A class action lawsuit says a recent Mercedes-Benz recall over electrical problems in steering wheels is fake.
Plaintiff Michael Oppenheim, who leases a 2017 E400A Mercedes sports car, states that the car company announced a recall for electrical issues in the steering systems of many vehicles, but hasn’t taken action to fix the recalled vehicles. According to Oppenheim, this action amounts to fraud.
According to the Mercedes-Benz electrical steering class action lawsuit, the problem at hand is that electrical components in the steering wheels are not properly grounded, therefore they can trigger the airbags to release when they shouldn’t.
According to Oppenheim, this can be fatal to drivers and others, who may get into collisions after the airbag releases, blocking the driver’s vision, shocking them, and causing them to swerve. The Mercedes class action lawsuit states that Oppenheim “reasonably perceives great danger in [the electrical grounding] recall at issue given it also involves airbags.”
This recall is separate from a recent recall that was announced to fix problems related to Takata airbags in Mercedes vehicles. However, Oppenheim does stress that the company has been similarly slow in recalling vehicles for the Takata airbag flaw recall. He states that Mercedes’ rate of completion of the Takata airbag recall was only two percent as of data collected last fall – this is the lowest rate among the 19 car companies conducting recalls for Takata airbags.
A number of vehicles are said to be involved in the electrical recall, including B-class, C-class, E-class, CLA, GLA, and GLK vehicles. The Mercedes electrical recall class action lawsuit states that roughly 495,000 vehicles are affected by the recall.
Allegedly, Mercedes has been dragging its heels on actually completing the recall. According to Oppenheim, Mercedes intentionally set replacement and repair dates for the vehicles weeks, and often months, after the recall notices were sent to consumers. Oppenheim claims that first his replacement date was set for December, but it was then pushed back, and he is still waiting to have his electrical system replaced.
In many cases, Mercedes has allegedly flat-out refused to provide replacement cars for affected consumers. Additionally, the company reportedly refuses to waive lease fees for recalled vehicles. The plaintiff states that “the deplorable actions of Mercedes-Benz make it clear that its ‘recalls’ are hardly that. Instead it is again a sham ‘recall’ designed to inoculate [the company] from liability.”
Urging the court to take action to ensure Mercedes completes the new recall in a timely manner, Oppenheim’s lawyer said, “if Mercedes announces a recall because their cars could kill people, they have to be fully prepared to actually do the recall and not string customers along until the lease is up.”
Mercedes-Benz has had numerous legal troubles in recent years over alleged defects in their vehicles. Currently, the company faces claims from a Class of consumers that the sunroofs in many Mercedes vehicles spontaneously shatter. Allegedly, the company was negligent in not warning drivers of the problem.
Oppenheim is represented by Mark J. Geragos, Ben J. Meiselas, and Jeffrey Kwatinetz of Geragos & Geragos PC.
The Mercedes-Benz Electrical Problem Class Action Lawsuit is Michael Oppenheim v. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC, Case No. 2:18-cv-03610, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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2 thoughts onMercedes-Benz Class Action Lawsuit Says Electrical Recall is Fake
On August 19, 2016 I purchased a “certified Pre-Owned”
Mercedes E-350 Convertible from Mercedes of Houston
North/Autonation. A certified pre-owned vehicle is backed
by Mercedes Corp. as it is inspected for accidents, damage,
and recalls etc. It has to pass the criteria to be a certified
Pre-Owned car. It is sold with an extended warranty with
unlimited miles one year past the manuf. warranty. This past
month I decided to buy a new car and trade this one in. I was
told by an Infiniti dealership that they could not take my car
due to the recall for the airbag because there was no remedy
to repair it. I then contacted Park Place Mercedes in
Grapevine TX to confirm this and they told me to contact
Mercedes NA. I contacted Mercedes NA and spoke to a
hotline person for the takata airbag recall. I was told that a
repair might be available in April of 2020 and they did not
know why I did not receive a recall notice. I was told not to
worry because “nobody had died in a Mercedes.” I then took
my car to another dealership where I purchased a new car. I
was told by this dealership that nobody will take my
Mercedes as a trade because this was a “grave” recall and
there are no parts to repair it. In researching my recall I
discovered it was January 10, 2016. This meant that the
recall had been out 8 months prior to purchasing my ”
certified pre-owned” vehicle. I searched multiple websites
with my VIN number to verify the January 10, 2016 recall
date. At that point I reached out to Mercedes NA and the
general manager at the dealership via email. I was
contacted the next day by Mercedes USA and told that my
car should not have been certified. A week later I was
contacted by Mercedes USA and told that my recall was
actually January of 2018 and that the IT dept would be
correcting it. I asked him if NHTSA could verify that and he
said yes. I contacted the NHTSA yesterday and was told that
I was basically being lied to by Mercedes and that they
cannot change the recall date and in fact my recall was
January 10, 2016, therefore, I have been driving a car for over 3
years that had a grave recall with no notification, it is not
worth anything and cannot be sold, yet I paid more for a
“certified pre-owned’ car so that I could feel safe knowing
nothing was wrong with it when I purchased it. Mercedes
has verified that a car cannot be sold as a “certified
Pre-owned” vehicle if there is an active recall on it or if the car is part of a campaign for recall. I feel that I was deceived by this dealership and have been offered
no resolution at this point. There is no way to repair my car
and I am unable to sell it or trade it in. It is difficult for me to
drive the car due to 3 spine surgeries this year. The car is no
longer practical and quite frankly I do not feel safe knowing
people have died and have been seriously injured with this airbag.
I was hoping for a resolution with Mercedes USA or the
dealership, but it does not look like that will happen at this
point.
Last week I received my 32 minute recorded conversation from the FOIA with NHTSA confirming that my recall was in fact 2016. I also have a recorded conversation with Mercedes USA stating that my car has not been repaired yet because there have been no fatalities with Mercedes. That was the 2nd phone call where I was told that statement.
Yesterday Takata recalled 1.4 million more cars, even stating that some cars should not even be driven. Why is my car less dangerous? Just because nobody has died yet?
I am getting zero response at this point from Mercedes. I am assuming they are waiting to see if I will file suit, or take this public. I have printed documentation, articles from 2016 referring to my recall, my recorded conversation with Mercedes hotline number, and my recorded transcript from NHTSA stating Mercedes is lying to me. I feel like this needs to be made public since 1000’s of other owners with VIN numbers similar to mine have had their recall date changed which means it will take longer to be repaired. A car manufacturer should not be able to make a change in the system like that with zero documentation to back it up in a matter of hours. They literally changed a recall date for an entire campaign pushing it 2 years later.
I have a Mercedes that is affected by both issues listed in the article ( as well as the panoramic sunroof) and also was refused a “ loaner vehicle” until they are able to fix the electrical and airbag issues . I feel their action is deplorable and hope they are held accountable.