I have been trying to find the story of the Mercedes Quality slump/recovery in many different places to no avail. I am interested to know what happened to the once notorious manufacturer of quality and what is being done to restore their image. Some debate Chrysler had a hand, etc. I was wondering if anyone could tell me the bedtime version of Mercedes History with regard to its rise, slip, and recovery. Links, if in place of the telling, are also appreciated.

Thank you.

Bill

 

I remember hearing stories about this when the new e-class came out in 1986. I was doing a lot of independent work then on cars from the 1960's and 1970's and one of the best places to get parts for these cars was the Mercedes dealer.

It seemed like everytime I went to pick something up (which was about once or twice a week) the shop had more work to do and all of them were the new E-class that were in for warrenty work. The shop guys told me they could not decide if the quality had slipped or if they were just not prepared for the new car but seemed to think it was a bit of both.

I know the 190E, from 1984, was not the car I had thought it would be as it was very complcated in the rear suspension. There were also a LOT more electronics than the older cars had and they seemed to be a big source of the "new" problems.

I think a lot of the perceved quality problems come from three things: Mercedes trying to be outfront with new technology, the care owners these days give their cars and the amount of time a Mercedes last.

You can test something for 500,000 miles, but if the owner drives it 600,000 and ignores the maintaince that is required you are going to get breakdowns.

But in sum, I really did not see any big problems out of my 1981 240D until about 700,000 miles, but I started having trouble with my 1992 300D at 210,000. On the 240D the front drive pully broke its bolts and flew off; on the 300D it blew a head gasket.

Oh, yeah, the 300D had a lot of electrical component problems, too.

I hope this helps. In my opinion a Mercedes will still outlast any other car out there. Just ask yourself how many other cars in its class, or any class, do you see from 1988 still out there in everyday use?

Sam