TorontoW210

I read somewhere MB has a 30 year warranty on the body of the vehicle?? from rust??

does that apply to North America?

Dema

Check sticker, I think mine stated as lifetime

BlownV8

I think new ones have a 10 or 12 year rust warranty in the US but in Europe I think it is for life. Not sure what "exactly" that means in Europe or if you have to be the original owner.

E430 George

Now if only they gave lifetime warranty on all the electronics...

gstigler

The warranty on mine was 3/36. Expired and I paid to have rust around the trunk lock fixed. MB refused to do anything.

stemags

I do know that if you have a younger benz,its a good idea to pay close attention to the trim moulding on the doors(I found a rust bubble there) and like gstigler mentioned,around the trunk or license plate area(there too).
My dealer is sending me a loaner car for the paint repair,2-3 days worth,BUT>>>>>>how do you have a 2 yr old benz with rust?That was a shocker,as long as its costing me Zero $.

gstigler

stemags,
You bring up a great question, how do you have a 2 year old MB with rust. My body guy told me that it is common around the trunk lock as the factory did not properly prep that area prior to paint. Why is it that you never see a Ford product built in the last 8 years but it is common with MB? Kind of frustrating. Fortunately I heard the new ones have the 10 year corrosion warranty, finally matching the competition.

I love my car and will definately buy another MB (used) but I wish that MB would get it right and at least perform as good as the cometition. How can they design great engines but not be able to design a seat rail?

TorontoW210

I have a problem with cracks in the interior dashboard, MB Canada is not covering it. But someone on the forum mentioned that MB USA does.

With respect to rust, it still hasn't shown (touch wood)

Its funny how MB changed their slogan or image.. I remember back maybe ten years ago, a MB ad in magazine which kind of stuck onto me..

It was in a MB show room showing a Father and a Son (maybe 6-7 years old) displaying a W124 .. in it said "One day this will be your car" or something to that nature... not exactly sure about the wording.. but basically the information they wanted to convey is that the durability of a mercedes could extend from one generation to the next.

Anyhow, nowadays, MB is pushing on their branding image, their prestigue.. and I guess a shift in targeting people who hasn't own a MB before (perhaps they may be a better group to target since they had no prior experience with MB uncanny durability and reliability and thus no expectation for MB to sustain that.. since they really hasn't in recent years)
Now, their slogan is "Mercedes Benz. You are ready"

Its said that MB is going that direction instead of focusing on rebuilding its core competence of building innovative yet reliable and durable car.
At least for BMW, you know you are driving the ultimate driving machine that is so advance, the computer could shut you down anytime when malfuction
they are not known to be reliable.. yet, they strived to achieve better at it...
Audi had made great improvement in its reliability in recent years as well.

I just hope MB get their act together.

stemags

If anyone knows the shortcomings of a car brand as far as rust goes,its a body and fender man..This is my first experience with a Benz,,,and my first new car.I love the car and would go it again....
BUT--their service(monkeys)techs are by far the sloppiest(probably envious) group of mechanics I have seen in the high end car market.They have scratched my wood,dented my Riva's,failed to properly align my front end,greased up my interior to name a few.So bad that I had to have a heart to heart with the service rep who is stuck in the middle.AH s@#$......I guess I should be thankful that they remembered to tighten my lug nuts.

Its truly an experience to own a benz

TorontoW210

I thought MB dealers have excellent service?

A.T.C.

I have the usual dash cracks around the air bag. Still have 2 years or 21000 miles on warrenty and MB USA said no coverage. I've had a lot of electrical probs. and now I have to worry about rust! Next car will be a LEXUS.

TorontoW210

if its still under warranty, why are they not covering the cracks?? its obviously a defect in worksmanship.

gstigler

If it is a starmark warranty I don't think it covers interior trim. This would be covered under the original 3/36 but there are a lot of exclusions in Starmark as well other mfgs certified warranties.

Lexus makes a great car but it doesn't feel quite the same as an MB. Don't get me wrong, I think that MB quality of materials has slipped but the cars are great to drive.

stemags

Toronto,,,Im living this nightmare,I cant speak for other dealerships in the North American continent,but this one in Bklyn NY sucks.

gstigler

They have a captive revolving market in Brooklyn. They can be financially successful without having good service. Although you the MBUSA would do something about it.

hubert

STEMAGS which dealer in Brooklyn you go to. Try the one in Manhattan.

Norseman

Just a little info on the European warranty.

Last February I imported a 1999 E-220 CDI wagon from Germany to Norway myself.
After a while I heard of the rust problems with the W210 series, and I contacted my local MB dealer. They confirmad that my car had rust under the seals in the top of the window frames, and that the car was covered under the "Mobilo Life" programme MB have for person vehicles manufactured after october 1998.
This includes 30 year rust warranty (From inside out).

The dealership applied to MB Norway about changing the doors and after two days I received a phone call where they asked to set up a appointment for changing the doors.
I even had a free rental car when my car was in the shop.

They said the only catch was that the car must have been serviced by a MB shop within the last two years for the warranty to apply. ( Which mine was), and the rental car periode was for five days.

Bottom line is that :

1 I was not the original owner
2 The car was not sold new in Norway
3 I am EXTREMELY happy with the service I have received.
4 I WILL buy another MB


Sincerely¨
Steinar Fagerheim

BlownV8

I wish MB service was that good in the states. MB USA sucks! Period! I had a dash crack on my E55 that I didn't notice until two weeks after my initial 60 month warranty had expired. The local guys refused the repair, the regional guys refused the repair, and when I called Mercedes USA they refused to help. Screw them! They are a buch of no service butt heads. They had better get their heads out of their a$$ and get with the program and start admitting their faults and repairing defective products. They even refused to admit that there was ever a problem with the dashes. My E55 and E430 both developed dash cracks in the same locations as do ALL 210 E's.

I may not be getting another Mercedes if they don't start addressing their service at all levels. Just sucks to own multiple Mercedes cars and be treated like you own a 15 year old Ford Taurus. Do they realize that these cars are not cheap and the competition has been kicking their butts in quality? I WILL be looking at other manufacturers the next go round!

El Supremo

ditto, I have a 98 e4matic, cracked dash +$2500-$3000 stimate on rust under the 4 doors...I love the way the car drives but the attitude from MB is deplorable could it be they are getting back at North America for getting stuck with Crysler? Look at the guy in Norway(a rental car to boot) I have to wait a week at a time to get into the service department no matter when I call Its always a week so the car sits there. The more I think about it the more it gets my temperature rising. Tomorrow the water pump($540) now the air conditioning is failing, they want $150.00 to test it then they will tell me its the comdenser... I have started looking for a second car and have seen some nice products from Lexus, Acura, Audi, Infiniti and even BMW 5 series is gorgeous. So I won't have the prestige but M B does not seem to care to nurture the current customers and with their quality being at or below Crysler the high payed executives ignoring us will be working the pavement sooner rather than later... I guess I'll run the E320 into the ground and show all that this cars are not what they used to be when the rust comes out and the holes start showing...

hubert

To me it looks like this, in Europe MB admits and solves the problems because thy care about their costumers, so probably if MB USA wanted to they would fix our problems they just make so much money they don't want to go thru all the trouble and paper work or something like this. I have a 99 E430 with rust and dach cracks.

TorontoW210

Let's put our frustration into action.

I am hearing alot of people having crack dashboards... obviously this is not a rare occurances.

why don't we all post picures of our crach dashboards on the forum or send it to one person to show MB USA or MB Canada in my situation.. and see what they have to say.

I actually have a buddy of mine who works at a local newspaper in toronto, I am sure he will be interested in writing a little article on this.

Its embarassing, when people get into your MB and sees the crack and ask.. HOW OLD is the car.... has it been in an accident, what's the deal with the cracks.

BlownV8

Another one to add insult to injury. The cats are disentigrating on my E55. Took it by the local stealership and they are refusing to repair the item because my car was delivered in Canada. Well, the emission warranties are the same in Canada as in the US but that does not matter to these a$$ whipes! They are using the excuse that it is not covered by the US warranty because it was imported. I've tried MB Canada and still await their response. I'd bet they say that the MB Canadian warranty is void because I imported the car to the US. It's the same damn car that MB ships to the US! WTF!!!!

Oh, buy the way, the car was imported to the US around one year after it was sold in Canada and basically all the past warranty work was done in the US without any issues. Now, facing an expensive repair after the 60 month warrranty is out, MB decides they are going to make their best effort to get out of doing anything. The cats started to make a very slight rattle noise at around 50,000 miles but now the car has around 64,000 miles an is making lots or racket. The stealership wants $4,000 for the repairs. I guess they plumbing is made from unobtanium?

To El Supremo. I've heard that BMW is even worse than Mercedes about admitting fault. Have you seen the list of forced recalls on past BMW's? It is staggering to say the least. Besides, the new 5 series is butt ugly. Have you seen it from the back? Man-o-man is that thing ugly! BMW will have a hard time getting over all those bangled designs. I won't even mention the i-drive issues.

hubert

Two more things, clicking front seats and those straps on doors make noise to after awhile.

TorontoW210

Just curious BlownV8.. why did you import an E55 from Can to the States.. isn't cheaper to get it there.. usually people up here import cars from the US, not the other way around.

with respect to the $4000 cost.. it is ridiculous the freakin dealers are trying to rip you off... perhaps do a straight pipe, and forget about the cat totally.. although you run into emission problems unless you got a shop that could sign the paper.. in that case, you can have freakin flame coming out of the pipes and still drive the damn thing.. probably free up a few more horses too with a straight flow.. but seriously, perhaps get an aftermarket cat .. there's no way it will cost $4000

BlownV8

The original owner imported it from Canada. I purchased it from a guy in Nebraska.

The E55 is OBD2 so you have to run the two cat systems. From what I understand, the OBD2 system measures the heat retained in the pipe so if you remove the 2nd set of cats the system will trip an error code. The O2 sensor is between the pre cats and he cats.

I shouldn't have to spend a dime repairing this system. It's is a known design flaw but you and I both know Mercedes US will not admit any fault on their own free will. The cats are covered in the US and Canada for 8 years or 80,000 miles so it doesn't make sense why they won't fix the damn problem. You would think that the car was made in Korea by the run around I'm getting from Mercedes.