OK ever since they had that recall on the SBC system...everything in my car has gone wrong...

1st off
my car battery died at 4,000 miles - how the hell is that possible...
2nd...
I needed to change my brake pads and rotors at like 9,000 miles..
3rd...
the seat controlling motors died and i couldnt move the seats front...
4th...
today while driving on the freeway, the car totally shut down...i pulled over and after 10 minutes it started again, and died again...10 minutes later same thing happened...started then shut down while driving again...

those are just the major problems that have occured after that recall...

I need to know if there is anyway I can do a lemon or return this car...

I'm just sick of it, it is at the dealer more than it is in my garage...

can you guys help me out here?

 

First, I'm really sorry to hear you've had so many problems. Have you reported this to a regional rep or tried a different dealer?

At any rate, California has a pretty good lemon law; here's a summary of it:


The California Lemon Law (officially known as the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty act, found in California Civil Code sections 1790 et seq.) is a law designed to protect consumers who purchase or lease warranted motor vehicles. If it is determined that a motor vehicle is a "lemon," the motor vehicle's warrantor must repurchase or replace the motor vehicle from the buyer.

In order to have a valid Lemon Law claim, the following elements must be met:

1.) The vehicle must be used some of the time for personal, family or household purposes. If a vehicle is used exclusively for business purposes, the Lemon Law will not apply, but other laws may provide certain remedies.

2.) The vehicle must have problems covered by a warranty. There is a simple rule: no warranty means no Lemon Law case.

3.) The warrantor must be unable to repair the vehicle's warranty problems after a reasonable number or repair attempts. What constitutes a reasonable number of repair attempts will vary depending on the problem. For example, if a vehicle's brakes fail, one repair attempt may be enough to establish a reasonable number. Generally, safety-related or driveability concerns will require fewer repair attempts than those which are not safety-related or affect driveability.

Also relevant to determining whether there has been a reasonable number of repair attempts is the number of days the vehicle is out-of-service due to warranty repairs. The more days out-of-service, the better the chance of establishing a reasonable number of repair attempts.

There is a common misconception concerning the Lemon Law, that it only applies to vehicles that are less than 18 months old or have less than 18,000 miles. This belief is not true! The Lemon Law will apply to a vehicle regardless of how old it is or how many miles is has, so long as the vehicle is having problems that are under warranty.

Even if the warranty has expired, the Lemon Law may apply. If the vehicle is still having problems that were complained about and never properly repaired during the warranty period, a valid Lemon Law claim may exist.

4.) The vehicle must contain a problem covered by the warranty that substantially impairs the vehicle's use, value or safety to the buyer/lessee. The Lemon Law, generally, will not apply to vehicles with trivial or minor defects. Nevertheless, each case must be judged independently taking into account the particular needs and expectations of the particular vehicle's owner/lessee.

If the above mentioned elements are met, the vehicle is a lemon. The vehicle's owner/lessee will be entitled to a replacement vehicle or a refund of the vehicle's purchase/lease price.


That's the end of the summary. It's from a web site from some attorneys in San Diego that eat this stuff up for a living: http://www.californialemonlawattorneys.com/


At any rate, just don't let the dealer get away with dragging you through this; I think sometimes their goal is to make it all so much of a pain in the rear that we just give in to them. Keep it up; we're all pulling for you.

Good luck and keep us "posted". Okay, bad pun.

Take care, man.
Greg

 

thanks for that post greg - helps a lot...

as for the regional service advisor guy, i called 1-800-for-mercedes and the guy on the phone said hed send my complaint and request of information (research on repairs) to that regional guy today...but he said he has no idea how long itll take for them to reply...so theres that

 

Don't let Mercedes of the hook if your car is sub-par. They build their reputation on quality and you should not expect anything less.

Believe me, if you complain firmly to the right people (way up the ladder) then they will respond to you. Like any other company, this will cost them money and they will try NOT to absorb it but they do not want their reputation to be sullied either. Beat them on the head with the quality issue!

Man oh man, I had 300,000 kilometers on my '95 and other then regular maintanance, I had no other problems. Okay, my window mechanism failed but I calculated that I opened and closed it 15,000 times and it cost me a few hundred dollars.

 

send fazooley a pm, he had tons of problems with his 2004 e500 and one time the brakes completely failed when we were coming home from a restaurant. after months of back and forth and a bunch of bull****, the dealer finally made good and got him into a CLS and took the E back.

 

I wanted to get a CLS instead of this junk, but now I've decided I don't want another Benz...their service is horrible, cars are not powerful, and the vehicles arent worth their price. I'm going to get a Lexus LS once I return this crap

 

I thought lemon buybacks are thru MB not the dealership? Or does MB facilitate the dealership and allow them to swap?

Electro- Sorry to hear about your troubles. I have had a number of problems, but not that serious. Must be very frustrating.

Good luck!

 

Brav lemon buybacks are NOT through the dealerships, you're correct, they are through MB - I had to call that 1-800-for-mercedes number and file a complaint like that and the guy on the phone said hed send this report to the California regional service manager for review and theyd get back to me ASAP...I asked him to give me ANY SORT of time frame as to how long this would take, and he said he has no idea....I hate mercedes.

 

Just aware of bad luck. I have LS with the same batch of problems. Hopefully my lease will end in 12 months. What's about CLS, is it rock?

 

Oh and I forgot to mention how I've had oil leaks from the car twice already....a lot of it...

And I think I'm going to go with the M35 as the replacement for this car...the rear is a little too much, but other than that the car is incredible for its price, options, and looks...not to mention a 7 yr 70,000 mile warranty...

Plus at 45,000 I will save about 10 grand from the E...

Now the hard part - communicating with the people from MB to get this lemon thing going...