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Plastic Panel (Dash board) Cracks

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Old May 1, 2004 | 03:05 PM
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TorontoW210's Avatar
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Plastic Panel (Dash board) Cracks

My 96 E320 is showing cracks around the dashboards.. anyone share similar experiences? It could be the sun but I live in Toronto up here.. not like sunny Miami

but anyways, I just question the type of material MB uses.. I also own a 94 Volvo 850 which I treat it like **** ...(in the sun, in the snow) even though both the volvo and the benz is parked outside .. the volvo show no signs of cracks at all
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Old May 3, 2004 | 12:11 AM
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From: NY, NY
2000 E320 4Matic Obsidian Black/Ash
its a defect.... Dealer just finished installing a new dash in my car for the same problem. Apparently its "supposed" to be fixed so it won't happen again. Had cracked around the airbag seem (all around and in the upper left corner) and a few spots on the defroster vents. And my car is a 2000 with only 30k miles.

Dash looks and sounds much better now... (so far so good).
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Old May 3, 2004 | 08:13 AM
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Thanks for the tip Cobac,

Since mine is a 96, not sure if they will still provide the warranty. If its not a common defect, perhaps they will just say it is caused by owner's neglect, but anyway, I will try to approach a dealership to see what they have to say.

Thanks again.
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Old May 4, 2004 | 08:04 PM
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From: Scottsdale, Arizonai
'85 190E 2.3-16 '99 C280 '11 GLK350
Can't say about your year, but for the mid-80's to early '90's Mercedes, the dashboards were pretty much destined to crack because of the design. The shell of the dash is formed out of one big piece of aluminum, then the vinyl covering and pad is "vacuum formed" onto it, incorporating some foam heat insulation as well. The result is a very strong, but light dash structure. The problem occurs when this long piece of aluminum undergoes temperature changes, which makes it expand and contract along the longitudinal axis (door to door). If the covering material dries out and can't accomodate the movement, it will crack, usually on the lattitude axis (front to rear).
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Old May 9, 2004 | 09:26 PM
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Called up Mercedes Canada the other day, the customer rep said she had never heard of such incident and she is not aware of any warranty that covers these type of damage.

I am just shock that the quality workmanship of a Mercedes is even worst than a Kia .... cars in the eighties don't even show cracks like my E320 which is a 96.

Cosmetic wise I am not too fuzy about, I am just concern that the SRS on the passenger side may pop out since there are cracks developing around the edges of the SRS.
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