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The passenger side door panel latch suddenly broke when my wife was trying to open the door. I took it to the dealer and they said that the entire panel needs replaced. The panel costs $592 and the labor on it is over $600 bucks. They even said that you have to replace the speaker cover with it since it is all a single unit. Can somebody please help!!!!!!!!
Someone did a DYI fix here thst involves gluing, drilling two small holes and placing a thin gauge wire on the holes to hold it in place. It has detailed pictures as well. Do a search and just do it rather than replacing it so that when the other latch breaks you go laughing at the dealer for saving yourself $1000.
*Edit* - did the handle actually break or is it just loose, i.e. cable not attached? I assumed the latter, hence my response below...
Could be as simple as a slipped cable. Will only take you 10mins to find out. Popping the door panel is extremely easy, especially as it's the rear door we're talking about. If you never done this before, read up on the speaker retro-fit thread below. Describes how to pop the panel and has pics on where each of the plastic orange rivets are. Worst-case scenario is the pin or the mating collar has snapped, in which case you could easily rig something up to fix.
You might also try calling MBUSA's Customer Service line. Remind them that this repair should be covered under good will. It is a SAFETY issue, 100%. What if someone needed to leave the car in the result of an accident, and they couldn't open the door?
I really think these door issues should be a safety recall. I am surprised no one has called one of the consumer reporter areas of a news station.
Disagree. This isn't some inherent design flaw or manufacturing issue a la melting taillight connectors. This is a 5+ year old car. Parts will break. While I think the dealer is ludicrous in saying the whole panel needs to be replaced before even looking at it, I wouldn't try to play the safety card or go to the news. They wouldn't give me the time of day over a detached door handle cable, especially as this hasn't been a widely reported problem.
I disagree. Both sides on mine broke, and were replaced under warranty. Look thru this forum and see the number of people who have had the same problem. This is a poor design, with an absurd repair option. The entire door card? Really! There should be a simple kit to fix this flaw.
Fair enough. Bad design and ludicrous repair path is one thing, but calling corporate/your SA and telling them they better good-will the repair because it's a safety matter is what I had issue with. That and calling the Investigative Reports teams...
I've suffered both the ESL failure as well as the melting taillight connectors, both out of warranty. The connector issue was before any talk of a recall, however. MB covered the cost of the part for the ESL repair and all of the costs for the taillights after I asked for assistance (not going in guns-blazing).
Was I pissed that I still had to shell out $600+ for the ESL repair and hope that this will eventually reach TSB or Recall status? Absolutely!!!
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