- the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) has announced a recall of nearly 750,000 u.s.-market mercedes-benz vehicles because sunroof glass panels can separate from their frames.
- the recall affects older mercedes-benz sedans up to the 2011 model year, and no injuries or accidents have been reported.
- the company is also under nhtsa audit and must pay up to $20 million in fines for mishandling previous recalls.
mercedes-benz is recalling 744,852 cars in the united states to make sure their panoramic sunroofs don't come off, according to filings with the national highway traffic safety administration. the problem specifically affects all trims of these vehicles: 2001–2007 c-class, 2003–2009 clk-class, 2007–2011 cls-class, and 2003–2009 e-class.
on older c-class, clk-class, cls-class, and e-class models, the glue securing the glass panel to the sliding frame can degrade. webasto, the supplier, did not apply enough primer coating to the frame during installation, the automaker said. mercedes-benz began investigating the problem in december 2017 when it received reports of detached sunroofs outside the u.s. and couldn't come up with a clear root cause until an unspecified date after november 2018, according to the filing. the automaker did not say how many sunroofs have broken or report any accidents or injuries.
mercedes-benz was fined $20 million last month for mishandling dozens of recalls and is now under a two-year audit by nhtsa. owners of 2001 through 2011 mercedes-benz sedans can enter their vin on the automaker's website to find out if it is involved in the recall.
dealers will inspect the roofs starting in mid-february and only replace those determined by the factory to be faulty. the repair procedure has not yet been published to nhtsa.