TAKATA Airbag Inflator Recall

Dear Valued Mercedes-Benz Owner,

The automotive industry is facing an unprecedented challenge with respect to the recall of Takata airbags. As you probably know, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) has made the determination that millions of Takata airbags are potentially defective and the inflators in these airbags, if defective, could explode causing injury or even death. Mercedes-Benz uses these driver-side Takata airbags in many of its vehicles and, while we have not seen any related incidents in our vehicles, given NHTSA’s determination that a safety risk exists, we are recalling Mercedes-Benz vehicles which use the affected airbags. Your safety and peace of mind are our top priority.

Given the sheer size of the total affected vehicle population, NHTSA is making determinations as to when and to whom available airbags are allocated under their Coordinated Remedy Program. This means that we are subject to parts availability constraints as we seek to bring Mercedes-Benz vehicles back to our dealerships to have these airbags replaced. This is not a desirable situation but it is one over which we have little control.

We ask for your patience as we work through these logistics. You have our assurance that we are bringing every resource to bear in order to address this issue so as to effect a remedy and minimize the inconvenience to you.

 

We will keep this page updated with information as it becomes available and will, of course, inform you individually as the parts become available.

Should you need additional assistance, please visit www.mbusa.com, and use the “Email/Write” section under Customer Support, or call 1-877-496-3691.

Once again, we sincerely regret any disruption or inconvenience this situation may have caused and ask for your understanding and your patience as we address this issue.

Dietmar Exler
President and CEO
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC

How does a customer know whether their vehicle is affected by the recall?

Any customers who are potentially affected will be mailed an interim letter in April. Until they receive the letter, they can check if their vehicle is affected by entering their VIN into the following site: http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/recall

Daimler AG was informed that Takata submitted a “Defect Information Report” to NHTSA in the US on January 25, 2016, reporting a potential safety defect for SDI and PSDI-5 airbag inflators. Takata’s investigation of affected inflators to date indicates that exposure to certain environmental conditions (several years of exposure to persistent conditions of high absolute humidity), could lead to over-aggressive combustion in the event of a driver’s-side air bag deployment.

In a crash where the air bag system deploys, the air bag inflator housing may rupture. In the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the air bag material, which may result in injury or death to vehicle occupants. To date, we are not aware of any instances of ruptured inflators in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

What are the ranges for the individual model lines?

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