I purchased my new S500 last year, almost exactly one year coming up this month. Last week I went into the car to clean up, as I was cleaning the steering wheel I felt pressure in my finger. I could not move my hand, I felt the pressure but not much pain. I began to reposition myself to see what I was stuck on, Imagine my surprise when I saw the silver inlay from the wood stuck halfway through my finger.

I began to remove the piece slowly not to do further damage, as it was halfway out the tension from the the piece being still attached to the car was enough to overcome my flesh. I had to go to the emergency room, 3 stitches. 5k bill from what I was told, I contact my sales man. He tells me call MBUSA, so I do and it's highly disappointing call. I was basically told I was lying, he kept persisting it was not a defect. I said I would like to take pictures and send them in.

He explained someone would contact me soon, but first I should go to the dealership and show them the piece. I did just that I recorded the whole thing, everyone was rude no one cared about my finger. No one even asked if it was OK, not MBUSA not the dealership.

I am so angry and disgusted, I can't drive the car anymore all I see is my blood squirting out. I now have to sell the car way earlier than I intended, I now have a crazy medical bill plus the loss I take on the car. I know some here will think I want pity, or some such thing. No I just want everyone to know this is how Mercedes treats a lifetime customer. An S Class customer





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If anyone does care my finger is still numb, no feeling past the middle joint. And I can't bend it. I pray that it is only temporary till the stitches come out.

For those wondering, all the service manager did besides be rude was rip out the piece that cut me. He refused to give it back, acted like it was his. I have it on video

Wow that's awful man. Hope it gets resolved in a way that is satisfactory. Can you post the video interaction too?
I'd want the piece of plastic back too, why does he have the right to withhold that from you??
My only other question is will you be making a cameo in the upcoming Captain America movie with Anthony Mackie??

Time to call in the suits, lawyer up!

Not me😜 But Old Man Cap, 2026

You got one?

Yes, Harrison Ford was tapped for that role huh? Not sure if he'll have America's *** though

That is terrible. I hope your finger heals back to normal.

Ouch! Thats terrible. Hope it heals back up.

What even is that shard?!

Well it is manufacturer's defect. You see for some reason, one of the pieces of silver trim in the walnut wood just kept going 3 inches past the wood it was just dangling there. I had no clue because the steering wheel blocked the view.

1. How did that much blood come out of a wound that size after the time it took to get to the emergency room?

2. How did you maneuver your body to cut the inside of your left index finger on the dash behind the left side of the wheel?

3. How did the metal shard get so gangly? If it is inlay it would peel off straight

4. How did you achieve a slashing type wound from a stabbing type item. You even mentioned it went into your finger not across

5. You just joined this forum, one other post


Looks like a duck. Quacks like a duck.

Wow, arn't you special! Lets start with;

1: The bucket you see is solution they had me dip my finger in to clean the wound. The stuff I used to get to the emergency room, left a film but wound was still open. It basically stopped it from squirting till I got there.

2: Cut is on the top side of my index finger, I was trying to clean the back of the steering wheel. I was using my thumb to scrape the whatever off, hand slipped next thing I know I could not move my hand it was stuck. I felt pressure not pain. When I re-positioned myself to see what I was stuck on I saw the metal piece for the first time. I began to pull it out slowly, about half way out the tension from still being attached to the car was stronger than my meat. You would know this if you read the post or looked at the pics.

3: Gee I don't know how it got gangly I think it might be because it's a manufacturers defect. Or maybe after it went through my finger it gangled, I can't say for sure because the first time I saw it it was in my freaking finger.

4: How many times can you ask the same question? Refer to original post or number 1 above. Read it all the way through.

5: Did you read the original post? Seriously did you? I said lifetime customer, I have been here nearly 20 years. I don't have access to my old email, could not reset password. Made a new account, look at my post history should I have announced my username lineage of 10 comments 14 years ago? When I went to my main PC I was already logged in to my old name.

Now here are my questions for you.

1: Do you read?

2: Are you a troll?

Thank you.

What a bloody mess!

This looks like more the responsibility of MBUSA (as it is apparently a QC issue) than that of the dealer.
And the local dealer should not confiscate the broken off metal piece as it is the property of OP. OP must demand the return of it at once.
As everything is documented and videoed, it should be fairly easy to ask MBUSA to make some compensation, taking care of the medical bill being the least of the least.

BTW, is the still dangling piece (looks like about 100mm long) attached to/used to be part of the surround silver frame of the driver display?
I cannot make this out from the last pic.

The car has the fanned walnut wood option, which is silver strips in between the wood pieces. To me it looked as if it was supposed to be much shorter. I am trying to edit the video its about 20 minutes now, 90 percent waiting.

MBUSA won't even contact me, so I doubt it. No one at the dealership even said how is your finger, not even the MBUSA guy who answers the phone.

Whoever answered your call is unlikely trained/authorized to handle this kind of issue.
I would suggest, have everything printed out (with a few selected pics, medical reports and bills...etc) and sent the package to the corporate address of MBUSA.

That guy is new too. I'd simply ignore the retardation and move on to more important things like how will you proceed and resolve this issue? A letterhead from a lawyer always gets the dealers attention.

The pictures look illegitimate - there’s nothing in them that has a person or links the car with the wound. They look like they were downloaded off the internet. I even did a cursory search to see if I could find the same pics. The story is unlikely and super odd. If this is true and you are going to sue, you got more than the likes of me to contend with. Also, if it is true, so you cut your finger. You lost $5k in medical and a few hours of time. You have a $$$ car and this is material to you?? Makes no sense.

From what I see in the photos that isn’t a serious wound and should heal fine. If you can’t feel your finger you could have hit a nerve. That will heal as well. Doesn’tt seem like it supports this much whining.

All this tells me this looks fake. This being your first post adds to and tells me it looks like others I’ve seen get deleted off here for trolling. If it’s not, well I guess I’d say chill out and move on, dude.

Speaking of trolling; you're fawking obnoxious LMFAO!

HOLY CRAP!!!

I am a physician and will advise you to stay with your accounting. Nerve damage can be permanent, so next time someone in your family gets hurt, dont give them your expert opinion, stop your stupidity commenting on someone's injury when you are not qualified to do so.

I see what it is now, its the metal strip that makes up the fanned walnut inlay, its dislodged from the trim, you can tell that in the further out picture.

I don't see how you can't say this is a manufacturers defect...in the very least they need to replace the trim where the metal inlay is missing under warranty.

I think the drama of "I can't keep the car" is a little over the top, but I don't think expecting MBUSA to take this seriously is at all unreasonable. My kids love to sit in my car and pretend to drive it in the garage, what if they were to have seriously hurt themselves on something like this?

Zoomed in on the picture you can clearly see what it is:

5k sounds high for that injury and the sell the car thing is silly; but yeah, certainly you've got a warranty repair at the least. If you're going to pursue anything whatsoever as far as the injury goes, you'll need an attorney.

All depends on what your deductible is.

Are you one of those people that just needs to be called out as potentially blind, clearly uneducated, possibly stupid and obnoxiously rude? Or just loser?

ACCOUNTANT open your eyes. Shut your mouth. The inlay detached in his finger. He required stitches by a doctor. I’m guessing you’re a doctor just too obnoxious or a to know how to spell Dr.. as an accountant I would love to hear what medical degree you acquired that would outweigh the opinion of his doctors? I’d also like to hear how damage to a nerve is nothing to worry about. I barely cut my finger 30 years ago and the feeling never came back and it hurt for years.

The inlay was defective while under interior warranty and injured the customer. Only an ingrate would post like you did. Learn some compassion, animal. Op is clearly hurt and upset and this thread likely has more to do with attitude like yours at the dealership that nobody wants to deal with or respect and why lawyers are necessary for your type….

if you are truly an accountant, go back to the numbers because they don’t talk to you or have feelings

op needs a lawyer, and to have that service advisor reprimanded or fired. That service advisor proved they were willing to hide evidence, and potentially harm customers through scumbag actions..

HAs tis happened to others with similar steering wheel?

This could be recall-able.

wonder if MB has some service notice thingy for this issue.

This is a shame it happened wonder how metal came out like that and looks - gnarly..
Maybe cleaning rage grap just a small point of it and pulled the rest out?
Whatever caused this; It should not have happened.

Keep after MB until fixed properly and safely.

Though the explanation makes it seem as though this happened on the steering wheel, look very carefully and you will see this metal was a vertically positioned inlay in the wood to the left of the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. This looks to have happened when reaching behind the wheel, the metal was not on the wheel. The second picture shows the metal inlay in its location. One can assume the inlay was barely poking out of the wood until it caught the op like a splinter, causing the metal to curl upon entrance.


Inlay no longer inlaid. This would suck to have go into the finger only to stop on the knuckle.

You ever thought about claiming auto or homeowner’s bodily injury and let them go after MBUSA? I don’t know if your auto insurance would cover it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. They may not care to go after MBUSA, and just write it off, but at least you’ll get some compensation. However, often times if they feel the liability is on another party, they typically will. This might be easier than hiring an attorney. However, if you do hire an attorney, assuming you win out, MBUSA will typically have to pay all legal fees incurred.