Cheesed off with your Mercedes?

[MSG2004]

Plenty of more reliable cars if that is what you want.....starting with every Lexus, Toyota, Honda.....

Not aroud 2004, none that i was aware of or liked shape/etc.

 

[Tblk]

Car 1 C63 - too it in for its annual service, engine bay rattling on the drive home, opened up Bonnet found engine cover broken and just wedged on top.
Car 2 E53 - took it in for annual service, again engine rattle, open up bonnet found tool left on engine cover!

 

[kam09]

Car 1 C63 - too it in for its annual service, engine bay rattling on the drive home, opened up Bonnet found engine cover broken and just wedged on top.
Car 2 E53 - took it in for annual service, again engine rattle, open up bonnet found tool left on engine cover!

Apprentice getting his hands dirty on your fine motors.. wonder if an extended test drive was carried out..

 

[JHS]

My main dealer quoted me £250 to change 1 door handle led.. courtesy was a brand new a class saloon but didn't have to pay anything for it.. my mercedes me features like location n live traffic are free for me.. and yes the maps not being done by previous owner(s) is very annoying so I'll have to do myself via 3rd party company!

That would be £1000 to replace the 4 LEDs that have failed on mine then! 4 LEDs can be purchased for a balloon on a stick or a goldfish in a bowl, so that is crazy.
I still manage to find my door handles in the dark without the dubious help of illumination.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

That would be £1000 to replace the 4 LEDs that have failed on mine then! 4 LEDs can be purchased for a balloon on a stick or a goldfish in a bowl, so that is crazy.
I still manage to find my door handles in the dark without the dubious help of illumination.

I had 2 door Handle LED’s replaced at my indie in the summer. The costly part of it is the labour. Full door cards removed and the innerds, pest of a job. I’d be more inclined to question the design team rather than the dealers invoices. Either make them more reliable or easier to change.

In addition to this I also had both door mirror puddle light bulbs replaced as both had failed. Again, not a simple job. Total remodel of glass, then the innerds (mirror motor, 360 degree camera, and radar) before you can get to the bulb. Crazy how this can’t be made a more simple a job.

Totally foolish of me to pay for these repairs but I have an illness where I HAVE to have things working wether I deem them essential or not.

 

[JHS]

I had 2 door Handle LED’s replaced at my indie in the summer. The costly part of it is the labour. Full door cards removed and the innerds, pest of a job. I’d be more inclined to question the design team rather than the dealers invoices. Either make them more reliable or easier to change.

In addition to this I also had both door mirror puddle light bulbs replaced as both had failed. Again, not a simple job. Total remodel of glass, then the innerds (mirror motor, 360 degree camera, and radar) before you can get to the bulb. Crazy how this can’t be made a more simple a job.

Either that or why fit them at all?

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Either that or why fit them at all?

Because (some) people (me included) LOVE a gimmick.

 

[gr1nch]

...
* LEDs that fail after about 10 hours of use (the driver's door handle) but will cost £900 to replace because the main dealer says it takes multiple hours to do as Mercedes never expected them to fail. When challenged on the price they requoted a "just for you" £650. Rejected the offer.
...

My main dealer quoted me £250 to change 1 door handle led.
...

That would be £1000 to replace the 4 LEDs that have failed on mine then!
...

I had 2 door Handle LED’s replaced at my indie in the summer. The costly part of it is the labour. Full door cards removed and the innerds, pest of a job. I’d be more inclined to question the design team rather than the dealers invoices. Either make them more reliable or easier to change.

In addition to this I also had both door mirror puddle light bulbs replaced as both had failed. Again, not a simple job. Total remodel of glass, then the innerds (mirror motor, 360 degree camera, and radar) before you can get to the bulb. Crazy how this can’t be made a more simple a job.

Totally foolish of me to pay for these repairs but I have an illness where I HAVE to have things working wether I deem them essential or not.

If this recent thread is anything to go by, it may strongly suggest that Mercedes have a widespread problem with their LED systems: the hardware (bulbs, wiring, switchgear) and/or software.

If it's the bulbs as most of these main dealers have claimed, then there is something very wrong. At a minimum, good quality LEDs have a 10,000-30,000 hours lifetime of use, depending on the manufacturer. Ours have failed after a tiny fraction of that expected lifetime.

The "never replace" inference of the LED bulbs was an additional attraction for my car. I feel they have let us down and that these bulbs should outlast all the other hardware, which generally lasts the lifetime of the car. As such, can it be argued with Mercedes UK or DE, that failed LEDs are a manufacturing defect and as such should be resolved by Mercedes, free of charge?

Happy to have this discussion moved to a thread of it's own, for those interested.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

If this recent thread is anything to go by, it may strongly suggest that Mercedes have a widespread problem with their LED systems: the hardware (bulbs, wiring, switchgear) and/or software.

If it's the bulbs as most of these main dealers have claimed, then there is something very wrong. At a minimum, good quality LEDs have a 10,000-30,000 hours lifetime of use, depending on the manufacturer. Ours have failed after a tiny fraction of that expected lifetime.

The "never replace" inference of the LED bulbs was an additional attraction for my car. I feel they have let us down and that these bulbs should outlast all the other hardware, which generally lasts the lifetime of the car. As such, can it be argued with Mercedes UK or DE, that failed LEDs are a manufacturing defect and as such should be resolved by Mercedes, free of charge?

Happy to have this discussion moved to a thread of it's own, for those interested.

Totally agree. I use/fit LED’s on the majority of my building projects and never once had a callback. If you think of the very short amount of time a door handle LED is used (eg they only activate when dark) it's a poor show from MB. (Pun intended )

 

[rf065]

Didn’t know that the S205 had air suspension, our doesn’t…

Mine does, wouldn't be without it now!

 

[rf065]

If this recent thread is anything to go by, it may strongly suggest that Mercedes have a widespread problem with their LED systems: the hardware (bulbs, wiring, switchgear) and/or software.

I had all 4 of my LED door handle lights replaced under warranty before the car was 3 years old, I read somewhere that the replacements were updated items that were less subsceptable to water ingress. So 4 years later, not one has failed since.

 

[kam09]

That would be £1000 to replace the 4 LEDs that have failed on mine then! 4 LEDs can be purchased for a balloon on a stick or a goldfish in a bowl, so that is crazy.
I still manage to find my door handles in the dark without the dubious help of illumination.

Yes that's a madness but I have seen a retrofit firm in Bristol who will do all 4 for £350..

 

[kam09]

I had all 4 of my LED door handle lights replaced under warranty before the car was 3 years old, I read somewhere that the replacements were updated items that were less subsceptable to water ingress. So 4 years later, not one has failed since.

That's correct, mb released a newer version led..

 

[kam09]

If this recent thread is anything to go by, it may strongly suggest that Mercedes have a widespread problem with their LED systems: the hardware (bulbs, wiring, switchgear) and/or software.

If it's the bulbs as most of these main dealers have claimed, then there is something very wrong. At a minimum, good quality LEDs have a 10,000-30,000 hours lifetime of use, depending on the manufacturer. Ours have failed after a tiny fraction of that expected lifetime.

The "never replace" inference of the LED bulbs was an additional attraction for my car. I feel they have let us down and that these bulbs should outlast all the other hardware, which generally lasts the lifetime of the car. As such, can it be argued with Mercedes UK or DE, that failed LEDs are a manufacturing defect and as such should be resolved by Mercedes, free of charge?

Happy to have this discussion moved to a thread of it's own, for those interested.

Yes the issue was water Ingress on the original door handle led's but a newer version part was released which does a better job in keeping water out!

 

[Smiley]

I'm rather glad that my old 211 does not have led door handle lights that way I don't even need to consider fixing them.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Not sure where MB have gone wrong with the use of internal LED lighting. I often work on machinery that has spent 25/30 years in a very harsh environment the electrical mimic panels (Before touch screen HMI were invented) are fitted (in the main) to the machine doors which are opened and slammed shut .

The LED are often the last thing to fail on the panel , some of the panels have over 65 separate LED.

My guess ? Mercedes Benz took a look at current LED technology and decided that they could 'improve' (re invent) it...........with predictable results.

 

[rich1068]

I'm rather glad that my old 211 does not have led door handle lights that way I don't even need to consider fixing them.

Exactly the way I feel about all sorts of things not on my CLK. Obviously there's stuff that will go wrong on a 20 year old car but at least mine is refreshingly free of all the Ooo! gimmicks that invariably break on German cars as soon as the warranty is up.

 

[MSG2004]

We will all agree that a Mercedes is not what they used to be. If they were built to the same standards as those about 30 years ago, I'd guess we'd be paying treble. The problem is with any car that has so many gadgets, the more gadgets the more likely they are to go wrong. Range rover a good example of this.

 

[Smiley]

We will all agree that a Mercedes is not what they used to be. If they were built to the same standards as those about 30 years ago, I'd guess we'd be paying treble. The problem is with any car that has so many gadgets, the more gadgets the more likely they are to go wrong. Range rover a good example of this.

I'm not so sure that the older ones were much more reliable than the newer ones; I remember quite a few problems with 124s 129s and 201s. Mostly electrical from memory - at least the engines and transmissions were mostly bombproof. If my only criteria was reliability I would have had only Lexus or Toyotas - quite astonishing cars in terms of build quality and reliability.

 

[Fastcar155]

My C207 covered 43000 miles in 8 years. Issues 2 nox things replaced under warranty.

I lied ,,they could never make the Mercedes me work satisfactorly !