Mercedes-Benz Recalls Nearly 1 Million Vehicles

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STUTTGART, Germany – Mercedes-Benz AG acknowledged Saturday (June 4) it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles due a potential corrosion-linked issue with their brake boosters, a follow-up global recall to one announced last month in the United States.

The latest recall covers more than 993,000 ML, GL and R-Class vehicles sold globally and produced between 2004 and 20015.

As reported in the May 13th The BRAKE Report, Mercedes-Benz USA announced the recall of 292,287 model-year 2006-2012 ML, GL and R-Class vehicles in the U.S. due to this potential problem.

The issue in these older vehicles hinges on possible corrosion in the joint area of the brake booster housing, thus contributing to a vacuum leak at the brake booster.

The German transport authority, known as KBA, in its statement about the latest recall said, “Corrosion on the brake booster can in the worst case, lead to the connection between the brake pedal and the braking system being interrupted.

“As a consequence, the service brake can stop functioning.”

The company said in its statement, “We have found that in some of those vehicles, the function of the brake booster could be affected by advanced corrosion in the joint area of the housing,”

“In rare cases of very severe corrosion, it might be possible for a particularly strong or hard braking maneuver to cause mechanical damage to the brake booster, whereby the connection between brake pedal and brake system would fail.

“In such a very rare case, it would not be possible to decelerate the vehicle via the service brake. Thus, the risk of a crash or injury would be increased.”

In its earlier statement about the initial recall, Mercedes-Benz USA urged its affected customers to stop driving their vehicles.

According to MBUSA, there had been no crashes or injuries related to this issue.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Part 573 Safety Recall Report 22V-315 dealers were scheduled to be notified of the U.S. recall by May 12, owners by May 27.

Mike Geylin
Mike Geylin

Mike Geylin is the Editor-in-Chief at Hagman Media. Geylin has been in automotive communications for five decades working in all aspects of the industry from OEM to supplier to motorsports as well as reporting for both newspapers and magazines on the industry.