After Porsche with the problems in the 911 GT3, it was Mercedes' turn to see one of its S-Classes go up in flames.
A couple of German pensioners, from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, saw their journey abruptly interrupted. It all happened when the Mercedes Class S where they followed (with just two weeks old) began to smoke. Shortly thereafter, the flames would eventually take over the front of the Stuttgart model.
To the dismay of the owners – who were unaware of what was happening – workers from a local company came to their rescue in an attempt to minimize the damage. Only later did 3 vehicles from the fire department appear. Unfortunately it was too late for the newly debuted Mercedes S-Class, which at just 2 weeks was the victim of a fire that resulted in a total loss. However, the occupants were not injured.
The version in question is believed to be a Mercedes Class S350 Bluetec. Although the S-Class W222 still has little time on the road, the same does not happen with the 350 Bluetec block, which has been fitted to models for some time.
According to various consumer reports, the 350 Bluetec diesel block has been characterized as being extremely reliable in most models. The only common defect presented in a report by consumers has been the indication of a low level of liquid AD Blue, that is, the composition of urea that is injected into the Particle Filter to control NOx emissions. This situation has been promptly resolved by Mercedes representatives.
Still with no clear cause for what happened, this is a situation that is nothing new at Mercedes. In 2011 in the United States, the Mercedes C-Class produced between 2008 and 2009 had problems in the electrical circuits of the rear optics due to excessive electrical impedance. A phenomenon that caused cables to reach high temperatures melting plastics, a situation that led to the recall of 218,000 vehicles due to the risk of fire.
In 2011 and 2012, it was the turn of the CL63 AMG, GLK350 and S500 models to return to Mercedes representatives with around 5800 vehicles recalled due to a manufacturing defect in the fuel filter flange, which in turn led to fuel leakage with potential fire hazard.
