BLKROKT

How is a delay like this even legal, never mind responsible?

They put airbags in these cars that can disfigure and kill people, have known about it for 5yrs now, yet can’t bring the vehicles in to be repaired. That’s beyond negligent. Is there a class-action lawsuit about this yet?

bhamg

1) A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in California in which the plaintiff’s counsel alleges Mercedes-Benz has long deceived consumers with its supposed practice of announcing vehicle recalls and then, the complaint reads, “doing barely anything.” Highlighted in the case is Mercedes-Benz’s alleged practice of announcing recalls and setting repair dates “many weeks and months” after recall notices arrive in consumers’ mailboxes, only to postpone said dates without providing reimbursement for lease fees, loaner cars or any other means of compensation for the period in which customers’ vehicles cannot be repaired.

Mercedes-Benz has left its customers out to dry with this alleged “deceptive pattern” of conduct, the lawsuit charges, behavior the complaint points out does not exempt recalls related to Takata airbag dangers. The 18-page suit highlights in particular an October 2017 recall of roughly 495,290 Mercedes-Benz vehicles due to “insufficient electrical grounding” in steering wheel components that could cause the sudden deployment of driver’s side airbags. The case says this recall is linked to a previous, larger recall over Takata airbag problems in certain Mercedes-Benz models. According to the lawsuit, the confluence of the two recalls has put Mercedes-Benz customers like the plaintiff in a precarious position.

“[The plaintiff] has also strangely received recall notifications of the Takata recall and has been made aware by Mercedes-Benz that it is still unable to replace the parts pursuant to that recall,” the complaint reads. “As a result of [the plaintiff’s] knowledge of this previous recall, [the defendant’s] insufficient track record in satisfying the recall, and/or of the grave danger involved, [the plaintiff] reasonably perceives great danger in the recall at issue given it also involves airbags.”

Per the plaintiff, the lawsuit says the man was given a December date to replace faulty airbag parts. As the date grew closer, the case says, the repair was postponed due to “a lack of parts.” The man was reportedly told he would get a new date to take care of the recall, yet as of April 2018, Mercedes-Benz is still unable to fix the airbag electrical grounding issue in the plaintiff’s vehicle due to the ostensible parts shortage, the suit claims.

The lawsuit goes on to allege Mercedes-Benz dealerships have been of little help to customers, offering an array of explanations for the repair delays that “often contradicted the recall letters provided to consumers.”

“[The plaintiff] and the Class are left wondering if Mercedes-Benz even knows what the actual problems are with their expensive luxury vehicles and what the true dangers are or if Mercedes-Benz even intended to ever effectuate its ‘Fake Recall,’” reads the complaint.

The lawsuit seeks to cover anyone in the United States who purchased or leased the following Mercedes-Benz vehicle models:

• 2014-2017 B-Class electric;
• 2012-2018 C-Class;
• 2012-2017 E-Class;
• 2014-2018 CLA;
• 2015-2018 GLA; and
• 2013-2018 GLK.

GERAGOS & GERAGOS

A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION LAWYERS
HISTORIC ENGINE CO. NO. 28
644 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California 90017-3411 Telephone (213)625-3900 Facsimile (213)232-3255 Geragos@Geragos.com
MARK J. GERAGOS BEN J. MEISELAS JEFFREY KWATINETZ
SBN 108325 SBN 277412 SBN 158932
Attorneys for Plaintiff, MICHAEL OPPENHEIM, individually and as the representative of a class of similarly-situated persons

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
MICHAEL OPPENHEIM, individually and as the representative of a class of similarly-situated persons;

Plaintiffs,

vs.

MERCEDES-BENZ USA, LLC, a Delaware corporation.

Defendants.
Case No.: 2:18-cv-3610
CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT

1. FRAUD
2. FRAUD—NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATION
3. BREACH OF IMPLIED CONTRACT 4.BREACH OF THE COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING 5. BREACH OF IMPLIED WARRANTY 6. PRODUCT LIABILITY
7. UNJUST ENRICHMENT

DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

___________________________________________


2) May 2, 2018 — A Mercedes-Benz airbag lawsuit alleges 18 people have been killed worldwide by defective Mercedes airbags while customers now wait months for replacement parts related to a 2017 recall of 495,000 vehicles in the U.S.

However, the proposed class-action lawsuit is not related to exploding airbags made by Takata.

Mercedes announced the recall in October 2017 after reports of driver-side frontal airbags inadvertently deploying, a problem engineers blamed on electrical grounding issues.

Mercedes told affected owners and lessees the airbags could suddenly deploy if insufficiently grounded components were exposed to an electrostatic discharge at the same time the steering column module clock spring was broken (due to wear). A driver could easily crash once they were slapped in the face with an airbag.

The automaker says unless the SRS warning light illuminates and a warning message appears in the instrument cluster, there is no issue with the airbag. If the light does activate, the vehicle should be taken to a Mercedes dealer to determine if the illuminated light is related to the recall.

Mercedes told affected owners that recall parts weren't available, parts that will be used to add more grounding to the steering components. Owners were told to watch for second notices once the required parts were in the hands of Mercedes technicians.

BLKROKT

Ok that’s something.

But seriously, MB has no problem cranking out millions of cars a year with perfectly functional airbags. You’d think a judge would have ordered them by now to stop putting those new airbags in new cars until they have retrofit all the existing cars with the grenading airbags first?

The burden shouldn’t be on the consumer. It’s not our fault MB picked Takata to make their shïtty airbags.

Bonesxxx

+1 for bypassing big brother’s anti ‘bad words’ filter.

ab0bab0i

My dealer actually called me about scheduling a time for the Airbag Recall last week. I guess they finally have replacement parts?

Bonesxxx

I would check to make sure... Mine called as well but when I asked her if she had the part in hand she checked and said (not surprisingly) that it was on backorder - LoL

Keep us posted please.

Diabolis

Received a recall notice myself - it is the passenger front airbag. Like others have reported, it just says "sorry - we are still working on a solution" so there's nothing concrete. I completely concur that such a delay is unacceptable as Merc is indeed cranking out millions of cars a year. A recall is obviously not a priority and costs the company money, so I suspect that for as long as they can demonstrate that they are "working on it", they can keep the various safety and legislative bodies at bay while the natural attrition rate of the affected cars takes care of the problem. 20-something deaths worldwide in ten years across all cars manufacturers is an EXTREMELY low number to justify the expense of the recall... I suspect it would be a hell of lot cheaper to just settle and pay out generous damages to the families of the victim(s) if one ever occurs in a Merc and the family brings forward a lawsuit. Why bother spending $500 million on a recall if the maximum you may have to pay out to settle a wrongful death lawsuit or two is maybe one one hundredth of that?

bhamg

Absolutely. It's the infamous Ford Pinto risk/benefit equation all over again.

zcct04

I contacted MBUSA Customer Service to express my concern re my 2012 Gulf Coast car's airbags, and got this response:

Thank you for your contact to the Customer Assistance Center.

Please be assured that Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) has reviewed your contact concerning the 2012 C63C bearing VIN # XXX.

The current estimated time for part availability for your vehicle is January 2020.

With respect to the pending recall related to the Takata airbag inflators, MBUSA is not aware of any instances of a ruptured inflator in any of our vehicles worldwide. This recall was launched as a precautionary measure only.

While operating your vehicle, should you experience an illuminated SRS lamp, we recommend having the vehicle diagnosed by an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer to determine what repairs are required.

Please also be advised that this recall affects many automobile manufacturers, more then 45 million vehicles, and MBUSA is working closely with the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration regarding the availability of replacement parts. They are making the determination as to when and to whom available airbags are allocated under their Coordinated Remedy Program. This means that we are subject to parts availability constraints as we seek to bring Mercedes-Benz vehicles back to our dealerships to have these airbags replaced. Once available you will receive a letter indicating to make an appointment at your dealership for the repair.

We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Kind Regards,

Debbie A.
Mercedes-Benz USA
(800) 367-6372

Adi-Benz

My local dealership emailed me saying parts are in and to schedule an appointment, so I did...

zcct04

Adi-Benz

My car is in for recall.

Here's my post: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ml#post7760638

Please keep information within that thread for current info.

AA717driver

The lawyers would rather you die from an airbag deployment (NOT on THEIR watch) than to expose the company by disabling a safety device. Waivers don’t keep them out of court.

TC

Diabolis

While I completely share your frustration, according to the NHTSA frontal airbags alone have saved upwards of 50,000 lives, and side airbags add another 30,000+ to that number. In contrast, there have been only 16 deaths in the USA attributable to the faulty Takata airbag inflators. Your chances of dying in a collision as a result of not having an airbag (or having it disabled) are still 5000 TIMES GREATER than dying from a faulty inflator. In other words, 5000 people will die from disabling the airbags for every one that will be saved. Regardless of how we feel about MB not having a replacement yet, they are still FAR more useful than they are dangerous. You are certainly free to disable them yourself, but statistics are hard to argue with.

Jasonoff

I wonder if they would "swap" an already removed airbag?

Adi-Benz

What do you mean

Bonesxxx

I think he is wondering if he can remove the Takata bag and then hand it over in a box when his recall comes up and still get the replacement.

If it's not that, I'm confused too.

Adi-Benz

I think that would be kind of pointless because I can almost guarantee he wouldn't have removed the passenger airbag, which is a pain in the butt. Might as well just leave it to em, we can all pull 2 screws off the steering wheel but no point

Jasonoff

Correct, by the time I get my replacement the car will be gutted. If for some reason it goes back to stock I would want the updated bag to go back in.

ItalianJoe1

An accommodating shop could do this, but the liability issue may prevent them from wanting to.

I would suggest, even if the car is stripped, bolting your old bag onto the dash bar and bringing them the car to swap. then remove the new one and put it away. At least if they put it in the car themselves they should be ok with it.

zcct04

from CNN on 7/12/19: Is this part of the reason that recalls are happening so slowly?

The owner of Mercedes-Benz has warned of a major slump in profits this year after recalls, legal issues and weak demand for new cars contributed to a rough second quarter.


Daimler said Friday that it expects a second quarter loss of €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion), a dramatic decline from a €2.6 billion ($2.9 billion) profit in the same period a year earlier.


It said full year earnings will be significantly below the €11.1 billion ($12.5 billion) profit achieved in 2018.


The German carmaker blamed its weak second quarter on higher costs related to the Takata exploding airbag recall, as well as regulatory and legal risks from the diesel emissions scandal.


In addition to those factors, Daimler said its full year performance will be affected by slow product rollouts and weak growth in automotive markets.

zcct04

And this from the Wall St Journal yesterday, regarding Daimler's most recent financial statement:

"Daimler is provisioning a further 1 billion Euro for an industrywide air-bag problem that emerged in 2013. The overall impression is that management has been sweeping problems under the carpet."

1Lop2K5C

A bit of an update on my end. After two plus freaking years, my airbags arrived at the dealer. SA informed me that the replacement will not need a dash out. My appointment is next week.

m a x i m u s

I'm on a waiting list with my dealership for airbags. It's been 2 months.

zcct04

Mercedes originally planned to prioritize cars based on age and on exposure to heat & humidity, so I'm curious - what year is your car and where has it been kept?