Just completed 1250km (just under 800 miles) when I got the letters "SRS" in red light-up next to the rev counter and my first warning flashing up saying "Restraint System Malfunction. Drive to your Service Centre". Great! Wasn't too impressed as the time was 11.45pm on Friday night and my dealer is closed at weekends! In addition Monday was a local Andalucian public holiday (they like those things here!) so...minimum three days to kill before problem sorted!
Bright and early next morning I rang the Spanish Mercedes Benz 24-hour freefone number and got a very helpful response from the girl I spoke to. She first of all checked with a technician and confirmed that the malfunction was not a critical one and that I could continue to drive, then rang back and pinpointed the route to the nearest available dealer to me, with highway numbers, urbanisation and street names and the dealer name and telephone number - all done with grace, humour and helpfulness - and in English!
Since the nearest dealer was over 50km away and I had less than 40 minutes to find it because of a diary clash, I left it until today to visit my own dealer in Marbella. They quickly diagnosed what the problem was - a faulty air-bag sensor - and immediately ordered a replacement sensor. They will call me for the repair as soon as it arrives.
In the meantime I am driving gingerly, well aware that any huge impact (like from the side with a bus or truck) will not activate the airbags! Funny how quickly you get used to the protection of advanced safety features! I feel naked without them.
This has been a relatively minor problem and should prove simple to remedy, but FULL MARKS to Mercedes Benz for dealing with it (so far) in the manner a customer would expect - quickly, efficiently and courteously. Hopefully any future problems will be dealt with in the same customer-orientated manner.
Scott [
]
Bright and early next morning I rang the Spanish Mercedes Benz 24-hour freefone number and got a very helpful response from the girl I spoke to. She first of all checked with a technician and confirmed that the malfunction was not a critical one and that I could continue to drive, then rang back and pinpointed the route to the nearest available dealer to me, with highway numbers, urbanisation and street names and the dealer name and telephone number - all done with grace, humour and helpfulness - and in English!
Since the nearest dealer was over 50km away and I had less than 40 minutes to find it because of a diary clash, I left it until today to visit my own dealer in Marbella. They quickly diagnosed what the problem was - a faulty air-bag sensor - and immediately ordered a replacement sensor. They will call me for the repair as soon as it arrives.
In the meantime I am driving gingerly, well aware that any huge impact (like from the side with a bus or truck) will not activate the airbags! Funny how quickly you get used to the protection of advanced safety features! I feel naked without them.
This has been a relatively minor problem and should prove simple to remedy, but FULL MARKS to Mercedes Benz for dealing with it (so far) in the manner a customer would expect - quickly, efficiently and courteously. Hopefully any future problems will be dealt with in the same customer-orientated manner.
Scott [
]
