One of the benefits of buying a new luxury vehicle like a Mercedes-Benz is that it will be equipped with many cutting-edge safety features. These features could save you and your family members’ lives, so they provide an enormous sense of peace of mind while navigating traffic. The problem is, from time to time, new safety features are also prone to having serious defects that inhibit their use.
Just think of the Takata air bag fiasco in recent years that led to millions of affected cars being recalled all over the wold. In the Takata recalls, the very devices intended to save people’s lives — air bags — were exploding and killing them.
There is also the recent case of a Mercedes-Benz recall in December 2018. This recall involved various model 2019 Mercedes cars, including the AMG division and the Maybach line. The recall is related to a defective seat belt detector. The detector did not detect the seat belt to be in the “latched” position. This resulted in the seat belt pretentioner failing to activate during crash conditions. The pretentioner helps control the movement of seat-belted passengers in collisions. The net result is that these vehicles are not as safe as they should be, and occupants of the car are exposed to elevated risks in the event of an accident.
Fortunately, Mercedes is fixing this issue free of charge to vehicle owners by replacing the seat belt buckle.
If you or someone you love was injured in a car crash caused by an auto defect, learn more about your legal rights and options as soon as possible to explore whether you might be able to pursue a claim.