I have owned my crossfire roadster for 3years now but rarely get the chance to drive it as I have an 18month old. I have attempted to purchase a car seat for my car but Britax the seat manufacturers asked me to contact Chrysler to see what the rules where on fitting car seats as every manufacturer has different rules. They weren't sure whether to apply the Mercedes SLK rules or if Chrysler have their own.

However its like getting blood out of a stone as they played pass the parcel with me!!, the dealer tells me to ring the UK customer services department who tell me to ring a dealer, a different dealer tells me to ring the UK customer services department who finally tell me they don't have any car seat policies for the crossfire and the cheeky woman said it is a sports car not a family car!!! OK I know its a sports car, but I would love to drive it with my son instead of the pickup I currently drive around in

So any thoughts / advice please ....its summer soon and the poor car is stuck in the garage ......

 

I don't know what to tell you. Here in the US I know of only one rule. The child must be in a seat, rear-facing if possible.In the back seat if possible. Past that, if the child is in the front (our case) the Air Bag System must be disabled for the passenger seat.

I am not aware of any brand-specific rules of use.

Pages 39-45 of the owners manual covers this. And if you do not have one, you can download a .pdf here:

http://www.chrysler.com/en/owners/manuals/index.html

Good luck!

 

Mercedes sells child safety seats that have a sensor in the bottom that deactivates the weight sensor in the passenger seat, which turns off the front passenger airbag. I would suggest getting something like that.

 

Wow thankyou, I have read the manual but some of the buttons listed do not appear on my UK spec car (I also miss the cup holder!) and have been advised by my local dealer that the airbag on the Passenger side can't be deactivated.

But I have contacted my local Mercedes dealership, to enquire about their car seats ....so I have my fingers crossed that my little boy does become the coolest kid at nursery in his mummies convertible

thankyou again ......

 

The part number for the babysafe plus infant seat is B6-6-86-8214

 

Is the key switch to turn OFF the passenger side Air Bag just a US/NA thing?

I'm surprised that you don't have this option.

From Page 36:

Passenger Front Airbag On/Off Switch

The on/off switch is located at the right end of the
instrument panel and is accessible by opening the passenger
door.
The on/off switch is to be used only when the passenger
is:

•

•

•

switch located on the instrument panel.

 

hi oscarcassie

was reading this thread as i am in exactly the same situation as you with a toddler, and not being able to drive my crossfire with her in the passenger seat.

i looked into the mercedes baby safe seat and it seems to be for infants rather than toddlers. also i am not sure whether the uk crossfire has the system whereby it would allow its passenger airbag to be deactivated when the mercedes baby seat is on the passenger seat.

the uk crossfire is different to the us version in that there is no switch to turn off the passenger airbag- the technical team have confirmed that, but other than that they have been able to offer no solution to this dilemma.

i was wondering whether you had managed to figure out a solution yet? if so i'd be very grateful if you could share it with me! best wishes x

 

I have contacted my local Mercedes dealership, who are located next door to the Chrysler dealership after some too'ing and fro'ing the salesman has confirmed that a mercedes seat will work in the Crossfire. The cost is £380 +VAT, and they are launching a new range of seats in April (and new prices!!)

I have also looked on Ebay and a number of people are selling seats with transponders fitted that they claim were purchased from a mercedes dealership but will work in a number of cars (a mini was one I enquired about)

Personally I won't buy a second hand seat, in case of accident damage but it was useful to make those contacts on Ebay and is an option when I need to sell the one I have ordered from Mercedes. I get some of the money back when my little chap is 4years old.
Mercedes do baby carrier seats and toddler seats so you shouldn't have a problem


Good Luck!! Happy driving ..

PS also got my chap a sun hat in case the weather improves and we can have the roof down

 

The part number for the Duo-Plus (toddler seat) is B6-6-86-8219 and the Kid Booster seat is B6-6-86-8310.
Hope that helps some more!

 

thank you both for your advice! i will look into the mercedes car seat further. it would be great if you could give some feedback here on the seat when it arrives. thanks again! x

 

Will do, I am expecting the new car seat next week....I am very excited currently driving a mixture of a Nissan Navara pickup for work, and my hubby's Audi A4 neither are a patch on my little black crossfire .....I can't wait

 

Am I reading the amount they are charging for this seat correct? Between 400-500 us dollars? That's highway robbery. You should be able to find a seat for less than that, way less. If its a full car seat that's one thing but we got a toddler seat for my wifes Mercedes thats straps in via the seat belt and goes around the child. It is not as involved as a full blown child seat, no sides or back on it. Its perfect for a toddler. The one we have will fit in the front seat of the Crossfire. I'll take a picture of it later this evening and post it for you. I think she paid under 40$ us for it.

 

Sadly you are reading the thread correctly, car seats are expensive items in the UK, the maxicosy seat I use in my Nissan pick up or the Audi A4 cost £159.00 so about $300 and that wasn't the most expensive seat on the market, ok not the cheapest but at the lower end of the market
Another alternative is that I purchase a kit to be fitted to the crossfire which allows the airbag to be switched off, this kit from Porsche costs approx £500 + the cost of fitting, Porsche make no guarantee that the kit would work on the crossfire but the service manager did think it wouldn't be a problem, so if it did work ok I would be able to use any car seat in the crossfire, i.e. a £150 one.
Porsche also sell the same car seat as Mercedes with a transponder fitted but Porsche branded and they retail at £550 in the UK.

I agree its a rip off!!!

The real killer for me is that the crossfire I purchased in the UK came with a US handbook, I spent ages looking for the cup holder!!! bizarrely that was the thing I missed most when upgrading from the PT Cruiser to the Crossfire

 

Ha... a lot of people here don't like the cupholder because it comes up with a slight bump and gets in the way while shifting.

 

hi oscarcassie

i wanted to ask how chrysler tested the mercedes seat in the crossfire and how did they check the airbag was deactivated?

the reason i'm asking is that i have been chatting to my local mercedes dealership today and they say they are not certain whether the chrysler passenger seat contains an AKSE transponder or not to allow the duoplus seat to work effectively. they have told me today it might just be causing the 'deactivated airbag' light to come on in the dashboard but not actually deactivating the airbag properly? they asked me to find out from chrysler whether their passenger side seats contain child seat recognition sensors or an AKSE transponder. i have rung chrsyler parts and they are no help (as usual).

so i wondered how they tested that the airbag was deactivated when you went through the process at the dealership?

(i wish this was easier!!!......i just want to drive my crossfire to work!!.....)

 

Wow that is just silly......
Here in the U.S. on my 2004 I just turn the air bag off with my key and my boy just jumps in his boosster seat.
Total cost about $30
Crazy some of these laws are getting......

 

Guys, the Mercedes Seat will not work. Don’t use it. You can check the wiring diagram of the crossfire to confirm that there is no detector mat in the passenger seat. Using the Mercedes Seat will not disable the airbag and is super dangerous.

good news is that you can retrofit the airbag off switch including the „Airbag Off“ lamp. It’s not straight forward and I had to do lots of research, but finally got it working. Will post a howto soon.

 

Not sure what your talking about.



.

 

Oops! All wrong so I erased it.

 

I recall Euro cars don’t have the pass airbag light, the double din kit had no provision for the light. Maybe they don’t have the switch? Just speculation on my part.