Dealing with an "unsafe" new car...

"Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow" (chriskf)
12/16/2014 at 11:35 • Filed to: None

could use some input from people who have more experience dealing with this.

My friend has a 2014 CLA250 and recently experienced an issue, that several others have complained about, where the car goes into a safe mode and shuts down, with no throttle response. She took it into the dealer, and they said they reflashed the ECU and it should be fine now. Understandably, she doesn't feel safe in the car anymore. It seems like all the cases of this happening are fairly recent (31 complaints with NHTSA), but there is no formal recall or TSBs from what I can tell. No deaths have happened yet, but it's not unreasonable to think that there will be one or more as a result of this issue.

Without anything formal from Mercedes or NHTSA (I'm guessing they're still looking into it), what are her options in terms of getting the car replaced or Mercedes taking it back/refunding? From what I've seen you generally need an ongoing history of issues before they will do anything like that, but I wouldn't want to be driving a car that could potentially have that problem either. Any help is appreciated!

DISCUSSION (11)

For Sweden > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:38

It sounds like the car entered a "limp home" mode. Many newer cars have this, and it is designed to keep a failing drivetrain working long enough to reach safety.

If the car enters limp home mode too easily, I suspect MB will have a recall to update the powertrain software. Until then, it would be smart to invest in an affordable code reader. Clearing error codes will usually bring the car out of limp-home mode.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:44

I agree with For Sweden. If it turned compleetly off, that's trouble, but going into to Limp mode is safer than ruining everything.

Has it happened since the reflash? If not, there is a very good chance that was the fix and it will never happen again. Cars have software updates just like eveyrthing today. A batch of a few hundred cars have trouble. That stuff won't get the ire of the recall nazis

As Du Volant > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:44

If it's only happened a couple times there's not much she can do without taking a big financial hit on depreciation when trading the car. If it's a recurring problem that the dealer can't fix that's a different story. In that case I'd suggest she contact Mercedes directly and explain her experiences with the car and that she doesn't feel safe driving it anymore. Mercedes cares about their reputation and doesn't want dissatisfied customers complaining all over the internet, so they may be willing to work out a way to get her out of that car without a huge financial hit.

The way Chrysler does it is they'll estimate the depreciation that happened on the car, issue a "goodwill certificate" for said depreciation, and then have the dealership trade her out of the car and into a new one. This certificate is really just a check issued to the dealership to cover their loss for paying the new car replacement price for the trade-in. I'm sure Mercedes has a similar program.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > For Sweden
12/16/2014 at 11:45

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. The dealer did an update to the software and "think" they fixed it, but I've read in a few of the reports that people have experienced issues with the dealer handling the repair too. Nothing I can see about failures after the software update, but nothing saying the fix worked either.

I guess I'll have her get a code reader and show her how to clear the codes. However, I can still see where she is afraid to drive the car; especially since we're about to enter another Illinois winter with bad storms and black ice.

jariten1781 > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:47

Did the flash fix it? If it's not constantly going to limp afterwards I wouldn't call it unsafe.

You have no real options other than to sell the car for its market value if you just don't feel safe in it. That loss vs. peace of mind is a personal trade that other people can't really make for you.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/16/2014 at 11:47

It's at the dealer now, she hasn't picked it up yet. Sounds like she should be ok, but I'll probably advise her to try sticking to surface street for a week or two in case it happens again.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > As Du Volant
12/16/2014 at 11:48

Yeah, I figured it would take a continuous issue to warrant anything beyond a hopeful fix.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > jariten1781
12/16/2014 at 11:49

Right, and I'm guessing she will be fine in it. She's just concerned as someone who doesn't know anything about cars really.

shop-teacher > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:54

The lemon law in Illinois, if I recall correctly, they have to be unsuccessful at fixing the same problem either three or four times, or the car has to spend at least 30 days out of service within the first year of ownership (I once hit that in 3-1/2 months, what a POS that car was). If she starts getting close to either of those, then she needs to find a lemon law attorney.

I understand that she doesn't feel safe, but short of trading it in and taking a massive financial hit, there's not much she can do right now except to be careful. Tell her to keep all of her service records, and do not keep them in the car.

Sweet Trav > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 11:59

Record three separate instances of it happening after being in for service and seek lemon law refund.

Or just threaten Mercedes with "if this car shuts off and I get hit, my estate has directions to sue MB USA with a massive lawsuit as it has been documented and I and have expressed my concerns)"

deekster_caddy > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/16/2014 at 12:17

Unfortunately rushed software is part of modern vehicle requirements, so bugs are almost guaranteed and "software update" will become a regular part of the end user's maintenance plan. The approach I'm not a fan of is that many manufacturers are not 'recalling' cars for all software updates - they will only update for that particular issue after a customer complains about it. Even when you are in they don't apply all available software updates, only the ones that specifically address the complaint.