NHTSA investigating Mercedes-Benz E-Class over airbags

[Blackseal]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating the 2005 and 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class for a wiring harness issue that could prevent the airbags from deploying in a collision. There are about 100,000 vehicles that could be affected if a recall notice is issued, and NHTSA says that it's received four complains of failures of the wiring harness, though there have been no reported injuries as a result of the issue.

 

Mercedes spokesman Robert Moran reportedly told Bloomberg that the condition presents itself when drivers telescope the steering wheel all the way out and and as high as it can go. Under those conditions the potentially defective harness could pull out of the connector block, causing an open-circuit condition in the driver's airbag circuits. If the harness disconnects from the connector, the air bag warning lamp will illuminate and one of two diagnostic fault codes will point to the problem. The German automaker sent out a TSB back in December 2005 to address the issue, which is fixed with what NHTSA calls a "substantially longer" wiring harness. The TSBs, which have been updated over time, covers MY 2003-2009 E-Class and the MY 2006-2010 CLS, though only the 2005 and 2006 E-Class is currently being investigated. Hit the jump to read over the NHTSA summery of the investigation.

 

[source: Bloomberg]