BBC News | BUSINESS | Mercedes recalls 150,000 cars

BBC News Online: Business

Friday, 13 July, 2001, 16:27 GMT 17:27 UK

Mercedes recalls 150,000 cars

The interior of a Mercedes C Class saloon

Some Mercedes airbags are failing to deploy properly

Car giant DaimlerChrysler is recalling 150,000 Mercedes-Benz luxury cars throughout Europe and the Middle East to fix a defect that could cause the driver's side airbag to deploy prematurely.

A handful of people have already been injured because of the electrical short-circuit, a spokesman said.

He declined to specify how many, but added that they had been compensated for their injuries.

A Mercedes C Class saloon
The firm estimates that will cost about 15m euros ($13m) to fix the problem.

The recall affects all C, E, S and SL Class cars with airbags, built between June 1995 and April 1996.

The problem was first discovered five years ago in Indonesia, and led to a November 1999 recall of cars in the United States and Asia, where humid conditions were thought to trigger the airbags.

The same problem was discovered in Europe earlier this year.

The company said that repairs to each car would take about half an hour.

Related to this story:
German carmakers make US inroads (03 Jul 01 | Business) BMW recalls 22,000 cars (29 Jun 01 | Business) Ford confirms $2.1bn tyre recall (22 May 01 | Business) DaimlerChrysler falls into the red (25 Apr 01 | Business)

Internet links: DaimlerChrysler | Mercedes Benz |
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