arazvi

Letter delivered to MBUSA:

May 4, 2004

Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC
Client Assistant Services
One Mercedes Drive
Montvale, New Jersey 07645

VIN: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
2001 E55 AMG

Dear Sir(s):

I would hereby like to file a formal complaint against Smythe European, Auto Nation and Mercedes-Benz USA. I believe the following depicts a history of the aforementioned parties having inaccurately diagnosed and remedied an evidenced and persistent defect(s) with my 2001 Mercedes-Benz AMG E55 sport sedan beginning just months after I purchased it. This situation is not only dangerous, but could result in a serious accident.

I believe the aforementioned have also knowingly disregarded the safety issues I pointed out to them and allowed a vehicle that drifts into oncoming traffic, drifts off the road both in cornering and while driving on a straight road to leave their service shop. These issues were verified by Mercedes and Smythe/AutoNation and deemed “acceptable.”

I do not believe Mercedes Benz designed its most advanced sport sedan (for which I paid $105,000) to drive itself off the road. The problem can be duplicated repeatedly and yet the service department at Smythe/AutoNation refuses to correct it.

If MBUSA refuses to address these issues immediately, I will vigorously pursue action.

Regards,


Arif Razvi


cc:
Law Offices of XXXXXXXXXXXX
California Attorney General’s Office – Consumer Affairs Department
Smythe European – Auto Nation

DETAIL:
In addition to the below-mentioned suspension issues, the car has been plagued with a variety of other issues from malfunctioning stereo systems, rear sun-shade inoperability, leaking sunroof, buzzing and rattling in interior trim parts and adaptive transmission issues.

The history of just the suspension related complaints is as follows:

September 2000 – 66 miles
Vehicle purchased from Smythe-European

December 2000 – 4,248 miles
Complaint of significant roll and under-steer;
Sway-bay assembly dislodged;
Actions: Re-seated sway-bar and Four-wheel alignment performed.

November 2001 – 15,275 miles
Complaint again of significant under-steer and suspension concerns;
Actions: Four-wheel alignment performed.

March 2003 – 24,224 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump-steer evident in vehicle;
No problems were claimed to be found;
Actions: Four-wheel alignment performed.

May 2003 – 25,698 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump-steer evident in vehicle;
I expressed my concern that this was a dangerous situation and that the car tended to drift into oncoming lanes, off the road and most noticeably in cornering would tend to have to be significantly over-corrected.
Actions: Although they verified the complaint, Mercedes said this was “normal” behavior for this vehicle. Front-end alignment performed.

September 2003 – 29,748 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump steer at both highway and parking-lot speeds.
Action: Although they verified the complaint, Mercedes said this was “normal” behavior for this vehicle.


October 2003 (two complaints) – 30,128 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump steer at both highway and parking-lot speeds. Problem getting worse.
Complaint of popping and clicking from front suspension;
Action: Mercedes verified complaints; sway-bar assembly had to be secured with “Lock-Tight” and replaced lower control arm bushings. No other corrective actions taken.


February 2004 – 32,216 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump-steer at both highway and parking-lot speeds.
Complaint of Transmission slip, jarring feeling and not downshifting properly.
Also complain that I had just put brand new tires on and they are already showing signs of “cupping”
Action: Ordered Rack and Pinion (not for the steering drift issue, but because they had been putting the wrong steering grease in the vehicle). Reset transmission adaptive computer.

April 2004 – 32,830 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump-steer at both highway and parking-lot speeds.
Action: Replace Rack and Pinion.

April 2004 – 33,255 miles
Complaint again about suspension, steering drift, under-steer, roll-steer and bump-steer at both highway and parking-lot speeds.
Action: Replace Struts.

April 2004
Road tested with Mercedes Area Service Technician and Service Manager at Smythe European.
Duplicated all issues above and they dismissed them all as “standard with Mercedes vehicles”
Smythe verbally refused to correct the defects.

<end>

saber

Why didnt you just sell the car in 2000 if you were so unhappy?

AC556F

Ditto the above comment and...$105,000...WTF?? What was in the trunk when you bought it?

ThemisN

He is in Cali...they are all crackheads when it comes to paying over sticker.. NY/NJ dealers try that (or used to), but it doesnt get them too far on most owners, so ive seen most just demand sticker.

t-bone

I didn't and wouldn't pay over sticker.

$105,000? What dealership did you buy from?

Vic55

The $105,000 probably included finance charges- unless it was during that period where everyone was paying 10-20k over sticker to be the first on the block with the W210 E55 (those who didn't preorder theirs).

ThemisN

yea i figured it prob including interest as well after i posted..

t-bone

Yeah... then that makes more sense.

Still, I'm curious about which dealership this was that you had to deal with.

krispykrme

dude, it's smythe european in Santa Clara, CA. It's stated in the original post.

t-bone

haha i'm blind. i just glance through huge posts.

arazvi

Remember it's California, USA ... so please include are Sales Tax, Luxury Tax, Gas Guzzler Tax, Title and Registration Fees. The sticker was $85K, I paid $90K to pry it out of the hands of some old lady and then paid all the taxes, etc.

And yea, since money grows on trees - I paid cash No finance charges are included.

Paid for with the $400,000 I made selling my house to some dumb shmuck willing to bid $250,000 over asking price.

Fools.

arazvi

Actually, I was perfectly fine in 2000 and parts of 2001. I didn't drive the car in 2002 and the problems mainly started becoming MOST noticeable in the spring of 2003. Then I spent the next 12 months chasing dead ends and trying to get them to fix it. They claim and continue to claim "this is standard Mercedes performance."

I call bull****.

Vic55

I always thought my W210 was bit on the soft side but I never had the probs that you have?? I think with the issues you had the E39 M5 would have been great.

MB Fanatic

Did you ever try a different dealer?

E55 KEV

What about the tires? I see no mention about tires being checked. You state you did not drive the car in 2002 - did the tires flat spot. Are the tires the approved Michelin Pilot Sports or Dunlops SP Sport 9000's?

Good Luck!

arazvi

Excellent question. By the end of 2003, the dealership could not find the problem, so they pinned it on the Bridgestone Pole Position S-03's that I had just purchased 6 months prior. So, in February I bought all brand new Pilot Sports to factory specs and it only made the problem more noticeable.

Then they tried to claim that I had 75PSI in the left front tire. Which, in my guesstimation would nearly explode the tire. Then, they said they set the new tires to "gas flap" specifications ... when I checked them later that day, they were off by 8PSI all the way around. On top of all that, I check my tires every time i fill the car and they never vary by more than 2PSI. I keep them very even. If that isn't enough - I also worked as pit crew for a Indy racing team for 3 years. I know a little bit about performance.