Front Air Bag problems of the 2006 Mercedes Benz E Class

Extremely dangerous: yesterday 1/19/11 while driving ~35-40mph and pressing the gas pedal, my 2006 Mercedes Benz ml350 suddenly &rapidly decelerated while making a loud grinding noise and the auto gave the message that the airbags were deactivated by the car. This could have caused a fatal accident for me had I been on the busy highway. I took the auto to the dealership- Mercedes Benz honolulu and they offered very little acknowledgement to the defectiveness of the auto and wouldn't take responsibility. Another major safety issue is a couple of weeks ago, my husband used normal force to pull the adjustment lever for the steering wheel tilt, and it came clean off of the panel. He put the lever back into place an it fell all the way into the panel! this has caused the tilt to be permanently loose and unable to be locked into place. Again, the Mercedes Benz dealership refused to take any responsibility whatsoever. The repair quote that was offered was $1475. 00 for the tilt repair- this is overcharging and price prohibitive. Should't Mercedes Benz acknowledge the safety issues, report them so that they don't recur in other vehicles? these issues could cause passenger death. Thank you. Michelle kendall, rn. 46-161 nona loop. Kaneohe, hi 96744. 808-291-8254 (voicemail), 808-235-4071. Feel free to contact me for more information.