Three problems related to air bag have been reported for the 2006 Mercedes Benz E320. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
My airbags self deployed while I was driving. I had just left work and driving northbound on the west sam houston tollway approaching the toll station at highway speeds. There was an incredibly loud explosion and and hard percussion as the airbags self deployed while I was driving. I thought I had been punched or shot in the gut. The passenger side curtain dropped down and the right rear passenger side door bag deployed. The seatbelt around my waist and shoulder tightened. Fortunately, I kept it together and drove directly to the dealership. I had not hit anything, run over a pothole, swerved or otherwise make any sudden direction change. I was immediately called by an operator on the mercedes emergency system within the car. So mercedes is aware of the incident at the time it happened. She asked if I needed an ambulance or police. I told her that the airbags had deployed on their own and that I was physically ok. Additionally, I drove immediately to star motor dealership where they looked at my vehicle less than 20 minutes after it occurred. The service adviser and some of the technicians quickly looked at the vehicle (it was near closing time). They said they could not read the codes other than the srs fault. I was advised that it would likely be cheaper to fix at a body shop than at the dealer. I later found that the driver side rear seatbelt had also deployed and was tightened.
Driving east on us 30 in slow moving traffic on wet pavement (due to previous rain) between toronito street and loucks mill road in york, PA, I attempted to slow down to stay with the traffic and realized the brakes were not working, I applied full pressure expecting the abs to activate and nothing happened. I ran into the back of the car ahead which went into the car in front of him. The impact did not activate the airbags. My seat belt held me but I did receive whip-lash. The insurance company has totaled my car. The consumer received a letter from Mercedes Benz stating the impact damage was below air bag deployment thresholds and the examination of the vehicle, revealed no defect in the braking system. Updated ivoq 01/06/12.
2006 mercedes E320 cdi srs malfunction message. So far have had to replace steering wheel wiring harness connector, harness, reel, and computer to repair srs.