This era of Mercedes vehicles usually gets a bad rap for poor interior quality and construction. The plastics used are indeed sub-par and easily get damaged by the sun but it’s not always material quality dragging the interior down.

The designers put a lot of thought into making some of the trim panels easily removable, but the mechanics and DIY crowd don’t always get the message. One perfect example are the door control module trim panels. They have a sliding mechanism that’s supposed to make them easy to remove, without the need of prying tools. However, nine out of ten W215’s seem to have loose trim panels in this specific spot, because somebody decided to pry the panels off, breaking off the mounting tabs in the process.

Print Your Own

You cannot buy these specific parts, but we decided to fix the problem elegantly, and made a pair of 3D printable mounting tabs. So, print them in your favorite plastic mix, glue them in place and say bye to embarrassing loose trim. The tabs have an “F” and “R” for front/rear respectively. They are not identical, so make sure you print them in pairs.

Installation

The first step is to fully remove the old tabs and makes sure the mounting surface is flush. Use a rotary tool to remove any excess metal from the old mounting holes. Then, from the back of the door panel, put the trim panel into palce, as well as the new mounting tabs in their respective holes. Apply your favorite glue and hold in place as long as necessary. Voila, no more loose trim.

Download

W215 Door ECM Trim Tabs. Files are in STL format.