thefisch

I tried to make the time not mileage argument since the car was only 3.5 years in service. Didn't matter to them. The fact that the car had been routinely serviced with records at MB dealers didn't matter either. It's up to the customer to bring it up - stated in the TSB and told that at my local dealer.

Streamliner

No problems with the S550.

We have a 2010 E350 sedan that was my wife's car, until we got her the 2016. I now call it my "pick-up truck," as with the folding rear seats, it will haul a lot. I really need to sell it, but that's another story.

The wood went bad about a year ago. I took it to MB Laguna Niguel. We have purchased or leased several cars from them. When I mentioned the wood trim, I was ready for a fight, but they just said "we need the car for two days, when can you bring it in?" All the wood trim was replaced flawlessly. I think the wood steering wheel is a tad faded, and I think they would have swapped that out as well, but I told them not to bother, which was a dumb thing to do.

I strongly believe that picking a dealership and being loyal to them is your best bet when trying to get things replaced out of warranty or resolving other sticky issues. They just replaced the Command knob that always goes out on these cars. It was several months out of warranty, but they did it gratis.

Nothing beats a good relationship with your dealer. I highly recommend MB Laguna Niguel and their sister store MB of Foothill Ranch.

mnje350

I had the same experience with my dealer and my '10 E350 that I bought new from them. Two years into ownership they suggested that I get the trim replaced and could they keep the car a couple of days longer after I had it in for either an A or a B service.

On the other hand, one thing I have learned that, in general, CPO warranties do not cover cosmetic repairs. When I bought my S class it had about 2 months left on the original factory warranty and they covered a few minor cosmetic repairs no questions asked but when I inquired they confirmed that the original warranty was still in place.

In January the CPO will have expired on my S and I am well into my extended warranty on the E class. I know that none of the cosmetic stuff will be covered. That being said, good will does go a long way. A good relationship with a dealer is essential for this to happen. Fortunatly I have this with my dealer and have never had some of the problmes cited in this thread and others.

Edez mb

I just learned about the faded wood trim concern and was curious if only the burl walnut veneer was affected? I have a 2013 E350 with faded walnut trim. I would prefer a black ash replacement if that is feasible and more robust.

Wookii

Faded trim on my '13 wagon. I'm on the waiting list for parts... but at least it will get done eventually. Warrantied 27k miles

Streamliner

This is amazing to me. We had the problem with our 2010 E350 sedan. You would have thought that by the time they were producing 2013 vehicles, that they would have corrected this problem. Sheesh!

resonator

Konig: Thanks for the links. I'll still be waiting to see it come down under a grand.

Edez: If you find the black ash (which I think is called "avant guard") replacement kit number please share. I'd be happy to have something that will not fade again.

mnje350

Is the trim in your car simulated? I did not know you could buy one of these with simulated wood trim. At least in the States. I know in Europe you can get them with other types of trim but have not seen simulated wood here.

Onyxboston

I too have this problem with my 2010 e350. I just purchased this car about a week ago and hadn't noticed the faded trim until my girlfriend mentioned it to me after I took it home. Having never owned a mb I assumed the wood grain was a faded/beige color. After comparing to the wood grain of the cup holder and steering wheel, It was night and day. Makes the car depreciate a lot more now that I can't unsee it.



Compare the wood grains one the dash vs the cup holder and steering wheel

I contacted mbusa and spoke with a customer rep who wasn't too friendly. She ultimately told me to go to a local dealer to have them look at it and contact upper management as a goodwill claim. I went to Mercedes Burlington and now am waiting for someone to contact me. I'm highly doubtful I'll get any goodwill as this is my first MB and it was purchased privately.

mnje350

Yikes! That's awful. Sorry dude. Seems when this problem was first occuring MB was quick to service the vehicles. At least that was the situation in my case. One of the things these cars are known for is the attractive interior IMHO. I hope that this gets resolved to your satisfaction because it is a known problem that in the case of your vehicle has obviously never been addressed. If they would correct this for the original owner, why would they not correct it for you. If I were in your shoes, I might think twice about ever buying one of these cars new.

Good luck to you and I hope it turns out well as I think that in all other aspects, the 2010 was a particularly good year.

topspin2000

Holy crap, that's awful! Mine wasn't nearly half as bad, still my dealer replaced it without any insistence on my part. Good luck and I hope things work out for you.

Streamliner

This is a huge issue and it needs to be exposed. I think a good letter to the various auto magazines, complete with photos might be a good place to start. Then, a letter to MBUSA from an attorney, suggesting the possibility of a class action lawsuit might help. There must be tens of thousands of these cars that are affected. ANY LAWYERS HERE ON THESE BOARDS??? Mercedes should be very concerned about this problem. Can they not care that cars of theirs, as little as three years old are starting to look like crap? If your dealer isn't receptive, I would strongly suggest that, at the very least, you threaten to pull out the big guns and let them know that you plan on making a huge stink about it. For $14.95, you can probably get the domain name Mercedes-BenzWoodProblems.com. Raise hell, and good luck.

jahquan3

Mines is nearly as bad as yours and I never even paid much attention to it until I noticed people on this board complaining about it. I have no connection to an MB Dealer and the prominent dealer in my area has a reputation for being nasty to non-MB dealer purchasers so I kind of just let it ride. I see a newer 2014 at their dealership that I'm eyeing so I might have a power play to bring it up on my next service which I will take there just to see what else is on their lot. I doubt it'll get them to do anything for me though.

Onyxboston

I just got a call back from Steve of MB Burlington- service manager. He told me I would be responsible for only $1000 of the cost for the entire kit to be replaced.

I don't have to answer right away; I just wanted to see what you guys think of this.

This was my situation prior to contacting mbusa
1. I bought the car privately for a great deal 2 weeks ago. (2010 e350 4matic luxury)
2. No warranty
3. No prior relationship with this dealership.
4. First MB
I'm leaning on just going through with it as I'll be using this car for 2-3 years.

schorert1

seems high?? a thousand bucks is your share?

El Cid

Agree 100%.

Streamliner

MB should have issued a recall when they discovered this problem. Short of that, they should replace the wood on ANY affected W212, regardless of warranty status, if and when a first or second owner makes the request. Either they make high quality vehicles, or they don't. Either they stand behind their vehicles or they don't. Really, I think a class action lawsuit is in order. What? NO LAWYERS on this site?

Onyxboston

100% agree.

I called yesterday mbusa to escalate the claim to upper management. They called back today. After making my claim they basically told me to consider the original offer as a blessing and that it shouldn't even be covered since I didn't buy it from them. She even had the audacity to make the argument that it was probably the previous owner's fault due to negligance. She advised me to contact the seller take it up with them. I told her that this was negligence on MB's part by not advising the original owners of this known issue. I'm sure that if the original owner knew that this fading was not supposed to happen, they would've gotten it fixed. After voicing my disappointment, she told me that she can tell upper management I wasn't happy but it would ultimately end in them receding the offer for being ungrateful.

Here is some more eye candy for you:


















I'll be writing a love letter to mbusa with all these sexy photos for them to drool over.

El Cid

[QUOTE=Onyxboston;6603553]I just got a call back from Steve of MB Burlington- service manager. He told me I would be responsible for only $1000 of the cost for the entire kit to be replaced.

What is the total cost and does it include the trim pieces on the upper and lower doors, front and back?

Incidentally, private purchase of a six year old car, no relationship with an MB dealer and no extended warranty. Depending on total cost, only paying $1,000 may be a gift.

Also, recalls are for safety issues, not "cosmetic" ones. However, I do agree that DAG/MB should have been more aggressive in replacing a known defective part and extended the coverage for more than just four years.

thefisch

I was in the same boat as you on items 1-4. Dealer told me to call MBUSA as they couldn't do anything. MBUSA told me they could not offer any goodwill. Dealer offered 15% off the installed price of $3,300 (IIRC). So I think them offering you $1,000 is pretty good. Not sure if it is worth $1k to me but that's way better than paying full price. Have read stories on here about replaced wood fading later on.

Out of curiosity, how many miles on the car?

jahquan3

@Onyx - Good that you at least made your point and stood up for yourself. I might as well do the same myself. I'll start tonight or tomorrow if I get off at a decent time.

resonator

Well WOW. Take the deal. Almost the exact same scenario with me. Had the car two weeks - everything except this was my ninth Mercedes. Isringhausen in Springfield IL offered absolutely NOTHING and neither did MBUSA. I'd recommend taking the deal - and MB Burlington is an excellent dealership. Maybe I'll drive out there for my next one - I sure am not buying anything from Isringhausen.

mnje350

Wow, reading all of this makes me appreciate my dealer. But then, I have bought one new, an E350 and two used, first a CLK350 and then the S550 from them. I have also bought the extended warranties on all of the cars and they have been well used and with no headaches. By the way, the extended warranties do not cover cosmetic failures.

When I bought the E I told them at the time that if they ever wanted to see me again, don't screw me in the service department. So far they have not and I would recommend them to anyone. All the money dropped with them probably also explains why they came to me to replace the wood in the E. I should point out that the car was still covered under the factory warranty at the time. It is all about the money.

a4ncar

I had my trim replaced yesterday after a 2 month wait. Looks super nice... Now the problem is the steering wheel wood looks terrible. Did any anybody had luck getting the steering wheel wood changed or steering wheel swapped?

pschiller

I too just got my trim replaced on a 2013 E350. I agree that now the steering wheel looks faded. When they told me the trim would be replace they made a special emphasis that the steering wheel was not included with the replacement of the trim. Let me know if you have any luck.