Letter to
Daimler-Chrysler (USA) as supplied by Tim Forrester
ML430, VIN 146812, Model year 2000
To Whom It May Concern:
I purchased the above ML430 in November 1999 and have since driven it
approximately 27,000 miles with no off road use or any other treatment, which could in
anyway be considered harsh.
Despite the local dealerships best attempts, I have suffered 23
warranty incidents / repairs. Please see the attached list for details.
Certainly some of the warranty items have been trivial or cosmetic and
fixed by the dealer without my request.
However putting these trivial items aside, 13 have been hard failures
caused by a combination of poor assembly, quality of component or design. Hard failures
are shown in BOLD.
Many of these hard failures have resulted in un-scheduled service
visits and general inconvenience. On average a failure has occurred every 2 –3
months.
I attempted to resolve this situation with the local dealer, but
without success and have recently escalated the matter to the regional manager of Southern
California MBUSA – no satisfaction was obtained. I escalated the matter higher still
to DC HQ in Germany, same result – no satisfaction. Basically keep taking back to the
dealer for repairs….
Problems to date with my 2000 ML430, VIN 146812
MCS (radio, CD player, nav system) unit failure – replaced under
warranty.
Remote central locking failure – keys replaced 5 times on 4
separate visits, authorization module changed 3 times.
Engine check light – Oxygen sensor replaced.
Door locks fail to lock – take 2-3 attempts. Authorization
module changed again and locks re-aligned.
Rear window switches failed. Replaced under warranty.
Front driver’s window switch failed. Left with window in stuck
down position. Switch & motor replaced under warranty.
The passenger front seat rocks under acceleration – loose /
broken mount. Repaired under warranty.
Fuel gauge inaccurate – replaced under warranty.
Whirling noise from engine – alternator replaced, bad bearing.
Front passenger power seat failed – switches replaced.
Battery failed without warning – went open circuit.
Remote key entry in-operative again – key replaced.
Brake pad warning light failed to indicate warn brake pads.
Excessive sunroof wind noise when open – deflector added FOC by
dealer.
Auxiliary cooling fan (F44) fuse blown – fixed by installing a
slightly higher rated fuse.
Drivers side seat now loose, rocks back & forth under
acceleration.
B pillar black plastic wrinkled – replaced under warranty at
dealers suggestion, but they messed up the interior trim.
The driver’s window rattles when lowered 2-3 inches –
sounds like something is tapping the glass inside the door. Still not fixed – seems
all ML’s suffer from this problem, ignoring it from now on.
Center console material cover stretch, replaced under warranty by
dealer without my prompt.
Squeak coming from the light / handle fixture behind the driver above
the rear left hand door. Fixed under warranty.
Since the seat belt recall was performed on the rear seat belt it has
become more difficult to lower and secure the rear seats. Seats adjusted but still
difficult.
Leather on underside of rear seats keeps coming un-clipped –
poor design, not repaired as yet. Fixed myself.
Loud bang from rear seats when going over speed humps – even
slowly. Fixed myself by adding felt.
Tim Forrester
timf@qcpi.com
Letter to Daimler-Chrysler (UK) as
supplied by Simon Smith
08. August 2002
Dear
Sir
In
September of last year I purchased a Mercedes A 170 CDI , from Road Range in Liverpool,
and to put it bluntly I have been disappointed on several fronts by the vehicle.
Upon
delivery, the vehicles alarm was too sensitive, and would go off by itself whenever the
car was alarmed. This was the first time I used your “24 hour” support services,
and a mechanic was duly dispatched, and arrived some 9 hours later. Not the quickest of
response, I’m sure you’ll agree, and particularly worrying as my partner and our
1 year old child use the vehicle most often, which means in the event of a mechanical
fault disabling the vehicle, they could spend several hours at the side of the road
waiting for assistance.
Despite
the ardent assurances by the salesperson upon the quality of Mercedes vehicles, the car
has been dogged by petty faults, I can only put down to poor QA. The drivers side window
needed reseating, Panels have yellowed (because I “park in the sunlight”) the
passenger side window now works intermittently, The CD holder has stopped working and the
rear cup holder had been loose since delivery of the car. I’m sure you’ll agree
none of these faults are life threatening, but I’d like to expand on the last one so
you can better understand the problems your product has caused.
The
rear cup holder sits between the two front seats and on the car it didn’t clip in
fully. This is a fault that is clearly visible , and should have been fixed long before
the car left the factory, but it wasn’t . This fault , although clearly visible
passed PDI (pre delivery inspection) and was noticed by my child (aged 12) upon her
sitting in the rear of the car.
I
decided to phone the suppliers of the car, but said I’d leave replacing it until the
service, as its only cosmetic, and visiting them is out of my normal routine.
When
the car was serviced I was told that a new part was needed, and had not been ordered, and
can I bring the car back, which I agreed. However in over a month I was not informed that
the part was there and when I visited Road Range, they had no record of the part being
ordered, although a particularly gifted service mechanic re fitted the cup holder in 5
minutes, all this time however, I have wished to sell the now quickly depreciating car but
could not (and still cannot) due to work outstanding on the vehicle. How is it that a part
so visible, with a clearly visible problem passes QA on several occasions? , And what
security does a customer have that more critical parts cannot slip though the QA net?
My
final point is that the car is depreciating in value at a quite horrific rate, due in no
small part to the deal Mercedes UK have done with Easy jet, which floods the used car
market with A class Mercedes, and recent price changes that mean the new range of A
Classes start at under nine thousand pounds.
I have been reassured on numerous occasions that
this is an unusual turn of events, that Mercedes customers are usually very happy with
their purchases, some simple research on the internet concludes that I am not alone
(please see http://www.carsurvey.org/review_25336.html) .
I
would like to hear your views and any possible remedies you would like to propose at your
earliest convenience.
Yours,
Simon Smith
simon1127@yahoo.com
If you
have a similar experience and want to share it, email me.
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