No, unfortunately they were NOT fixed in the 90s PC. Both my 99's leaked terribly, as well as my 98. I *personally* did all 3. One of the 99s wouldn't hold charge for more than 1 hour. A quick ck at the local MB dealer reveals just as many late models have been in for this as the earlies. It even went into build year 2000, but drops off sharply from there.

They really didn't know about the severity of the problem back in build cycle 97, but had made some metalurgy changes in 97-98-99 that were benign. In late 99 they got a full dose of the problem but by then it was too late.

Since most of the industry had these problems [none quite as severe as MB] they seemed to avoid a class action suit. Such as suit would have required congressional involvement due to scope, so nothing was ever done. The REAL problem customers who threatened and actually put a suit on the books were accomodated and settled.

Newer small cars like the 230s are relatively easy to get to, a lot of it can all be done from the front with no dash removal