Last updated on March 21st, 2018
If you are a proud owner of a luxury Mercedes Benz sedan or know someone who drives one, check your car model and its year of release. Mercedes Benz has announced the recall of over 147,000 of its vehicles last Saturday. The recall concerns the cars that came on the market between the years 2013 and 2015. The majority of cars under this order are E350 sedans, but the recall also affects station wagons and select other vehicles. Mercedes Benz will remove affected vehicles from their dealerships and repair the vehicles already sold, at no charge to its clients.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has requested the recall after receiving 26 complaints regarding the last year’s release Mercedes Benz vehicles. Received complaints prompted an investigation that found a potential fire hazard in the cars’ engine bays. The cause of the hazard is a rubber seal in the engine bay that sometimes sticks to the open hood and may then fall into the exhaust system. The risk of an engine fire is multiplied if it happens, so both Mercedes Benz and the NHTSA have decided to play it safe.
The U.S. dealerships will begin notifying owners of the affected vehicles in March. The owners will be able to get the faulty part fixed for free. The fix is quite simple: all the dealership will do is fix the rubber seal in place by four clips, so that it will not fall under the hood. If your model is not under the current recall order, but you still suspect you may be affected, get in touch with your dealership or the local Mercedes Benz representation. If you happen to live in Europe, sadly, it could concern you too. Mercedes Benz had to recall over 149000 cars of similar makes in Europe and Asia last week, for the same rubber seal problem. It seems that the faulty rubber seal design and position are not unique to the North American production.
The current Mercedes Benz recall is not the only one that made headlines in recent time. For instance, last week, Land Rover reluctantly pulled almost 17000 vehicles off the market – its Range Rover and Range Rover Sports cars that were made between 2012 and 2015. The issue, in that case, was a glitch in software responsible for detecting occupants’ weight. In some Range Rover cars, the software failed to register front-seat passengers who weighted little and then proceeded to disable airbags for the affected seats.
Yet, both the Mercedes Benz and Land Rover recalls do not even begin to compare to the millions of General Motors cars removed from the market due to the defective ignition switch that could be responsible for dozens of fatalities. All three recalls demonstrate that even luxury vehicles may be prone to defects and safety problems, and the companies have to make an effort to detect and address them. Neither of the three, however, will likely result in declining sales or loss of reputation for the luxury car makers.
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