Mercedes lauches recall across US
March 3, 2017
German automaker Mercedes announced Friday it was recalling about 308,000 vehicles in the US and roughly 150,000 cars in Germany, because a starter part could overheat under certain conditions and cause a fire.
The company said dealers would be able to fix the problem by installing a fuse. It added affected car owners would be notified this month and again when proper replacement parts were available in July.
Mercedes pointed out that the recall covered certain C-Class and CLA cars plus GLA and GLC SUVs produced between 2014 and 2017.
No injuries so far
In documents released Friday, the German carmaker noted that if for some reason the engine and transmission wouldn't turn over, a current limiter in the starter motor could overheat from repeated attempts to start the vehicles in question.
Mercedes confirmed it had begun investigating the issue as early as last June after getting field reports of "thermally damaged" current limiters.
Reuters quoted Mercedes as saying that no injuries had been reported so far regarding the vehicles it was recalling.
The news agency said Daimler was recalling a total of 1 million newer-model Mercedes cars worldwide due to the risk of fire.
hg/jd (AFP, Reuters)