Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 2001-2011 C-Class, CLK, E-Class, and CLS vehicles because the glass sunroof panel may not be properly secured and may detach. This latest recall of a previous recall goes back to December 2017, when Mercedes Benz in Germany launched initial investigations based on what it said were isolated field reports from outside the US claiming that the sliding roof panel detached from vehicles. No damage or injuries were reported as a result of these unsafe incidents.
However, the sliding roof assemblies of the affected vehicles were requested and returned by individual markets, including the US. The returned parts were analyzed by the supplier and an external laboratory.
“The analysis of the supplier and outside laboratory were inconclusive,” MB said. Since these analyses did not indicate a potential root cause and this type of sliding roof was already out of production, MBAG began to look for vehicles from the global used car market to carry out further investigations. By November 2018, three sliding roofs were retrieved and analyzed. From these three sliding roofs, two did not indicate any issues. While one of the sliding roof panels exhibited indications of an impaired bonding, and the others did not, it was unclear why the bonding on this particular sliding roof was not as strong compared to the other field samples.
MBAG, along with the supplier, also undertook a thorough review of the supplier’s production records to determine if there were any changes made during the course of production. That review concluded in May, 2019. MBAG found that the supplier had changed the process of the primer application several times over the course of the full production period, including having changed the drying time for the bonding agent. MBAG then conducted testing, using various test methods to determine whether a reduced drying time may have affected the bonding performance over time. MBAG “additionally undertook further investigations to correlate the testing results, suggesting that there could be a diminution in bonding performance depending on the production period of sliding roofs.”
In a required NHTSA filing made public today, MBUSA is recalling 123,696 vehicles. As a precautionary measure an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer, will check the glass panel bonding on the affected vehicles and replace the sliding roof, supplied by Webasto if necessary.
Dealers will be notified of the pending voluntary recall campaign tomorrow 3 January 2023.Owners will eventually be notified of the voluntary recall campaign before 21 February 2023. Dealers will inspect and replace the sunroof panel as necessary free of charge as required by US federal regulations . Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. This recall expands NHTSA recall number 19V-918. Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov
Mercedes-Benz USA Recalls Sunroofs for Flying Off
Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 2001-2011 C-Class, CLK, E-Class, and CLS vehicles because the glass sunroof panel may not be properly secured and may detach. This latest recall of a previous recall goes back to December 2017, when Mercedes Benz in Germany launched initial investigations based on what it said were isolated field reports from outside the US claiming that the sliding roof panel detached from vehicles. No damage or injuries were reported as a result of these unsafe incidents.
However, the sliding roof assemblies of the affected vehicles were requested and returned by individual markets, including the US. The returned parts were analyzed by the supplier and an external laboratory.
“The analysis of the supplier and outside laboratory were inconclusive,” MB said. Since these analyses did not indicate a potential root cause and this type of sliding roof was already out of production, MBAG began to look for vehicles from the global used car market to carry out further investigations. By November 2018, three sliding roofs were retrieved and analyzed. From these three sliding roofs, two did not indicate any issues. While one of the sliding roof panels exhibited indications of an impaired bonding, and the others did not, it was unclear why the bonding on this particular sliding roof was not as strong compared to the other field samples.
MBAG, along with the supplier, also undertook a thorough review of the supplier’s production records to determine if there were any changes made during the course of production. That review concluded in May, 2019. MBAG found that the supplier had changed the process of the primer application several times over the course of the full production period, including having changed the drying time for the bonding agent. MBAG then conducted testing, using various test methods to determine whether a reduced drying time may have affected the bonding performance over time. MBAG “additionally undertook further investigations to correlate the testing results, suggesting that there could be a diminution in bonding performance depending on the production period of sliding roofs.”
In a required NHTSA filing made public today, MBUSA is recalling 123,696 vehicles. As a precautionary measure an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer, will check the glass panel bonding on the affected vehicles and replace the sliding roof, supplied by Webasto if necessary.
Dealers will be notified of the pending voluntary recall campaign tomorrow 3 January 2023.Owners will eventually be notified of the voluntary recall campaign before 21 February 2023. Dealers will inspect and replace the sunroof panel as necessary free of charge as required by US federal regulations . Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. This recall expands NHTSA recall number 19V-918. Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov