Since January 2025, the front passenger occupant-classification system on my 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 intermittently fails to detect a properly seated adult occupant and instead displays "Passenger Airbag Disabled" on the instrument cluster. When this occurs, the system misclassifies an occupied seat as empty/child and deactivates the front passenger airbag — meaning the airbag would not deploy for that occupant in a crash. I have presented the vehicle to Mercedes-Benz of Chantilly five times for this defect: - Jan 8–14, 2025 (RO 268946, 4,459 mi) — technician performed a zero-setting recalibration of the N110 weight-classification module and a teach-in procedure; defect persisted - Feb 21, 2025 (RO 270989) - May 14–21, 2025 (RO 275140, 7,330 mi) - Oct 31, 2025 (RO 284244) - Mar 23, 2026 (RO 290690, 14,689 mi) — final repair attempt following a certified written notice to Mercedes-Benz USA Every visit, the dealer recorded "could not duplicate" and returned the car unrepaired. I have repeatedly photographed the "Passenger Airbag Disabled" warning with my wife — an adult — properly seated in the front passenger seat. The defect continues to occur in normal use. Because the front passenger airbag cannot be trusted, my wife now rides in the back seat. This appears to be a systemic occupant-classification defect, not an isolated sensor glitch: the dealer's own recalibration of the classification system failed to correct it, and the misclassification recurs across 18+ months and 15,000+ miles of driving. I am concerned other EQE/EQS owners with smaller-stature front passengers may be driving with deactivated passenger airbags without knowing it. I request NHTSA investigate whether the occupant-classification system on this platform reliably detects adult occupants across the full range of adult body sizes.
- NHTSA ID
- 11766723
- Incident
- Sep 24, 2026