE, AND I ASKED IF MY CAR WAS SAFE TO DRIVE AND THE YOUNG LADY WOULD NOT ANSWER ME, AND I RESTATED THE QUESTION AND SAID " ARE YOU SAYING MY CAR IS SAFE TO DRIVE?' AND SHE SAID, "NO, I AM NOT TELLING YOU THAT THE CAR IS SAFE TO DRIVE." SO, WHICH IS IT? I HAVE FAULTY SEATBELT AND THEY HAVE NO PARTS TO FIX IT. WHICH SEATBELT IS IT?

IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH AND I USE MY CAR FOR UBER. UBER WON'T LET ME WORK UNLESS MERCEDES FIX THIS ISSUE. I'M SHORT ON MONEY AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO AND I'M STILL MAKING PAYMENTS!

HIT ON DRIVER'S SIDE DOOR AREA. PRESALE FAILED TO OPERATE. SEAT BELTS DID NOT RESTRAIN DRIVER OR PASSENGER. AIR BAGS DID NOT TRIGGER. DRIVER HIT STEERING WHEEL AND WAS INJURED. ENTERING INTERSECTION OF N. DRUID HILLS RD AND CLAIRMONT RD, ATLANTA, GA. MY VEHICLE WAS AT VERY LOW SPEED. OTHER VEHICLE WAS TRAVELING AT UNKNOWN SPEED. (SPEED LIMIT WAS 45 MPH.*DT AGENCY CASE NUMBER (XXX) INSURANCE POLICY (XXXXXX) DRIVER'S NUMBER (XXX) TAG NUMBER (XXXXXX) VIN (XXXXXX) DOB (XXXXX) ('PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).')*JB

THE CAR DOES NOT DETECT A PROPERLY FASTENED SEATBELT SOMETIMES AND THE SEATBELT WILL NOT ADJUST AUTOMATICALLY EVEN WHEN PROPERLY FASTENED. BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDE SEATBELTS ARE AFFECTED. TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP TWICE FOR THE SAME PROBLEM AND THE SEAT BELT MALFUNCTION CONTINUES. IN MY OPINION, THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE FOR DRIVERS SINCE THE AIRBAGS DO NOT ACTIVATE WHEN THE CAR IS UNABLE TO DETECT THAT SEAT BELT HAS BEEN FASTENED. PLEASE INVESTIGATE. SEE REPAIR INVOICE FROM DEALERSHIP THAT INCLUDES THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM AND WHAT WAS DONE TO FIX IT. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SEATBELT MALFUNCTION STILL CONTINUES.

THE CAR DOES NOT DETECT A PROPERLY FASTENED SEATBELT SOMETIMES AND THE SEATBELT WILL NOT ADJUST AUTOMATICALLY EVEN WHEN PROPERLY FASTENED. INTERMITTENT ISSUE. LOOKS LIKE OTHER MODELS HAVE HAD RECALLS RELATED TO SIMILAR COMPLAINTS. HTTPS://WWW.CONSUMERAFFAIRS.COM/NEWS/MERCEDES-BENZ-VEHICLES-WITH-SEATBELT-ISSUE-RECALLED-121018.HTML

AT TIMES WHEN SEATBELT IS FASTENED IT IS DETECTED AS NOT HOOKED UP. RECALL IS IN EFFECT FOR SOME MODELS BUT NOT E300, 18V839000, THIS MODEL SHOULD BE LISTED ALSO. HAPPENS RANDOMLY.

CAR DOES NOT ALWAYS RECOGNIZE WHEN THE DRIVERS SEAT BELT IS BUCKLED. THIS RESULTS IN THE PRETENSIONER NOT ACTIVATING AND THE SEAT BELT WARNING FROM BEING DISARMED.