my 2014 B Class is a lemon, HUGE ripoff

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mollyjacksontaylor

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
2
my car, which I purchased in Nov. 2015 used with 1500 miles on it from a luxury car resale store in Indianapolis and had shipped to me in Fort Lauderdale, came with a 4 year, 50,000 miles warranty. the car has 21,000 miles on it and the 4 years expired in august 2018, so no warranty.

On Tuesday May 19, 2020, a warning on the dash read: "malfunction. visit workshop". I drove straight to Mercedes Fort Lauderdale and left it there after authorizing $195 for diagnosis. My service advisor Peter Montaldo called me later that same day: "it's bad news. you need a new motor". When I asked "how much", he said "don't even know. a lot. over $10,000". I was in shock as the car had been fantastic, no trouble ever, and found this diagnosis hard to believe. Needing a new motor means the car is dead.

I called MBUSA to register my issue and seek redress. The person I dealt with there, "Hona" (female), after speaking to the dealer her, bounced me back to Mercedes Fort Lauderdale, this time to the service manager. John Salzlein, who said they needed to do more diagnosis, and he needed me to authorize another $300 for it, which I did.

It's been 3 weeks, and my service advisor Peter Montaldo called yesterday: it truly needs a new motor, and Mercedes will pay $5000 toward it, but I must pay $7000. And I already owe $500 for diagnosis.

I now must deal with MBUSA again, as it is incredible that Mercedes would sell a car that dies at 21,000 miles and not fix this issue at their cost, or redress it in some other way. would putting in a new motor even solve the problem, if they only work for 21,000 miles? why would anyone spend that on a defective motor replacement? I was told in the initial call that the mechanic, Willie, researched that my problem was a bad motor in "23 out of 25" times. This means that this motor fails 92% - UNBELIEVABLE.
 
Greetings mollyjacksontaylor,

Welcome to the B250e owner's forum.

Sorry to read about your B250e troubles. As you are new to this forum please read older postings from other members with similar complaints.
MY2014 (Model Year 2014) vehicles are prone to MU (Motor Unit) failures due to coolant fluid leaks within the motor and/or inverter (they share a common coolant plumbing)

From what I have read the Tesla Model S vehicles of similar vintage also have this issue, not surprising as MB partnered with Tesla and installed the Model S power train into the B250e model.

Tesla fixed the problem with the MU and made good on warranty claims for Model S owners. Therefore late model B250e (2015 - 2017) vehicles should remain free of this problem. That would also include replacement B250e MUs.

I suggest that you campaign with MBUSA to get a free replacement MU, or a bigger compensation to cover more of the cost to repair your vehicle. This will be an uphill and costly (of your time) battle.

Alternatively, look for a third party EV repair shop that can restore your existing MU through a rebuild, which should be less costly and avoid a protracted fight with MBUSA.

Sorry that I didn't have better news.

I purchased an off-lease MY2017 B250e last year with about 10k miles. My motivation was to get Car Pool/HOV access as a solo driver due to the horrendous local traffic. I really like the vehicle and that is the majority view of members here. However, MBUSA appears to have a somewhat short-sighted view of the B250e. The B250e was most likely brought to the USA market primarily as a "compliance" vehicle to meet the USA fleet fuel economy mandate for MY2014. With a lesser goal of introducing EV vehicles to the MBUSA dealer and service organization.

I'm glad they did. I have very much enjoyed my B250e and the personal learning curve to experience an EV in daily driving. This was my first MB and while I don't have any bad experience, others posting here have left a less than rosy impression of the average MBUSA dealer's competence.

I will replace my B250e one day, not sure with what. Hopefully another EV.

Peter,
 
MollyJackTaylor,

This is just not acceptable. Motors should not fail after only 21K miles and likely local miles as well. Yes, agree that you should continue to badger MB USA. They want to have an all electric fleet and they can't continue to hide behind limited warranties. This is a known problem with the 2014s, hindsight. The evidence is there. Position it as a safety issue that you intend to take up with the NTSB and social media. We had at least one member whose car stopped running while driving at speed on a highway.

Please keep us all posted.
 
My lemon B class electric update June 12:

"Hona", a customer service person at MBUSA in Atlanta, murmurs sympathy but offers no help at all. She is worthless.

The Ft Laud MB dealer has offered me $5000 if I pay $7000, which is unacceptable for many reasons.

Biggest is that this is a Mercedes caused problem, not by me, and is their responsibility 100%.

Second biggest is the stupidity of anyone spending $12,000 to replace with another defective motor which will likely fail around 20,000 miles.

I go to battle with them now. First demand is they replace motor with 100,000 mile warranty. Next is they give me another car.

We shall see.
 
mollyjacksontaylor,

A few more thoughts:

1. They will likely replace with a remanufactured motor as new ones are not in inventory. As such a warranty is a definite.

2. The cost seems high in any case, others have posted lower numbers on this forum.

3. As to how to rattle the cage, you might want to private message snowds, a member, who has his own lemon but knows a thing or two about how to make MBUSA pay attention.

4. A sharply worded letter to the head of MBUSA and MB-headquarters might get you some senior attention.

5. As FordAnglia said, this is a known problem with first generation Tesla motors installed in the 2014 model, i.e. a high incidence of failure. They can't deny this at MB central. A local dealer would not see enough to know. It is shameful that MB would not take responsibility. If it were their flagship S class, you bet they would do something. The negative PR would seriously damage their brand. There are so few 2014 B250s sold that this does not represent a big dollar impact for them.

6. Talk to your insurance company as this may qualify as a casualty loss for insurance or tax writeoff purposes if not resolved.

Best of luck here.
 
mollyjacksontaylor said:
My lemon B class electric update June 12:

"Hona", a customer service person at MBUSA in Atlanta, murmurs sympathy but offers no help at all. She is worthless.

The Ft Laud MB dealer has offered me $5000 if I pay $7000, which is unacceptable for many reasons.

Biggest is that this is a Mercedes caused problem, not by me, and is their responsibility 100%.

Second biggest is the stupidity of anyone spending $12,000 to replace with another defective motor which will likely fail around 20,000 miles.

I go to battle with them now. First demand is they replace motor with 100,000 mile warranty. Next is they give me another car.

We shall see.

I think you would have better success if you modify your attitude a little. Stop calling it a "lemon", or at least Wikipedia "lemon law" to see if you qualify under that legal definition. What you are claiming is that your specific vehicle has a defect. There are others with a similar defect, but unlikely to be enough for a class-action suit.

Further, your demands are not reasonable. Would you give a customer a "100, 000 mile warranty" on a five year old product? If you really believe this is an equitable position at least cite case(s) where this had been granted. No manufacturer or dealer will "give me another car".

Perhaps ask MBUSA to assist you in repair of your vehicle? If and when they agree, you can negotiate for how much, and how soon.

Sorry I don't have better news. Your rant is unlikely to gain traction at MBUSA (or any other brand).

Peter,
 
Sorry, same issue.

Great body quality, MB electric motor scam.

After they installed the new engine my wife doesn't want to drive it any more in the highway, it has been parked in the garage since then.

http://www.mybclasselectricdrive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1803&e=1&view=unread#unread
 
Not sure what you are up to now, but you could try talking to these guys https://electrifiedgarage.com/

They are an independent EV shop that recently opened in Florida and have experience working on Teslas so might be able to help with your issue.l
 
I've had the same issue with my B250e. It's a 2017 with 38,000 miles.

It's been 3 months back and forth. First started working. Drove about 80 miles and the alert came back. This time the engine wouldn't start so I had it towed to the dealership (Southbay MB in Los Angeles). I've involved MB USA and no luck with them either.

The numbers are crazy. They say it will take upwards of $18K to fix and I owe $15K on the car.

The dealer agent, Frank Perri, has said the engine is no longer supported by Tesla. Has numerous times said that it was the first EV for MB in the US--that to me says--MB USA is 100% responsible for this and needs to pay me to pay off this lemon.

I do have gap insurance but I don't think that applies as the car was not in an accident. It's in "mint" condition - other than the fact that I can't drive it :(

I would greatly appreciate guidance on how to get out of this mess.
 
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