I remember when I saw Jeremy Clarkson review the old CL65 AMG.

"....and with a broken headlamp on our press demonstrator, we see that it is built like an ordinary Mercedes too".

"See this [swiveling unhinged] backrest? There's more examples of Mercedes build quality!"

Nevertheless, I'm not too quick to criticise the airbag issue. There's a recall issued for 2008 1er and 3er (US market only) regarding failure of side airbags.