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One evening in February, Mary Nicholson, 23, was driving on Chamberlain Avenue, about to hop on the Queensway for an east-end ringette game.

A teammate was with her in the 2009 Mercedes-Benz R320, which looks like a cross between a wagon and a minivan.

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Out of the blue, the curtain airbag on the driver side deployed. “It sounded like a cannon shot,” said Nicholson, a student. “I was terrified.”

There was such an impact, she first thought the vehicle had been “T-boned” by another car. She pulled over and had a look. There was nothing to see: no dents, no potholes, no jutting curbs, no bumps in the road. She says she was just driving at normal speed down the street.

Still jittery, she called her father, Dave, a retired firefighter. She ended up rolling up the curtain as best she could and continued on her way.

It’s what happened next that only made things worse.

After seven weeks in the shop, they were presented with a repair estimate from Ogilvie Motors for $11,639 and a letter from Mercedes-Benz Canada saying an inspection had found the vehicle was operating just fine.