That's the numbers I'm getting too... -67-61 is left side, -68-61 is right side. Those are the latest numbers from a very recent EPC. It's callout #8 in your diagram. According to my May 2005 price list, they're only $1170 each list. I have a hard time believing the price went up 50% in the past month. Try calling Caliber Motors (800-252-6877) and make sure you ask if the price they quote is list or wholesale.

The callout without the frame rail (#14) is only about $230 list each ($184 wholesale). I really can't tell which is required to repair your car. It's possible #14 doesn't include the spring perch... you'd need a really good parts guy to figure that out, or a cooperative dealer willing to order in the cheaper part to see if it will work or not.

In that case if the dealer is trying order #8 for me then that's a total waste of money & labor and I may end up with some misalignments. I was under the car again last night and I'm quite sure all I need is the perch (#71) and the metal sheet (or apron as I called it last time) that it's welded to. I'm pretty sure a skilled body technician could fabricate such a piece and make the weld between the perch and the metal sheet better than what MB sells. If MB's design is still the same as the original, then it's still crap as the original design only has 2 spot welds and crappy sealant around them whose only job it seems is to trap water and corrode the welds. Today I brought the car with me to work and during lunch time I'm hoping to show the car to at least one more bodyshop and see if they're confident about fabricating the metal sheet and doing the repair that way.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I went to see 2 body shops, one of which had patched a section of the rusted floor in my 82 300D, but unfortunately they seem to have been bought by another bodyshop that wasn't interested in this new job. The other body shop gave me hope and they said it was fixable (using the simpler fabrication method mentioned previously), but today I got a call from them appologizing and saying that they won't be able to do it because they don't feel comfortable doing something that Mercedes won't stand behind. So I guess I will have to do it the way Mercedes wants to do it, and it is probably safer that way, but oh boy what a price tag. I'm also worried about the intrusive nature of this repair and whether the bodyshop can put everything together straight so that there are no misalignments or rattles.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

...or you could just drive the car off a cliff and report it stolen

(did I say that or only think it?)

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Oh yeah, that's one option. A coworker also suggested I put someone fat in the passenger seat and drive the car until the perch breaks, then I can have my insurance company pay for the repair. Heck maybe even MB would pay for all of it if the fat guy gets hurt. Now seriously, I think MB arrived at the 50% figure because the suspension hasn't failed and no one's got hurt yet. I highly doubt that if a family of 4 gets killed in one of their E-classes, MB will only offer to cover 50% of the damages, in fact it's probably going to be a lot more than 100%. But it shouldn't be about money, I think the moral of this thread is to check your spring perches and check them in detail by looking under the sealant. In fact I'd recommend getting rid of the sealant and if everything is good reseal the perches with something hard and thin, like POR15.

Anyway I'm determined to fix this car and fix it right, so I think I'm going to go ahead with this MB repair. I believe my car has the same color combination as yours and it's one of my favorites, particularly the interior, and I think if the body shop fixes my car right I'll really enjoy it. BTW my paint code is 272 and it's listed as Amazon Green, are you sure yours is Emerald Green?

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I've always called it emerald green, but you're probably right about the proper name for it. Its a dark green metallic paint...I'll check the paint code but it's probably that one. It's unusual to see these E300's in any green color so it must be the same one. My wife's favorite color!

Good luck and I hope the shop does it right...for the money they are charging it should be perfect. Keep us all posted.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

The drivers spring perch just failed on my fathers 98 E-320.

Luckily he was just driving down his block - not on the interstate.

Has there been any more word from MB on the problem. I will contact the dealer shortly, but would like to know everyone elses outcome.

Did the story from the CBS reporter ever happen?

This is a scary and potentially fatal failure.

MB needs to step up

Jeb

My car has been in the body shop for about 3 weeks now and I should be getting the car any day now, possibly as early as tomorrow. After cleaning the rusted area the body shop decided to only replace the perches as I originally wished instead of replacing the whole frame rail assembly. The perch aprons only had surface rust so there was no need to do anything more extensive. The technician I spoke with told me they improved on the original design by painting the perches with some coating and applying grease so that water doesn't get in again instead of using that unreliable undercoating that MB uses. They also reinforced the perches with an extra brace on each side. But I haven't seen the car yet, this is just what I was told. I'll update this thread when I get the car back and have a look at it.

JEB be sure to file a complaint with the NHTSA. I'm not expecting much but the more complaints they receive the more likely something is gonna happen.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

So I got my car back and so far everything seems good. The damage to me was only $826 and attached are before and after pictures of the passenger side. Notice they didn't use the evil undercoating, instead the new perches and the surrounding area were painted, greased and reinforced. I believe the car is finally safe to drive now, but I'll keep an eye on the perches periodically.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Does anyone know if the CBS special about the spring perches ever materialized? As far as I know, there is still no recall on this. Shame on MB. Having a W210 E320 and E430, these spring perch failures are definately something I am concerned about.

I own a 1998 E300 TurboDiesel and recently had my local independant mechanic visually inspect the front perch spring area. He identified rust. I then wrote a letter to Mercedes-Benz USA, Customer Assistance Center, explaining the situation, my love for Mercedes and the unsafe situation with the front perch springs. I asked Mercedes-Benz USA to authorize the local dealer to perform an inspection of my vehicle and take appropriate action.

About a week later, my local dealer called and asked me to bring the vehicle in for an inspection. I dropped the vehicle off later that day. After two days, I received a voice mail stating that my vehicle did indeed need to have the perch springs replaced and this cost would be picked up by Mercedes-Benz USA. The local service manager stated that I was going to have to stop by and sign an authorization form, which authorizes the work to be performed. There is also apparently a clause in this form which states that Mercedes-Benz USA is not responsible should something occur with the front perch springs a second time. The service manager told me there is a new design for the perch springs and there should be no problems in the future.

This is all I could have hoped for. I will post another reply after the vehicle is returned to me. I would also be willing to send a copy of my letter to those who wish to see it.

Is there any recommendation or preference as to whether the spring perches should be inspected by a dealer or other shop? My 1999 E300 has less than 60,000 miles and I have looked and my spring perches and I see no evidence of corrosion, however, I am still concerned about them. Since there is no corrosion I am concerned that if I go to a dealer it will be ignored.

I wonder if I had talked to MBUSA first if I could have got them to cover 100% of my expenses. Oh well, at least I got 50% out of them. If there ever is a recall then I may be entitled to get the other 50%.

ncof300d, only an MB dealer is authorized to order this kind of repair and have MBUSA at least partially pay for it. If you go to another shop the cost will be entirely yours. Unfortunately the only way to properly inspect the perches as far as I know is to peel off the undercoating. Maybe there's some sort of ultrasound that can be used instead. In any case I'd ask the dealer how they performed the inspection.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I don't own one of those cars, but from a legal point, any lawsuit against MB should be class action. To sue individually using an attorney working a contingency basis, they'd wisely not handle the case. But, with suit's involving a class action, there are plenty of law firm's in the State's who would fall over themselve's to handle the case on a percent contingency basis. With class action's you first have to identify the name's of those affected (owning those vehicle's) and, particularly, those whose spring mount failure's involved accident's and/or injurie's. Generally, when the defendant, which could include MB as a corporation, the CEO, Engineering Head, etc. The likely result would be a quick negotiated settlement to avoid the PR damage of losing in court and a quiet as they can make it free repair on all of these car's. Keep in mind that any personal injurie's get treated the same as individual's whose mount failure cause neither accident nor injury to self or other's; that is, every identified MB owner of these vehicle's get's their monie's divided equally among individual's. The firm's handling these cases start with an initial cut of the monie's based on quick negotiated settlement, if it goe's to court (unlikely), then the law firm get's larger percentage. In the event of a favorable settlement in court with MB appealing, then the law firm's increase's further. The likely negotiated settlement can be expected, umm, let me say modest. Free repair is likely with additional monie's from harm's mentioned previously. Individual suits, though I am not sure of this, might not be possible following a closed case class action. But, if MB think's they only have to deal with individual suit's, with no class action, they will spend the individual who is the plaintiff into the Stone Age (plus, count on your case taking some year's to settle). Even though MB would spend much more to fight individual suit's, they see it to their advantage to discourage more individual suit's. So, in my opinion (I'm not an att'y) it is much better to collect individual name's who own these cars (including those without failure), write the part's of the complaint involving what you see as design flaws in as professional a manner as you can. Then write various firm's who specialize in class action suit's and see how it goe's from there. They'll likely first come back with request for more information. Give it to them. Class action suit's that turn out with favorable judgement's make these firm's extraordinarily rich. But, you must first approach these firm's with no expression's of anger, they don't care about that. They want to be able to understand the sound basis of requesting class action and their chance's of winning.

One added caveat, in certain sort's of suit's, and I don't know if this type is affected, ruling's have been made that the plaintiff's have to pay the taxes on the law firm's cuts. I'm a Democrat, but Bill Clinton got this jewel on the law books on his way out of the Presidential Office. So, I'd sure find out in advance whether paying the law firm's taxes is in effect.

One last point, the law firm won't fight to death to maximize your damage's monie's, they'll balance their time invested with the wisdom of negotiated settlement. And, they are particularly wary of having to take it to court as nothing is certain as far as bench or jury trial money damage's are ordered. So, if you decide to proceed, with class action, don't expect the sky. Ask for abstract's of other class action's they've represented.

My personal preference (though I'm not affected since I'm not an owner) is to have everyone you know is affected be a signee on a letter to MB asking for full and immediate fixes. Politely tell them you do not want to be forced to bring a class action. This will give them the message that you will go to class action, which is more costly to them than to just fix their dangerous screw up.

In addition to MB I also blame the NHTSA for sitting on their asses and doing nothing about this problem, despite many reports from owners like myself. They seem to be more worried about engines shutting off unexpectedly on some other cars than the suspension falling apart. The NHTSA can force a recall if it wants to but last time I checked they hadn't even opened an investigation.

BTW, why do you put an apostrophe in front of every 's'? It makes your post difficult to read.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL