Hi fellow LH; I leased a 2023 EQE Sedan 350 4MATIC in 12/2023. I had two issues after driving the car for less than 1000 miles:
Clicking noise when the steering wheel moves up and down with the easy in / easy out
The hood was not lining up with the fender.
I dropped off the vehicle for repair on 2/9. The dealer said many EQEs have this overhang issue where the hood does not sit flush with the bender, but the L and R sides were not aligned, so they would adjust that. They also stated that clicking with the easy in / out is expected in 50% of MB.
I went to pick up the car, and the valet that brought the car intercepted me, pointing out an error message on the dashboard. I left my car and called the dealership several times until I finally got a call back stating that the hand sensor on the vehicle was shorted and the steering wheel needed to be replaced. The active braking system is not going to function without it.
A few days pass by, and the dealer calls, stating that the steering wheel will arrive at the end of April ( at the earliest ). The dealer is demanding their loaner back. They are not moved by the fact that this issue arose while the care was in their possession. The deemed the car safe to drive given the safety features are “extras”, “you can drive the car without active braking”. MBFinancial offered me a deferral that I would pay at the end of the lease. MBUSA is “investigating”.
This is my first experience dealing with something like this. I would appreciate some insight as to what my options are. There is a mention of a buyback by MBUSA, which I am unsure what it would mean since I hacked my current lease.
Short of a serious safety issue, most dealers aren’t going to want their loaners tied up for 6 weeks waiting for a part to arrive. You can escalate or try another dealer but I would be prepared to hit a dead end. Your loaner will likely be some basic piece of crap that doesn’t have this feature anyway.
Agreed. I understand the dealer does not want their loaner tied up for an extended period of time but its a bit incongruent to say pick up your car in a worse condition and wait for an unknown period of time for the repair to happen or you are on your own. I am hoping MBUSA offers me something.
See this is why BMW is better compared to MB. My local dealership took my car for months and they gave me like 3 different loaners lol. They even insisted on keeping my car and exchanged for the loaner.
The service manager at the dealer the car is at is asking for his loaner tomorrow but did mentioned MBUSA in the past have authorized reimbursements for rental cars and forgiven 1 or 2 payments.
Skip all male contacts on Elliot (emails will bounce), only email females and do it individually. I got one month waived while my car was windshieldless due to first two failed attempts to deliver the right glass in one piece from Midwest.
Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach, Orange County; they are a fairly big dealership with big volumes which adds to my surprise as to how this is being handled
I got further info from the dealer
They refused to provide in writing that the vehicle is safe to drive … we can not say the car is safe (interesting how the story changes when ink needs to meet paper)
They confirmed that the following functions are not going to function or will not function reliably
a. active braking in the setting of an impending frontal collision
b. adaptive cruise control
c. intelligent recuperation which includes the car coming to a stop
I asked for the following to be provided in writing to which they agreed but have yet to provide it
Providing an update in case somebody else deals with a similar situation. Connected with an attorney who shared that dealers will pull the loaner and manufacturers will refuse to pay for rentals in an effort to get the car back on the road to stop the clock on lemon law time limits.
MB reported today buyback process in the next few days (instead of the original 6 - 8 weeks). Not sure what “buyback” entails. I had opted for the tire and wheel protection plan. May cancel it first.
This is probably not as helpful, but I’ll add it for what it’s worth:
That clicking noise you described, that’s the motor behind the steering wheel that helps you change position. I had the same issue in my 2016 C300 and I first heard it when I got out of the car. I had the easy entry/exit setting turned on. The dealer fixed it by replacing the motor.
As for the active assist features not working, that seems like either they messed up the re-wiring when putting the steering wheel assembly back together or they forgot to plug something in. That’s the only reason those features wouldn’t work (AFAIK). I would see if they’ll take it apart and check to see if they forgot to plug something in. If you prefer buy-back, then just proceed and don’t mention anything.
I am not sure what the buyback process means but I am hoping I can get into a 2024 with a similar deal given the major headache
@Splattered That is good to know. MB is now saying there is an issue related to the battery, which I was not informed of before. I suspect something may have happened during the repair as you stated but I do not know the extent of it. I am surprised they moved the buy back from 6 - 8 weeks to 6 - 8 days.
Yep was going to say with that time in the shop you probably will hit lemon criteria soon. If that’s the case you have all the leverage with MB as they won’t want it lemoned.
My guess is they will eventually buy the car back. I think you’d easily be able to get a similar hack if you want. I wouldn’t pick the car back up but if you must return the loaner make MB pay for a rental. I wouldn’t necessarily sweat making payments still on a car in the shop as it’ll come back to you when they buy it back.
