Suv ( Mercedes ) 4 years old with routine maintenance. No accidents or anything prior to this. I still owe 35,000 actually.
All of a sudden my electrical dash board started acting strange, first my clock stopped working, then the radio... then my car said not to drive. All suddenly. Honestly, I thought it was a glitch but thankfully did not drive.
Ok, so we have it towed to the dealer...
Basically, they found inches of water under the floor boards where the feet are but not exposed... meaning my vehicle was never wet nor did I have any signs or warning there was any water damage or water getting in.
Even more so my car was serviced for routine oil and maintenance 2 weeks prior. This is a newer car, never did I expect this and had no warnings. It was never wet.
After a few weeks of diagnostics, the Mercedes certified dealer came to this conclusion... from their email:
the water is leaking from one of the drain channels for your sunroof, it is then running down through the driver’s side A-pillar and into the floor pan. We have to replace that sunroof channel and the seal for it, then replace the main body wiring harness. The estimate for that repair is $13,334.94 including parts, labor, and sales tax. I do have to caution you, there may be computers and other electronic equipment that have failed from the water intrusion as well. However, I cannot test them until I have a good wire harness installed in the vehicle so our computer can communicate with the computers in your car. The wire harness itself has to be built and shipped from the factory in Germany, and they do not have an estimated time of arrival on it. Based on past experience, it will most likely take 16 weeks to get that harness here. Until it is repaired, the car is not able to be driven.
Incredible, this is a huge safety concern. I had no idea and could have been driving with my children in the car and the entire system was failing. Not only is this a safety concern, there is no help from Mercedes or my insurance state farm.
I thought I was buying a safe vehicle, and in return this is a new model and really needs to be looked into.
Not only this, but when I called road side assistance on Friday, they said 15 mins and they never showed up. My car didn't get picked up until Sunday. The dealer also refused to loan me a vehicle which has made the few weeks of waiting even more bother some.
But, the biggest concern is the safety and the fact that you could be driving around with a GL 450 and have a sun roof and think you are safe but you could be having water coming in and have no idea, nor would the dealer when doing maintenance test and then all of a sudden nothing work bc your entire wire system is all together and corroded away.
Please reach out to me with any suggestions or questions.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I do have images and more details I will be posting.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Suv ( Mercedes ) 4 years old with routine maintenance. No accidents or anything prior to this. I still owe 35,000 actually.
All of a sudden my electrical dash board started acting strange, first my clock stopped working, then the radio... then my car said not to drive. All suddenly. Honestly, I thought it was a glitch but thankfully did not drive.
Ok, so we have it towed to the dealer... Basically, they found inches of water under the floor boards where the feet are but not exposed... meaning my vehicle was never wet nor did I have any signs or warning there was any water damage or water getting in. Even more so my car was serviced for routine oil and maintenance 2 weeks prior. This is a newer car, never did I expect this and had no warnings. It was never wet.
After a few weeks of diagnostics, the Mercedes certified dealer came to this conclusion... from their email: the water is leaking from one of the drain channels for your sunroof, it is then running down through the driver’s side A-pillar and into the floor pan. We have to replace that sunroof channel and the seal for it, then replace the main body wiring harness. The estimate for that repair is $13,334.94 including parts, labor, and sales tax. I do have to caution you, there may be computers and other electronic equipment that have failed from the water intrusion as well. However, I cannot test them until I have a good wire harness installed in the vehicle so our computer can communicate with the computers in your car. The wire harness itself has to be built and shipped from the factory in Germany, and they do not have an estimated time of arrival on it. Based on past experience, it will most likely take 16 weeks to get that harness here. Until it is repaired, the car is not able to be driven.
Incredible, this is a huge safety concern. I had no idea and could have been driving with my children in the car and the entire system was failing. Not only is this a safety concern, there is no help from Mercedes or my insurance state farm.
I thought I was buying a safe vehicle, and in return this is a new model and really needs to be looked into.
Not only this, but when I called road side assistance on Friday, they said 15 mins and they never showed up. My car didn't get picked up until Sunday. The dealer also refused to loan me a vehicle which has made the few weeks of waiting even more bother some.
But, the biggest concern is the safety and the fact that you could be driving around with a GL 450 and have a sun roof and think you are safe but you could be having water coming in and have no idea, nor would the dealer when doing maintenance test and then all of a sudden nothing work bc your entire wire system is all together and corroded away.
Please reach out to me with any suggestions or questions. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do have images and more details I will be posting.
- Ashley S., Westfield, IN, US