Airbag warning

[SP1959]

But as I said, the car doesn't know if the 'thing' on the front passenger seat is a heavy child in a child seat facing backwards (airbags not required) or small passenger facing forwards (airbags required).

Only the driver can tell which it is, so the car is unable to decide if the airbag should be active or not. The driver has to select what they want.

The roof mounted warning always shows the state of the airbag all the time. The infotainment screen warning comes on every time the state is changed (by using the pull and rotate knob on the side of the facia when the passenger door is open). It shows if you have activated or deactivated it from its previous setting the first time after the change - but not every time you use the car.

[SP1959]

I have now concluded that the airbag warning at the time of the 1.4.2 update must have been a one-off reminder to all drivers of the state of their passenger airbag at the time of the update. The car cannot change the state by software alone as the physical switch can only be moved when the passenger door is open.

[Harald]

So it should be understood that we all have that "Passenger airbag on" light active on the roof? Or do some have it and others don't? (Except those who have deactivated the airbag manually, of course)...

SP1959, is your warning active?

[SP1959]

Mine is always lit up when I start the car.

Mine always shows "passenger airbag on" and a picture showing not to put a baby in the front seat.

If I change the airbag to off (I did it as an experiment to satisfy my curiosity), every time it shows "passenger airbag off", with no baby picture.

The infortainment screen updated just once (after cancelling with the OK button) each time I changed the setting.

[kildare]

Mercedes have an automatic sensor but that needs specific seats to work so they need a manual system too anyway.

Indeed the seat sensors are present and used for safety belt warnings.

[Harald]

Mine is always lit up when I start the car.

Mine always shows "passenger airbag on" and a picture showing not to put a baby in the front seat.

If I change the airbag to off (I did it as an experiment to satisfy my curiosity), every time it shows "passenger airbag off", with no baby picture.

The infortainment screen updated just once (after cancelling with the OK button) each time I changed the setting.

Thanks SP1959.

[andrewollason]

The Mercedes child seat recognition system uses a transponder in the compatible child seat to differentiate between a person sitting in the seat using the seat belt and a rear facing child seat using the seatbelt. For the latter the airbag is automatically disabled.

[SP1959]

And if you don't have a seat with the transponder (probably most seats), then I assume it's the same as the EX30

[andrewollason]

Yes, there is a manual override too. Typical Mercedes, encouraging owners to buy expensive kids seats!