Bought an '03 320 Cabriolet on Friday -- in love with the looks of the car, but with some concern over the reputed cost of ownership (got an extended warranty for that reason). Now I am reading thru my manual and see that I have to fork out hundreds of dollars for a special booster seat for my son because otherwise the airbag will deploy in an accident and it "WILL cause serious injury or death" was how I think it read.
Good grief! My Honda Odyssey automatically senses if a small person is in the passenger seat and disengages the airbag. Even my Ford Ranger has a key switch allowing me to manually disengage the passenger airbag. This is very annoying. I know kids are safer in the back seat, but a big reason I bought a convertible was to take open-air drives with my son sitting beside me. Also, I looked at the car seat on ebay and I don't know if it will even store/fit in the trunk when the top is down.
I guess I'll buy one. I've also emailed the local salvage yard to try to find a scrap one with a good transponder. I would rather stick the transponder in a regular (small) booster seat (my son is 6). Do the transponders have batteries? Anyway, sorry for the rant, just don't think Mercedes did the right thing on this one.
Good grief! My Honda Odyssey automatically senses if a small person is in the passenger seat and disengages the airbag. Even my Ford Ranger has a key switch allowing me to manually disengage the passenger airbag. This is very annoying. I know kids are safer in the back seat, but a big reason I bought a convertible was to take open-air drives with my son sitting beside me. Also, I looked at the car seat on ebay and I don't know if it will even store/fit in the trunk when the top is down.
I guess I'll buy one. I've also emailed the local salvage yard to try to find a scrap one with a good transponder. I would rather stick the transponder in a regular (small) booster seat (my son is 6). Do the transponders have batteries? Anyway, sorry for the rant, just don't think Mercedes did the right thing on this one.
