After Dozens of Fires, Mercedes-Benz Recalls One Million Vehicles

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Unexpected fires rank among the topmost fears of any automaker, and Mercedes-Benz is dealing with plenty of them.

After reports of 51 fires in late-model vehicles, 30 of them in the U.S., the German luxury automaker will recall roughly one million vehicles worldwide to prevent an electrical fault from causing even more.

The issue afflicts a number of different models and stems from a starting current limiter that can become overloaded during the starting procedure. No injuries have been reported from the fires, and the automaker has already installed a fix on new models coming off the production line.

However, Reuters reports that Mercedes-Benz has placed a stop-sale order on all unsold vehicles left on dealer lots. Those vehicles won’t budge until fixed.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the models include 2015-2017 C-Class vehicles, CLA models from the same time period, 2017 E-Class and GLA models, and 2016-2017 GLC vehicles.

The NHTSA recall report states:

In the event the starter is blocked due to engine/transmission damage (e.g. hydro locked engine), a very high electric current would flow through the starting current limiter during the subsequent start attempt. Should the driver attempt to start the engine repeatedly despite the engine not cranking, the very high electric current draw might lead to overheating of the starting current limiter. In a worst case, surrounding components might melt, and potentially ignite and lead to a fire.

Of the one million models recalled, 354,434 were sold in the U.S.

Parent company Daimler AG launched a preliminary investigation in June 2016 after receiving reports of fires. Over the following months, investigators zeroed in on the starting current limiter as the culprit.

“Owners will be notified with an interim letter in late March, and again when parts become available in July 2017, approximately one week after recall launch to the dealers,” the report reads.

So, if your Mercedes doesn’t start on the first try, consider going back inside and watching Netflix instead of cranking that sucker again.

[Image: Mercedes-Benz]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Dukeisduke Dukeisduke on Mar 06, 2017

    Are they having that many hydro-locked engines? My brother managed to hydro-lock a '70 Olds 455 (in a Ninety-Eight), which bent a rod and ruined two pistons (numbers 5 and 7, on the driver's side at the rear). He had let the thing overheat on several occasions (leaky radiator), and eventually warped the heads, block(!), and intake. Attempted cranking drained the battery and cooked the insulation on the positive battery cable.

  • Carquestions Carquestions on Mar 06, 2017

    There is something very fishy about this recall - "Dozens of fires"? I can count on one hand how many vehicles I've seen with a locked engine that wasn't due to driving through water - - Mercedes is lying about the cause - it's not because of a locked engine. A locked engine could do it and that's why they use the excuse - but floods being the most common reason of a locked engine would never become a recall and other reasons are so rare that it is extremely unlikely - I'm calling it BS - Mercedes just lied to NHTSA about the cause

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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