I read with interest of an emission lawsuit being handled by Hagens Berman with a culminated $700 million settlement for U.S. Mercedes owners in which current owners and lessees can get $3,290 or more, and former owners and lessees can get $822.50.
I own a 2012 Mercedes GL350 which I have owned since new and falls under this lawsuit settlement. Unlike the Volkswagen lawsuit buyback, Mercedes owners are settling for a small percentage and no buyback.
My question: Would I be better off to abandon a class action lawsuit and seek a settlement through my own attorney? What are others doing?

 

Take a read through this thread: MB bluetec lawsuit in USA - MBWorld.org Forums

Have you had any issues? What would your reasoning be for seeking a settlement on your own? I personally don't have experience, but I would think a large global company would squash a single owner's lawsuit...time and money alone. I also think you would need to have significant justification as to why you are entitled more, if anything.

 

Thanks 91stealthes for your reply! I tend to agree with your statement since I haven’t had too many issues with my vehicle which now has 82,000 miles. This is an emissions lawsuit regarding the faulty emissions/mileage statements made by Mercedes. I’d like to collect my $3,290.00 as soon as possible and sell my GL350 and move onto a new vehicle.

 

Just out of curiosity, what are the mileage statements for the GL350? The advertised MPG for my year is 24 on the highway... but I CONSISTENTLY get better than that.

 

Googled the below image for the 2012: 17 city and 21 highway.
My wife gets greater than 20 with stop and go driving (very little highway/expressway). Haven't measured a long distance trip in a while.

 

The lawsuit was originally brought against Mercedes in 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by the Hagens Berman, Carella and Seeger firms that helped to achieve the $14.7 billion Volkswagen Dieselgate settlement.

This a partial explanation of the lawsuit regarding emission discrepancies.

According to the lawsuit, Mercedes joined forces with Bosch to program its BlueTEC vehicles to release illegally high, dangerous levels of emissions via a defeat device that turned off or limited emissions reductions during real-world driving conditions but not during vehicle emissions tests.

Recently, the lawsuit culminated in a $700 million settlement for U.S. Mercedes owners in which current owners and lessees can get $3,290 or more, and former owners and lessees can get $822.50.

“Owners of Mercedes’ dirty diesel cars will finally be able to receive the compensation they deserve and repairs to ensure their vehicles are not emitting illegal levels of harmful pollutants,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and attorney representing vehicle owners in the class action. “We consider this an immense win for consumers, the environment and for class-action law, bringing forward real results through independent testing and research thoughtfully brought to the Court.”

 

My complaint about my GL 350 is not dirty emissions, it's that the OM642 diesel motor is inherently defective - it's vastly unreliable and ghastly expensive to repair. Two oil cooler seals, two timing chains, failed turbo, DEF tank heater, swirl flaps, and on and on and on in 100k miles.

Mercedes was happy with the settlement as they don't have to buy back the vehicles - they have limited exposure. Most of those funds go to the lawyers and I think the state of California gets a big chunk. The settlement for our Audi Q7 was closer to $10k...

 

Thanks, 91Stealthes. It was the "mileage statements" that struck me as odd - I didn't remember Mercedes making false mpg statements like VW did so I was curious if there was more to this or if Briggs maybe just had some wrong info posted. I was also generally curious about the mpg difference (real life) between the 350 and my 320 (which doesn't have as much emissions stuff as the 350). Even though Mercedes "downrated" the MPG for the 350 compared to mine (mine is 18/24 on the sticker), that's pretty much what I get around town, as well.

Oh well... back to your regularly scheduled program!

 

NP.

I think the mileage statements are in regards to the performance after the fix. In the settlement, I believe there was language in regards to potential additional money if the performance or MPG changes after the "fixes." I could be mistaken, it's been a while since I've read it and I haven't received anything from the dealer or any law firm regarding the settlement, so I'm sitting tight.

 

VW did not get in trouble due to false MPG statements, it was all about cheating on emissions. Very different.
They got busted for having software that detected emissions testing was going on and remapped engine and emissions setting to pass the test. This all resulted in awesome emissions numbers in testing and dirty a$$ cars in real life. EPA got justifiably ticked off at being bamboozled. And this BTW at least partially explains why VW managed to release the Jetta and Gold TDI without any AdBlue / DEF mechanism whereas no other manufacturer was able to get the emissions to meet the standard with the devilish system on their passenger cars. Mazda tried to bring a diesel on the 6 for years.