— Owners of 2016-2018 Mercedes-Benz Metris vans should be careful not to overload the vans with too much weight.
A recall of more than 24,400 Metris vans means the vehicles need to be repaired, but Mercedes is still trying to determine how to do it.
According to Mercedes-Benz, the vans may be overloaded because the value for the maximum combined load weight capacity of the tires is incorrect.
In addition to the danger of overloading the Metris van, the problem is also a violation of federal safety standards.
According to Mercedes:
"The design of the VS20 NAFTA tires was carried out jointly with tire supplier Continental according to European Tire and Rim Technical Organization specifications. Due to an oversight, a 1.10 reduction on each tire’s maximum load rating was not applied before the maximum load rating was set for vans distributed in the United States."
If a Metris is overloaded to the point of losing tire pressure, a driver should see the problem because of a warning from the tire pressure monitoring system.
Mercedes was working with the tire supplier on the next van platform when the problem was discovered, causing the automaker to open an investigation.
Mercedes decided all the way back in October 2018 the vans failed federal safety standards, but Mercedes filed a "petition for inconsequential noncompliance."
It took about four years, but the government finally denied the petition which would have allowed Mercedes to skip the recall.
The automaker says no crashes or injuries have been reported.
Mercedes-Benz expects to mail Metris recall notices July 25, 2022.
Metris van owners may call 877-762-8267 and refer to Mercedes-Benz recall number VS2LASTRE.
