My daughter in law took our one year old granddaughter in for her checkup and the subject came up about lead exposure. Not that there are any symptoms, nor problems, but the doctor wanted to be proactive and raise the question if cars were worked on in the home.

I found this in another post.

I don't dispute it, but am trying to think WHERE in a modern car is lead used, and how could it become airborne as we repair our cars?

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02 S500
92 500SL
92 400E (Sold)
87 300E (Sold)
83 300D Turbo (Sold)
75 300D (Sold)
74 240D (Sold after 20 years)

Body shops used lead filler prior to bondo, also car batteries.

Solder, some paints, welding. There are probably some other bits and pieces -- especially electrical items -- that probably involve lead, but I don't see how they would become airborne unless you were actually applying heat to an area.

My guess would be: Paint inside the house, dishware (old Fiestaware has lead in the paint, or her toys. Be careful with bowls and plates, especially if they're being microwaved.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Biggest exposure I am aware of is in the dirt outside old houses which have been painted with lead paint and the paint has flaked off into the soil. I have a house which is 120 yrs old and my daughter was young when we were renovating it. I had routine lead testing done by the doctor. Never saw any elevated lead blood levels. I've had houses with lead main water lines tested and there was no hint of lead in the water.
Lead's been out of most solder for quite a while I think. Lead in the battery is encased. Can't see what the concern is.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Old lead bodywork I guess, if you were doing old cars.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

some bearings contained lead, wheel weights

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

What about possible lead deposits in old exhaust systems, prior to unleaded fuels?
I am reaching here.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Lead has pretty much been gone from gas for over 20 years. Not many exhaust systems on the road (more MB than others) that were exposed to lead in any sereious amount. If a car has a cat, it probably has not seen lead in measureable amount.
http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/lead/02.htm

That's probably a more likely source. We just had our house sanded (reclaimed) and painted. My 6yoS with Ds had some bloodwork done for another issue and his lead levels came back as elevated. I suspect there was probably a good amount in the soil already from years of peeling. A two week vacation and lots of fruits, veggies and vitamin C and the level dropped down to slightly elevated. We're still keeping up with the dietary part (which isn't a bad thing anyway) and he goes for retesting in a month. One thing is that they did change the criteria and the lead levels to signal an issue are half of what they used to be. Don't remember the exact levels, I want to say that 20 micrograms used to be considered "elevated" and now it's 10 (Garrett's first test came back 18 ug, second two weeks later at 12 ug).

Playing in the dirt around the house or garage would certainly expose them to it, even more so if they put their fingers in their mouth. Or like to eat dirt.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Unless, of course, it was owned by a person like a friend of mine. His first action on any cat-equipped car was to destroy the cat- and then run leaded fuel when it was available.
Serioulsy, you are probably right as exhaust systems do nothave a very long life expectency--especially in the pre-SS days.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags