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Another Glitch at Mercedes
Recall of 140,000 U.S. Models
For Brake Trouble Compounds
Quality Issues That Plague Brand
By STEPHEN POWER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 26, 2004; Page B1
(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
Mercedes-Benz owners weary of quality problems are headed for another bump in the road.
The luxury division of DaimlerChrysler AG is preparing to notify U.S. owners of about 140,000 Mercedes passenger cars that their advanced "electrohydraulic" brake system could fail and must be brought in for service.
Touted by Mercedes three years ago as "nothing short of a revolution," the system was designed to improve braking in dangerous conditions. But it can be foiled by air bubbles that may develop in the brakes' hydraulic tank. Mercedes says the cars have a backup hydraulic system that activates the brakes if the electronic technology fails.
The U.S. recall will be announced in letters to customers over the next few weeks and is part of a wider recall affecting 680,000 E-Class and SL cars world-wide that also have the braking system, which the company calls Sensotronic. It is the biggest recall in Mercedes history and an unpleasant distraction at a time when the German company is trying to put to rest questions about quality.
The recall illustrates what has become a persistent problem for Mercedes, one of the most admired names in automobiles. In seeking to maintain its reputation as a leader in cutting-edge technologies, the company hasn't always been able to deliver the innovation it promised, or found that customers didn't always appreciate the improvements.
Last July, for example, Mercedes took the unusual step of offering new cars to about 2,000 owners of the 2003 E-Class cars who paid for but never received built-in navigation systems. Because the systems weren't ready at the time of the vehicles' launch, the company planned to allow the new owners to come back later to have the systems installed -- only to decide that such retrofits would be too complex and time-consuming.
Over the past few years, several Mercedes models have been riddled with glitches in increasingly complicated electronics systems. And in January, Mercedes announced it was recalling 33,000 vehicles world-wide to check potentially faulty seat-belt buckles.
In several quality studies, Mercedes has slipped. A study of vehicle reliability by J.D. Power & Associates last year found Mercedes had 318 problems per 100 vehicles in the 2000 model year -- worse than such middlebrow names as Dodge (312 problems per 100 vehicles), Subaru (266 problems per 100) and Mazda (288 problems per 100). Earlier this month, Mercedes improved its performance on the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, which measures defects in the first 90 days of ownership. With 106 defects per 100 cars, Mercedes rose to 10th on the survey, from 15th a year earlier, when it had 132 defects per 100 cars.
But that improvement came too late for some car buyers. Merrel Wilkenfeld, of Charlotte, N.C., bought a $52,000 2003 E-Class but found that after a few months, the radio wouldn't shut off, the windows wouldn't close properly, and something was wrong with the brakes.
"I'd pull up to a red light, and other drivers would look over to see this beautiful Mercedes squealing to a halt at 10 miles an hour," Mr. Wilkenfeld says. In January, he traded in the E-Class for a 2004 Jaguar S-Type.
Mercedes officials acknowledge they have received complaints from buyers about quality and say they have taken steps to address the complaints. Among the steps: increasing product testing by 50% and sending employees to parts suppliers such as Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG to gain more expertise on integrating new technologies into vehicles.
Other complaints, Mercedes officials say, involve less grave issues and are limited to the U.S. market, such as gripes about the size of cup holders and noise generated by windshield wipers at high speeds.
"Mercedes customers should have very high expectations about their vehicles, but in many cases, Mercedes customers have absolute quality expectations, which means 'no failure' or 'no quality problem whatsoever,' " says Mercedes spokesman Johannes Reifenrath.
Recall of 140,000 U.S. Models
For Brake Trouble Compounds
Quality Issues That Plague Brand
By STEPHEN POWER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 26, 2004; Page B1
(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
Mercedes-Benz owners weary of quality problems are headed for another bump in the road.
The luxury division of DaimlerChrysler AG is preparing to notify U.S. owners of about 140,000 Mercedes passenger cars that their advanced "electrohydraulic" brake system could fail and must be brought in for service.
Touted by Mercedes three years ago as "nothing short of a revolution," the system was designed to improve braking in dangerous conditions. But it can be foiled by air bubbles that may develop in the brakes' hydraulic tank. Mercedes says the cars have a backup hydraulic system that activates the brakes if the electronic technology fails.
The U.S. recall will be announced in letters to customers over the next few weeks and is part of a wider recall affecting 680,000 E-Class and SL cars world-wide that also have the braking system, which the company calls Sensotronic. It is the biggest recall in Mercedes history and an unpleasant distraction at a time when the German company is trying to put to rest questions about quality.
The recall illustrates what has become a persistent problem for Mercedes, one of the most admired names in automobiles. In seeking to maintain its reputation as a leader in cutting-edge technologies, the company hasn't always been able to deliver the innovation it promised, or found that customers didn't always appreciate the improvements.
Last July, for example, Mercedes took the unusual step of offering new cars to about 2,000 owners of the 2003 E-Class cars who paid for but never received built-in navigation systems. Because the systems weren't ready at the time of the vehicles' launch, the company planned to allow the new owners to come back later to have the systems installed -- only to decide that such retrofits would be too complex and time-consuming.
Over the past few years, several Mercedes models have been riddled with glitches in increasingly complicated electronics systems. And in January, Mercedes announced it was recalling 33,000 vehicles world-wide to check potentially faulty seat-belt buckles.
In several quality studies, Mercedes has slipped. A study of vehicle reliability by J.D. Power & Associates last year found Mercedes had 318 problems per 100 vehicles in the 2000 model year -- worse than such middlebrow names as Dodge (312 problems per 100 vehicles), Subaru (266 problems per 100) and Mazda (288 problems per 100). Earlier this month, Mercedes improved its performance on the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, which measures defects in the first 90 days of ownership. With 106 defects per 100 cars, Mercedes rose to 10th on the survey, from 15th a year earlier, when it had 132 defects per 100 cars.
But that improvement came too late for some car buyers. Merrel Wilkenfeld, of Charlotte, N.C., bought a $52,000 2003 E-Class but found that after a few months, the radio wouldn't shut off, the windows wouldn't close properly, and something was wrong with the brakes.
"I'd pull up to a red light, and other drivers would look over to see this beautiful Mercedes squealing to a halt at 10 miles an hour," Mr. Wilkenfeld says. In January, he traded in the E-Class for a 2004 Jaguar S-Type.
Mercedes officials acknowledge they have received complaints from buyers about quality and say they have taken steps to address the complaints. Among the steps: increasing product testing by 50% and sending employees to parts suppliers such as Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG to gain more expertise on integrating new technologies into vehicles.
Other complaints, Mercedes officials say, involve less grave issues and are limited to the U.S. market, such as gripes about the size of cup holders and noise generated by windshield wipers at high speeds.
"Mercedes customers should have very high expectations about their vehicles, but in many cases, Mercedes customers have absolute quality expectations, which means 'no failure' or 'no quality problem whatsoever,' " says Mercedes spokesman Johannes Reifenrath.
