Mercedes-Benz recalls nearly 125,000 cars over faulty sunroofs in US

Mercedes-Benz has issued a recall campaign in the US affecting 123,696 cars comprising the models such as C-Class, E-Class, CLK-Class and CLS-Class that were built between 2001 and 2011, owing to a faulty sunroof issue. The recall campaign also covers the respective models' high-performance-focused AMG variants. The affected Mercedes-Benz models are claimed to have a sunroof that could come off, as the glass panel might not be appropriately secured.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has said in a report that Mercedes-Benz first detected the issue in December 2017. The car brand launched an initial investigation into the claims from different markets about the glass panel detachment. The internal probe revealed that the supplier had altered the sunroof's manufacturing process over the years.

The supplier claimed to have changed the drying time for the glass sunroof's bonding agent. This finding resulted in the automaker issuing a recall campaign in December 2019. Later the automaker expanded the recall campaign in March 2021. The automaker claims to have worked in the intervention period with its supplier to determine the extent and reason for the fault. In April last year, it learned that the components that underwent the complete drying process could still suffer from the separation problem. Again new findings came to the fore in September last year, which forced the automaker to expand the campaign further.

Mercedes-Benz has asked the owners of the affected cars to take the vehicles to the dealers for an inspection. The technicians will inspect and replace the sunroof panel as required, free of charge. Mercedes-Benz has said that it will start notifying the customers by mail starting February 21, 2023.

While the large recall affects nearly 125,000 cars in the US, it is not sure if the automaker will recall these models in other countries. The models like C-Class and E-Class are among the popular offerings from the brand in the Indian market as well.