Mercedes recalls 126k vehicles over faulty airbags

The German luxury carmaker said a control unit in airbags used in certain models could malfunction in one of two ways: the airbags might not deploy in a crash, or they might deploy without being in a crash. The worldwide recall covers 2008-9 C300, C350 and C63 AMG models, as well as the 2010 GLK350. However, Mercedes isn’t stating how many vehicles were involved globally.

In 2013 Mercedes learnt of some airbags deploying without being in a crash, concluding that the problem was with a control unit and worked in Europe that year to remedy the problem. Last year, there were three inadvertent deployments in the USA, but Mercedes said the investigation was complicated because the vehicles either had flood damage or had been in a previous crash. It wasn’t until last month that Mercedes, studying another deployment this summer, concluded that a recall was needed.

Airbag problems have been the bane of the auto industry for quite some time now, involving at least 12 automakers and 19 million Takata-manufactured airbags worldwide. FIAT Chrysler and Honda have also issued similar recalls in the last three months.