"High speed, abnormal noise, sudden loss of power."
These three keywords put together, can't help but wonder if Tesla has an accident again?
In fact, it is not the case, a Mercedes-Benz GLK car director recalled his thrilling scene on the Beijing Jingping Expressway.
After the accident vehicle Mercedes-Benz GLK was inspected by the workshop, it was found that the universal ten bytes of the front drive shaft were broken and broke multiple other parts.
What is infuriating is that Mr. Che Director and Mercedes-Benz 400 communicated three times without results, and the Mercedes-Benz 4S shop let the Mercedes-Benz manufacturer come forward to solve the problem on the grounds that the accident vehicle had been insured, and the two sides blamed each other and made Mr. Che Director chill.
According to Mr. Car Director, the accident vehicle is the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK300, which has been maintained in the Mercedes-Benz 4S shop before, and after the insurance period, it will be maintained outside, and there has been no major accident before the vehicle.
The reporter found that the Mercedes-Benz GLK had been recalled on a large scale due to broken shafts. Mr. Che said that his car was not within the scope of the previous recall, nor had he received a recall call, but his car was a domestic car in 2013 and was close to the time point of recall.
Does the Mercedes-Benz GLK have a broken shaft? Did Mercedes-Benz not recall all GLKs with broken shafts before? When will Mercedes-Benz's "arrogant" attitude towards Chinese consumers change?
Mercedes-Benz "broken shaft", not uncommon
The time goes back to August 2019, when Mercedes-Benz (China) Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. and Beijing Benz Automobile Co., Ltd. filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation.
According to the recall plan, from April 30, 2020, Mercedes-Benz will recall some imported GLK-class and S-class four-wheel drive vehicles manufactured between October 1, 2011 and October 31, 2013, for a total of 16,531 vehicles.
Beijing Benz recalled some of the domestic GLK-class four-wheel drive vehicles produced between October 18, 2011 and October 31, 2013, totaling 58,884 units.
The reason for the recall is that the cardan joint cross shaft of the front drive shaft is not hard enough and the surface is not smooth, which may cause abnormal wear of the cross shaft and bearings during use. As the gap between the cross shaft and the bearing becomes larger and the vehicle continues to travel a longer distance, the flange of the front drive shaft universal may eventually break, causing the vehicle to lose driving force and there is a safety hazard.
This is consistent with the results of the above-mentioned inspection by Mr. Mercedes-Benz GLK at the workshop. At that time, the maintenance plant inspector also said that the Mercedes-Benz GLK had a broken shaft.
Coincidentally, on platforms such as the Beijing Mercedes-Benz GLK owners' group, the Mercedes-Benz GLK forum, Weibo and Douyin, cases of Mercedes-Benz GLK broken shafts can be seen everywhere. A car owner who purchased the 2014 Mercedes-Benz GLK also said that the previous vehicle had an abnormal noise on the high speed, the speed plummeted, and the car was dragged to the nearest repair shop to check that the drive shaft was broken, the transmission was worn out, and the protective plate was hit down, but because the car had passed the warranty period, Mercedes-Benz did not give a statement.
Another Mercedes-Benz GLK owner consulted the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and was told that the Mercedes-Benz GLK series models were defective models, and the defects were the quality of the drive shaft due to the supplier's processing quality problems and the explosion of airbags. Mercedes-Benz has recalled 75,000 units since 2008.
This means that mercedes-benz GLK series models have a risk of breaking axles, which will cause safety hazards. Some car quality experts believe that the Mercedes-Benz GLK is a broken shaft caused by design defects, and the ten bytes are usually closed, and the normal maintenance project is not involved. So even if the new shaft is replaced, the shaft break problem will still occur.
The above-mentioned car director said that he hopes that Mercedes-Benz can find out the truth about the broken shaft, how big the scope of influence is, and what Mercedes-Benz is going to do next. If Mercedes-Benz believes that it is responsible, it will be responsible for repairing the car and bear the loss caused by quality problems. So far, Mercedes-Benz has not directly contacted the owner and replied to the owner.
Mercedes luxury is no longer, and quality problems are rife
A car owner who bought the 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLC260L said, "Either the steering wheel is shaking or the brakes are abnormal, there are many problems, because mercedes-benz luxury attributes have chosen Mercedes-Benz, I did not expect so many problems, it is not as good as the Honda Toyota that my friend bought." ”
Mercedes-Benz's luxurious coat looks insignificant against the background of quality problems.
In recent years, problems such as "Mercedes-Benz E-class broken shaft", "Mercedes-Benz E-class tire burst", "Mercedes-Benz C-class engine abnormal sound", "Mercedes-Benz GLA burst cylinder", "Mercedes-Benz GLC brake abnormal sound", "Mercedes-Benz EQC motor failure" and other issues have continued to ferment, covering almost all Mercedes-Benz models on sale.
According to the recall announcement of the State Administration of Market Regulation, mercedes-Benz and Beijing Benz have launched three vehicle recalls in the first two months of 2022. The recall covers 639 domestic and imported Mercedes-Benz GLEs, 41 imported and 385 domestic Mercedes-Benz CLA, C-Class and E-Class vehicles, and 10,104 domestic Mercedes-Benz EQC models.
Among them, Mercedes-Benz EQC is a Mercedes-Benz "oil to electricity" model, which is not popular with consumers after listing, and the number of recalls has covered almost all sales of Mercedes-Benz EQC.
More importantly, the reasons for the three car recalls included the non-conformity of the fuel tank, the interruption of the power supply of the electric steering system, and the motor failure caused by the penetration of coolant, and there were serious safety hazards on all three occasions.
The quality problems of Mercedes-Benz can no longer be ignored. According to the incomplete statistics of Blue Whale Motors, the frequency of Mercedes-Benz recalls in China in 2021 reached 17 times, and the cumulative recall of a total of 2781204 passenger cars, the number and number of recalls exceeded the first-line luxury brands such as Audi and BMW. The largest of these recalls also reached 2.6 million units, covering 17 models.
Official data shows that Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales totaled 2093476 units worldwide in 2021, down 5% from 2020. Among them, sales in the Chinese market were 758863, down 2% year-on-year. It can be seen that the number of recalls of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in China in 2021 has exceeded the global sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, and Mercedes-Benz has become a veritable "recall king", and the recalled models cover all models on sale, from the entry-level model A-class and GLA to the imported S-class and CLS.
In addition, in 2020, Mercedes-Benz launched a total of 17 recall activities, a total of more than 800,000 vehicles were recalled, and in 2019, Mercedes-Benz recalled 24 times, with more than 1.45 million recalls.
Serious quality problems, frequent and large-scale recalls, are gradually devouring Mercedes-Benz's reputation. In the face of complaints from many car owners, Mercedes-Benz showed an "arrogant" attitude, which made consumers lose confidence. Without solving the quality problem, Mercedes-Benz's most prominent luxury attributes cannot make consumers continue to pay.
As an automobile giant in the fuel era, Mercedes-Benz's quality problems have become more and more intense, and the arrogant attitude towards consumers has made Mercedes-Benz's reputation continue to decline, its brand power has been weakened, and its sales have also been affected. Under the impact of tesla, Weilai and other high-end intelligent brands, "centennial Mercedes-Benz" is also facing huge challenges, so far, the electrified models launched by Mercedes-Benz have not caused waves in the electric era, and the pace of Electrification of Mercedes-Benz has lagged behind the new forces and some traditional brands.