kbeltran

My wife and I encountered a rear flat tire this past Friday, 6/4 and while using the scissor jack on our '07 GL450, I heard significant cracking and saw slight 'bowing' at one of the welds near the base of the jack.

Needless to say, I backed the jack back down.


In calling MB CS / Roadside Assistance, they informed me there was no recall on the part (i.e. will not offer assistance for replacement), but would relay to their investigation team. And also if I encountered another flat, for me to call Roadside Assistance so I could use their jack, or I could plead my case to the dealer who may replace under 'good faith'...

To be honest, I am likely simply going to purchase a new jack from a car parts store rather than persist on getting a replacement which may end up having the same issue?

Everyone should consider checking their jacks prior to needing it in a breakdown situation. If the jack fails, it would likely fail unpredictably and catastrophically. Lastly, if you have encountered a similar issue, please call MB Customer Service 800-367-6372 and file a complaint like I did. Make MB fix this issue if indeed it is a widespread problem.

Sathinas

Did you ever consider that it may just be a bad weld job on a single jack, and you got to be the unlucky one? :shrug:

You should have let it fall on your leg. You wouldn't have had to buy a new mercedes... ever, since MB would be buying you a new one every year. :LOL:

But seriously... nothing made by man is perfect.

mikekuriger

I've used my jack a few times with no issues. Hopefully your dealer will get you a replacement.

alx

if you didnt center the jack properly it would bowl, bend and/or break suddenly.

get another one and call it a day.

Fourdiesel

Jacks should be conservatively enough designed so that, to paraphrase a GEICO commercial; even my wife could use it! No bowing, bending, weld issues, 'cracking' noises etc should happen even IF the jack is misapplied. If it didn't stand that common sense test M-B should replace it. It is NO excuse at all for a dealer to claim "I never heard of that"!

alx

be careful what you wish for - by that logic misusing the gearbox (for example running the truck in 1st gear all the time) should be ok.

people fail to understand that a mercedes while a superior product in some ways is just another vehicle and can never be perfect or completely idiot-proof.

lkchris

Yes, anything can be broken by misuse.

Production run of anything seldom produces 100% perfect part.

Original poster has not discovered a potential safety recall, and his 15 minutes of fame is yet to arrive.

Fourdiesel

It is the design engineer's task to produce a design (as opposed to a production issue) that functions successfully under a variety of application conditions. It is unreasonable to expect that the jack must be used "just exactly so" in order to do its job which is to safely raise and lower the car so the wheel can be changed. A moderate amount of human error (not stupidity) must be allowed with no serious mishap. Only then is the expectation of quality met.

fs1013

I kind of agree that the jack should be deisgned and manufactured conservatively to allow certain degree of abuse.

This is an item to be used by average drivers with different ages and background, and under all sorts of different environments. And honestly, are there many people actually get instructed how to use it properly, before the first time they need it? As FourDiesel indciated, common sense kicks in and that means someone can and will do it wrong. From this point of view, thinking from the opposite angle, maybe MB designs it this way so the jack fails before the car body (or other more expensive part) of the car?

ksdprasad

+1

Dont care how sexy or how modern they design, they should allow some degree of human error, and ease of usability in mind while designing a part.

alx

Again, be careful what you wish for. Would you like to have a Jack that can compensate for the drivetrain slack and not bend when the vehicle is lifted in park and it shifts an Inch or two towards the incline of the road due to drivetrain slack? Applying the emergency brake will eliminate e shift, but most people forget to do that when jacking a vehicle.

Sure, such Jack does exist and is called a floor Jack, has wheels to move around as the weight shifts and is a 40 pound piece that I am sure you would not like to see in your trunk permanently. No scissor Jack will ever be able to compensate for crooked lift or moving vehicle.

Fourdiesel

alx -
Again, the hypothesis you present is just one of the situations the jack must be designed to handle. It is not what I (or anyone else) wish for, it is a known condition of use - among many others - the jack must handle safely.

dgiturbo

FYI, product liability case law have and will support the consumer on this one. MB should have replaced immediately. As long as the user in this case followed very liberal operating guidelines, the manufacture would be liable.

Thanks for the info. if I ever have to use the jack in my vehicle, I will keep an extra cautious eye out for defects.

lkchris

Give me a break--the guy misused and broke his jack.

I'm as certain about that as anyone here can be certain that it was instead a defect.

But, for sure you can take to the bank that if dealers are seeing lots of broken jacks it will be reported to Mercedes and Mercedes will do something about it. The GL has been out since late 2006, and it should be obvious there's not an endemic problem.

It's additionally not very smart and informed to think one can simply purchase a different jack. UNLESS he finds a floor jack and uses the product shown in the attachment, there is NO OTHER solution, as the vehicle has to be designed for it and it isn't.



See http://www.reverselogic.us/ReverseLo...ited/Home.html

Let's keep the "hysteria" to a dull roar.

43221B

Forgive me for my ignorance, but doesn't the emergency brake hold the rear wheels only on most vehicles? So if you have the e-brake set and you lift the rear, aren't you still going to have a little shift if parked on an incline or decline? I guess if one wheel won't hold you, you shouldn't be lifting your car.

alx

yes, the ebrake holds both rear wheels. with a scissor jack you are lifting only one wheel at a time, so at any point there is at least one no-rolling wheel on the ground- thus the vehicle should not move.

most folks just put the scissor jack loosely there and crank... if not adjusted properly or the vehicle shifts a bit, the jack becomes crooked and scissor jacks have absolutely no tolerance for this.. they bend and in some occasions on heavy vehicles they might even break.

lkchris

You know, the toolkit includes a "chock" to stop the vehicle from rolling.

atwal

In case of roadside tire changes, surface on which jack is place is never ideal conditions. You have to carry some sort of flat wood (possibly a small piece of 2x6) to compensate for even surface. But then again, I have trouble using scissor jack in my garage floor. I never got the hang of it. In my old E420 I use to keep a small floor jack in the trunk for that purpose. In GL there is not enough room in the trunk to put one in. Also the vehicle is little higher too. So, the small floor jack will not work. Last sort will be to call roadside assistance (RSA) such as MB CS or AAA or other insurance carrier that offers RSA. I usually avoid using a scissor jack at all for vehicle as GL. My Tundra has a better Jack than GL. I would go to the wrecking yard and get one for tundra in case I get a flat on road. This idea just came to my mind. Carry on the conversation/suggestion. Thanks.

kbeltran

For the record, I have over 20 years experience in Engineering and Quality Assurance. I perform all maintenance work on my cars -to include major repairs on my other car down (i.e. down to the valley pan and back up with no problems). I certainly qualify on how to setup and use a jack. I'll take the high road in regards to some of the above replies...

My sole intent was to forewarn you -consumers of same product with knowledge of one event that if more than isolated in occurence could render you: inconvenienced, crippled or killed.

FYI, our GLs already had one weld related recall campaign -missing welds at the receiver hitch. Remember?

I would like to believe I have the sole one-off jack that's made with marginal / defective quality. Just use caution when using yours, and report it to MB if you see an issue so that they will take appropriate risk management measures.

My civic duty is complete... Good Day

lkchris

No, it isn't that easy.

Given your education and experience in QA, etc., you surely have an extensive understanding of statistics and sampling and surely know that a sample of one is seldom of much meaning.

This forum as well as other Mercedes forums, e.g. B*nzworld, have extensive search features, and you could have performed a search for prior posts and threads regarding jack failures.

I of course should do the same, but can say that with my several years experience monitoring indeed several forums I believe your post is the first suggesting a jack failure scenario. As I think I previously noted, GLs have been on sale worldwide since late 2006 and perhaps have sold at the rate of 2-3000 per month during that period. There is a plenty big "sample" of them out there.

As for "civic duty," turning a sample of one into "URGENT SAFETY ISSUE" is a bit like yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre. NOT correct "civic" behaviour, that is.

Your "civic duty" instead is to report to Mercedes and perhaps NHTSA and let the statistics be compiled in a scientific manner by the folks whose job it is to do so.

fs1013

Let's be fair Chris!

You first concluded the OP misused it. Then you said "sample of one" is meaningless. And finally described his post as "yelling fire in a crowded theatre"?

Well, I agree sample of one probably doesn't mean all is bad. But then I am curious how did you conclude OP misused the jack by just one post from him? There were hundreds of thousands of Toyota "good samples" out there for many years before their issue was discovered. And didn't Toyota say it's just one isolated case? Mercedes is perhaps not Toyota, but business is business.

Describing it as yelling fire in a crowded theatre isn't appropriate here from my point of view. No one is physically here to be injured or anything. Except for OP may be at risk getting an heart attack reading your reply. As someone already expressed, I also appreciate OP to share his experience. I know I will at least pay extra attention to use it correctly when I need to (hope not though). And isn't it one of the main purposes of this forum? To know more of our beloved vehicles, for better or worse?

clkwork

The people that are defending the scissor jack must be looking for an argument. Every one I have ever seen or used was trash. I 100% believe the OP that his failed under normal conditions and it astounds me that there are so many members here that would assume improper use caused the failure then bash his knowledge and experience. You jokers are priceless.

alx

well, for one me the joker never had a problem with a properly secured vehicle being lifted by a scissor jack. and i have had my fair share of using such jacks.

is it a garage-worthy tool? no. by all means.

is it a road-side-worthy tool? sure. and everybody that says otherwise while not being a joker lacks basic mechanical "common sense"

hows that for a non-joking joker,eh ?

clkwork

In a NHTSA study in 1998 investigating jack failures from 11/1994 to 10/1995 (http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/98.040.PDF) 74% (3,567) of injuries caused by jack failures are a result of them slipping (inappropriate use), but 18% (866) were directly linked to failures and 8% (389) unspecified or possible failures (p.2). That amounts to somewhere between 866 and 1255 injuries (not just failures!) from this tool failing every year. If that's what you call "road-side-worthy" then you're still a joker in my book, even if you aren't joking.

alx

and on a unrelated study 45% of regular adults between 18 and 45 could not pound a 3" nail with a hammer all the way into soft wood without bending the nail... so... i would say that your 18% + 8% for of total of 26% all-thumbs-folks still leaves (45-26)= 19% unaccounted klutzes

you take for granted that people have "mechanical" common sense. which is simply not true.

when properly used on secured vehicle a scissor jack albeit being a little slow does the job just fine. if this was not the case no car manufacturer would equip their cars with such, but would include a full-blown hydraulic floor jack. they dont. draw your conclusions.