500E without Airbag option!

[aliking]

hello all
i want to ask about the airbag option in 500E cars, my car came with no airbags, driver and passenger side, i checked the vin number and couldnt find the airbag option code there, which means it wasnt equipped with airbag from the factory, i wonder if thats ok? a fast car with no airbags? although all the pictures online for cars with airbag or dual airbags.
thanks all

 

[Rouven036]

In the early cars it was an option. Both driver as well passenger.
Certainly it is OK to built a fast car without airbag, same principle as you can do "other" things too without protection its "your" responsibility.... The airbag belongs to the so called SUPPLEMENTAL RETRAINING SYSTEM
it supplements the normal safety features of your car such as crumple zones, stiff passenger cabin and seat belts paired with impact bolster on the steering wheel, soft surfaces in the interior etc.. But also it doesn't need to be mentioned that the best and most (quantity) airbags won't safe your life when crashing at speeds exceeding the structural strength the vehicle has been designed for.

 

[Efraim]

Do you have access to factory EPC? There you can fetch list of SAA codes that is a recipe for product revealing all equipments.

 

[gerryvz]

I think only a relatively small number of early production cars made in late 1990 and early 1991shipped without airbags.

 

[aliking]

Do you have access to factory EPC? There you can fetch list of SAA codes that is a recipe for product revealing all equipments.

yeah and the airbag code not exist

 

[aliking]

I think only a relatively small number of early production cars made in late 1990 and early 1991shipped without airbags.

yea u r right the built date of my car is 02-1991

 

[gsxr]

Since your car is a 1992 (approximately), I guess the question is, did all 036's have full SRS as standard equipment after a certain date? The EPC seems to imply that all 036's after Jan-1992 production had airbags.

All USA/Canada-spec 036's have both airbags as standard equipment, even early cars built in summer 1991. Only non-US/CAN vehicles could be had without airbags. But I don't know what the possibilities were across the pond, i.e. if you could special order a later-build 036 without the airbag.

 

[aliking]

Since your car is a 1992 (approximately), I guess the question is, did all 036's have full SRS as standard equipment after a certain date? The EPC seems to imply that all 036's after Jan-1992 production had airbags.

All USA/Canada-spec 036's have both airbags as standard equipment, even early cars built in summer 1991. Only non-US/CAN vehicles could be had without airbags. But I don't know what the possibilities were across the pond, i.e. if you could special order a later-build 036 without the airbag.

thank you for this informations
now its clear for me
im planning to add the airbag option later

 

[alabbasi]

It depends on the export market. Drivers side airbags did not become mandatory until 1993 and very few cars, including Mercedes Benz. Here's a 1991 C124, as you can see, no airbags