Hey guys, I didn't see a thread for this, but I got a notice in the mail that apparently MB might settle with customers affected by the balance shaft defect if their car had less than 125k miles and were less than 10 years old at the time of the repair.

Between 80k and 125k miles or 8 years and 10 years from the "in service date", whichever comes first, they will cover 37.5% of the repair.

Between 50k and 80k or 4 years and 8 years, whichever comes first, they will cover 70% of the repair. Before 50k you should have been in the warranty period.

If you had it repaired at a non-authorized MB dealer, the amount determined by the above method is capped at $4,000. If you received any "good faith" discount, that is deducted from the settlement amount.

It's not settled yet, but this looks promising.

www.balanceshaftsettlement.com

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I also received the notice in the mail.

 

Did you ever get your car to run properly?
Hmmm... how to get paid for YOUR time spent repairing your own car?

 

Is this only in USA or Canada too, Can anybody confirm?

 

I've seen your work. I wouldn't hold my breath.

That's pretty good news; it would be even better if MB paid for a higher percentage - I don't find it particularly generous. Now, if MB would have just stepped up to the plate on early W203/CL203 rust issues......

 

I assume "in service date" is the same as the car's original delivery date. If that's the case, a lot of the 2007 S550's have a date in early 2006. That means your balance shaft would have to fail within the next year, if it hasn't already, for you to get 37.5% off on the repair. If it fails after that, you get the full hose by the defective part less any 10% coupons or some kind of goodwill discount you can haggle. All of that said, I suppose it's not worth opting out.

If you've already had the repair, this is a nice little reimbursement.

As usual, the lawyers are the real winners in class action lawsuits. They will be awarded a sum not to exceed $2,475,000.

 

Got my letter in the mail the other day and spoke to my previous independent shop owner (I recently moved out of state). I explained my concerns and he said that he has seen 2 or 3 and they were low mileage ie 30-50k miles. Mine has 91k and he indicated that if I was going to have a problem I would have seen it by now.

He also said that he was replacing the engine vice repairing them.
Trying to decide to take the chance and keep it and hope I dodge the bullet or trade it and move on.

Mine is a 2006 E350 with the sport package.

 

I received the notice of the settlement in the mail also. BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!! I went to my dealer and they quoted me $8,000 for the balance shaft and $4,900 for labor on my 2006. The part is more that KBB's estimated book value. Crooks!

 

I got the notice in the mail, too, but I can't say I'm all that happy about it either. Maybe it is asking a lot for them to go to the huge expense of replacing it for free, but it is a quality issue, they did know about it, it doesn't happen to every car that is susceptible to it, and as I understand it, it's a vendor problem so they should be able to make a deal with the vendor to cover more of it (I assume they are covering some). I'm not happy. So far, Mrs. NCMudbug's car is not displaying symptoms and it's 88K miles old so maybe I'll dodge that bullet. If not, the car is basically worthless.