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Has anybody had to deal with this? The buttons for my a/c controls and the steering wheel controls are peeling. Not sure how this could be fix other than replacing them.
All these peeling crap are covered under factory warranty. I assume you are not in factory warranty as your car is 2008? They won't fix it under extended warranty I already tried. You can try to talk your dealer into fixing. If not, plasti dip may be?
Do you use lotion or anything on your hands? Was the car pre-owned when you got it/could someone else have done this?
The manual calls out that some skincare products can cause this. It's not unique to Mercedes, either.
Don't use anything on my hands and I'm the second owner of the car but this just started happening. The buttons were fine when I got it and remained fine for the last 2 years until recently. The "OK" button on the steering wheel is starting to do the same.
2011 C300 Sport 4Matic, 2004 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro Ultrasport, 2010 Subaru Forester
Originally Posted by MDMercedesGuy
Do you use lotion or anything on your hands? Was the car pre-owned when you got it/could someone else have done this?
The manual calls out that some skincare products can cause this. It's not unique to Mercedes, either.
True. My 2004 Audi is a peeling mess. Buttons, switches, you name it on the interior, it is peeling. It was a manufacturing oversight in materials. They used a rubberized finish that was nice to touch but wore off with time. They fixed it on later models.
I've seen many cars with peeling problems and I can only imagine that the manufacturers of those items are to blame in what materials they've used. They don't stand up to UV, skincare, certain cleaning products or the reverse can be true...if they are not cleaned often enough maybe the plastic can dry out...it's a strange problem and annoying!
If you use a moisturizer or anything that leaves a residue on your hands that can rub off onto the buttons, depending on the formulation of the product it could break down the button material. I think that's a rare case and the cars should be designed better regardless. It shouldn't be an excuse for the company to note to owners. Short of using nail polish remover on your buttons, these things should be designed to deal with it.
Last edited by oaybar007; May 7, 2014 at 10:07 AM.
All these peeling crap are covered under factory warranty. I assume you are not in factory warranty as your car is 2008? They won't fix it under extended warranty I already tried. You can try to talk your dealer into fixing. If not, plasti dip may be?
The aluminum trim seems to be peeling off on my steering wheel. Does anyone know if this is covered by the factory warranty? I bought this car 2013 CPO and its been bothering the hell out of me.
Pics attached of the damage... seesm to be slowly getting worse
2011 C300 Sport 4Matic, 2004 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro Ultrasport, 2010 Subaru Forester
Having been through this before with another manufacturer. Here's exactly what I would try to do. No guarantee this would work, but this is very unlike MB in quality as far as I can see.
If you are under warranty of any kind, try to get it covered at a dealer. At least have them look at your car and confirm your buttons are peeling. Get info from the service team, name of manager, number, etc.
If you're out of warranty or they're not covering it, go to MBUSA directly and let them know the problem. Mail them photos and be detailed. Tell them that you want all of your buttons replaced. They need to know what you want from them to try to help you. Just complaining doesn't really work. Tell them you want all buttons replaced by the dealer where it was examined, and give them the service managers info.
Also note that you will follow up with both the service manager and MBUSA in a certain period of time if you don't hear back.
If there's no response, the next step is to create an official peeling button thread and everyone with the issue post pics to document and point MBUSA there in your follow up.
At the very least, If out of warranty, I would try asking for a credit on anything I buy from MB moving forward. Quality issues like this lose customers, sadly. It's not our fault as customers and at the least, they should give you some credit on another Benz purchase.
In terms of a fix on your own. Maybe you can source buttons from salvage cars or find spare buttons elsewhere. I don't think painting them will help
Last edited by oaybar007; May 7, 2014 at 12:43 PM.
The aluminum trim seems to be peeling off on my steering wheel. Does anyone know if this is covered by the factory warranty? I bought this car 2013 CPO and its been bothering the hell out of me.
Pics attached of the damage... seesm to be slowly getting worse
This is not normal, it should be fixed under warranty
That definitely is not normal...unless you have hands as rough as steel and nail the size of scissors and keep picking at it every day...thennnnnnnn that won't be covered under warranty!
Did they fix the problem with the aluminum on the steering wheel? My car is having the same problem, the aluminum is so sharp that sliced my finger when I was cleaning the dashboard, now the buttons are peeling off.
The warranty won't cover that unless you have extended warranty, I have a mercedes 250- 2012 that has the same problem you are having. I'm at the mercedes dealer right now and replacing that fake aluminum accent will cost you $105 plus labor.
Did they fix the problem with the aluminum on the steering wheel? My car is having the same problem, the aluminum is so sharp that sliced my finger when I was cleaning the dashboard, now the buttons are peeling off.
This is not normal, it should be fixed under warranty
The warranty won't cover that unless you have extended warranty, I have a mercedes 250-2012 that has the same problem you are having. I'm at the mercedes dealer right now and replacing that fake aluminum accent will cost you $105 plus labor.
I'm at the mercedes dealer and the two sets of buttons will cost me $165 each plus labor.
You can purchase both control buttons from ebay for about the price of one and DIY. It just requires a T-20 screw driver and a pick of some sort to release the pressure fittings.
Last edited by michail71; Jun 2, 2016 at 10:07 AM.
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I already tried. You can try to talk your dealer into fixing. If not, plasti dip may be?
