GLC seatbelt failure & attempted MB cover up.

[neilrr]

Mum warns Mercedes-Benz drivers after seatbelt 'fault' sends child flying into dashboard - Manchester Evening News

 

[190]

It could very well have been a one off as MB claim and hopefully it was. What really needs to happen is that the failure is logged somewhere independent of MB. That way should there be a number of subsequent failures a case for recall can be made.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Maybe I am heartless but this kind of reporting always makes me uncomfortable, miserable faced children and their Mum in the photos complete the picture.

 

[markjay]

1. As above, it may have been a one-off, and in spite of the potential implications, it is also understandable that MB HQ have no real interest in investigating a single occurrence of a fault (assuming they had no other reports of similar failures), regardless of how severe the implications may have been.


2. We do know however what MB customer services can be like, and I would not be surprised if they mishandled the situation from the start, ultimately leading to an otherwise-preventable PR fiasco.


3. 'His seatbelt had just completely broken from the bolts that attach it to the seat.'

The failure itself is quite odd, luckily the air-bag did not deploy, which also indicates that the speed of the collision was very low (assuming the passenger air-bag was armed), so for the belt to come undone at such relatively mild impact is very usual. In all likelihood, either the bolts were not done properly at the factory, or they may have been tempered with at some point by another party.


4. 'She said: “They just wanted to fit a new seatbelt and give it me back".'

Well essentially this is what the new car warranty is for.... again I think the the whole thing got out of proportion mainly due to how MB dealt with it. A personal call from someone senior at MB and a quick turnaround bundled with a good-will gesture would have done trick 9 out of 10 times.

I work in the hospitality sector and it is all about making hotel guests feel special. MB could benefit from adopting this approach across its service range, and not just apply it to the process up to when the customer signs the dotted line for the purchase of a new car.

 

[bob6600]

Apparently her foot slipped off the brake. She must have been either not paying attention or possibly speeding (in stop start traffic) for that kind of impact.

Maybe on the phone?

 

[whitenemesis]

I would have though this sort of thing is recorded with VOSA?

 

[markjay]

Apparently her foot slipped off the brake. She must have been either not paying attention or possibly speeding (in stop start traffic) for that kind of impact.

Maybe on the phone?

There is that, though to be fair to Ms. Ditchett this does not justify the seat belt coming undone even assuming that the above is correct (which we do not know), and it definitely does not justify MB giving here the go around for two months.

 

[neilrr]

Apparently her foot slipped off the brake. She must have been either not paying attention or possibly speeding (in stop start traffic) for that kind of impact.

Maybe on the phone?

Good point. All of those hypothetical scenarios are known to cause seat belt anchoring bolts to fail.

 

[Delayed Steve]

So what could MB have done to make her happy?
She's just attention seeking, MB have obviously took the car back and offered the all the money she had paid out back. What else can they do ? Give her compensation aswell ?
The lad doesn't look the type to get traumatized that easily anyway, he probably doesn't want to go in the car again because of her bad driving.

 

[219]

While it in no way excuses the seat belt failure , I can't help wondering why a child was in the front seat when presumably a back seat was available .

 

[Happytalk73]

While it in no way excuses the seat belt failure , I can't help wondering why a child was in the front seat when presumably a back seat was available .

I'm just curious Derek but why is that relevant? Our 11 year old daughter travels in the front of our car if she's alone with either me or Mrs Ant.

Are we doing anything we shouldn't?

Ant.

 

[whitenemesis]

Rear seat is always a much safer place to sit. Our girls never travelled in the front passenger seat.

 

[bob6600]

Good point. All of those hypothetical scenarios are known to cause seat belt anchoring bolts to fail.

That's not what I meant.

The seat belt should never have come adrift, period.

Maybe the cause of the collision is irrelevant

 

[Happytalk73]

Rear seat is always a much safer place to sit. Our girls never travelled in the front passenger seat.

Why is that though? Surely if there's no law against it and with airbag Safty the front seat is also safe?

I'm not being argumentative, just curious as to why she'd be safer in the rear.

Ant.

 

[Rory]

MB UK's way of dealing with this is only what we've come to expect - good for her in refusing to be bought, although it took a lot to even get to that point.

It seems incredible to me that if they don't know why it happened they wouldn't do a recall.

 

[markjay]

Children under 12 should be seated in the rear, not in the front, where possible - but it is only a recommendation. I have adhered to it with all my children though - strictly no front seat travel until they were 12 tears old. On another note, when a child is travelling at the front, the seat should be moved as far as possible back and away from the dashboard and air-bag.

See also here:

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/when-a-child-can-travel-without-a-car-seat

At What Age Can Children Sit in the Front Seat of a Car?

This is slightly OT however, as the child in question was 13 years old, and therefore old enough to travel in the front seat (assuming he was over 135cm tall).

 

[markjay]

Children under 12 should be seated in the rear, not in the front, where possible - but it is only a recommendation.....

To clarify, in spite of the fact that the car's owners manual says 'must', my understanding is that it is not a legal requirement in the UK, hence why I consider this to a 'recommendation' only (and one which I adhere to nevertheless):

 

[markjay]

...having re-read it all again, it seems that it IS a legal require in the UK... i.e. children under 12 must be using a 'child restrain system'. The main difference between the owners manual and the law appears to be in that the MB manual says (not surprisingly) the the child restraint system must be 'MB approved', while the law obviously makes no reference to the car manufacturer's approval, only that they need to be 'EU approve' (now this will soon change...).

 

[zipdip]

Well I agree one incident does not mean a recall,but I believe we need the Transport Minister to set up something to stop these large car manufacturers from just blanking us,on this club we have heard of faults that have been repaired free of charge abroad and just ignored here,of course it is just not Mercedes,I would think anything like that should incur say a £10 million pound fine,failure to recall unsafe cars well the sky's the limit,it is a sad fact that until companies are facing ruin they just do not put customers first,look at VW the yanks get a pay out us nothing.

 

[MSG2004]

decided to delete