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Mercedes-Benz investigates employees for sabotage

11/17/2008, 8:10 PM

By Drew Johnson

Mercedes-Benz’ sterling reputation for quality has been tarnished over the past few years, but, as it turns out, all the blame may not lie with the German automaker. Mercedes-Benz is currently investigating several employees at its Sindelfingen for sabotaging vehicles right off the assembly line.

According to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Mercedes is investigating employees that worked in the company’s quality control department. In exchange for damaging cars during the production process – damages included scratches, loosening clamps and bolts and even adding foreign fluid to brake lines – the employees in question reportedly received compensation from local repair shops that saw a boost in traffic.

The damages have cost Mercedes-Benz millions in repairs, not to mention the bad publicity. Defective vehicles have included Mercedes’ C-, E- and S-Class vehicles, so check your car twice if you happen to hear a rattle.

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11/17, 8:21 PM

posted by:

atoms

repair man to MB official: “zer appears to be a vwooden shoe in zee transmission”

MB official: “ze dutch!!!”

11/17, 8:43 PM

posted by:

Rafa LL

Does pee counts as “foreign fluid”?

11/17, 8:49 PM

posted by:

A4

hahaha freakin germans

11/17, 8:57 PM

posted by:

elviososa

huahahah….beautiful.

11/17, 9:35 PM

posted by:

pzimet

Whoa. That’s ****ed up. Hope they get rid of the bastards, I mean after all, in a perfect world every car would have pristine reliability…if we can get closer to that impossibility, I’ll be pleased.

11/17, 9:44 PM

posted by:

Mutant@DCX

I’m going to have to call TihslluB that story!

Local repair shops, milions of dollars, few employees involved, sheesh!

11/17, 9:58 PM

posted by:

Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3

Something is not right with this story (not on LLN’s part) as what did the quality control employees do to guide Mercedes owners to the local shops? Did they pre-enter a nav map that constantly popped-up saying “Alert, you have contaminated brake fluid, please proceed to the AutoHaus located at …” to get their take. Sounds more like ruse to buffer customer complaints than to take responsibility.

11/17, 10:02 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

And yet what Daimler did to Chrysler launched no investigation whatsoever.

11/17, 10:10 PM

posted by:

idrinorbarsaku

i don’t believe this because if a “couple” of employees are involve, then that, to me, would mean that it had been going on for a really long time. i don’t know about you guys but I’ve been in a mb factory in Germany and there are cameras everywhere until the car is finished!!!! how can something like this happen without being known?

11/17, 11:03 PM

posted by:

Bimmer

And who sabotaged Chrysler cars with flaky paint in the ’80’s, paint manufactures, so that cars would have to be painted twice?
And what about Chrysler transmissions? Did Daimler-Benz do that, so people would instead purchase Mercedes next time?

11/17, 11:17 PM

posted by:

VWgrouP

Wow, i sure hope this didnt affect Maybach!
Its pretty bad when your own employyes want to sabatage your company. Increse the benefits?

11/17, 11:23 PM

posted by:

LORDBLiTZ

I’m going to call BS

11/18, 1:34 AM

posted by:

DrFill

I have to admit it
I put the banana in the tailpipe
But THE FLAMING TERD WASN’T ME!
I Swear!
DrFill

11/18, 8:13 AM

posted by:

1c3d0g

pzimet: agreed.

For those who call BS, don’t say anything. These things happen in real life. Crawl out of mommy’s basement once in a while and see for yourselves.

11/18, 10:00 AM

posted by:

Z06ified

What’s even more scary is what digruntled unionized airline mechanics do to aircraft.

11/18, 11:32 AM

posted by:

yarddog82abn

LOL…….Bimmer… YOUR RIGHT…….

THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO “GM” IN THE LATE “70′S”, RIGHT BEFORE THE UNION STRIKE, AND GM STOCK HIT THE FLOOR, AND THE “FORD” IN THE MID “80′S”, THAT’S WHEN THE BAD ONE’S CAME OUT OF THE ASSEMBLY LINES,

LOL…… THIS IS A GOOD ONE……

11/18, 11:41 AM

posted by:

bmwmpower

I do not doubt that vehicles were sabotaged–however I don’t believe they were sabotaged for the reasons set forth above. That’s completely ridiculous. 1.) MB reports this was done because local repair shops paid them so they could get business. These cars are under warranty for quite some time–Mercedes Benz would fix them. MAYBE they’re referring to dealers–not independent mechanics. Vehicle breaks, dealer files a claim with the manufacturer, they get paid for labor and possibly parts. 2) I’m sure these vehicles are built in Germany–these shops that paid for this (presumably dealer–no ones taking a new MB for a loose bolt to an independent mechanic) — are these shops collectively all in on this? I can’t imagine it’s 1 or 2 shops or dealers. I call BS on this story overall to coverup for their ****ty build quality.

11/18, 11:45 AM

posted by:

jonmiles

This is a load of BULLSHIET. MB has been making decisions to abandon quality for years now- it’s rediculous that they think they can pawn this off on 5 individuals in the organization.

11/18, 11:52 AM

posted by:

Borat

Ahh, blame it all on “yueden”. They ruined famed quality 60 years ago when they were forced to work in Benz factories!

11/18, 12:14 PM

posted by:

shaver

Z06; Did some union guys son kick your ass in grade school?
My new band name: “The digruntled unionized airline mechanics”

11/18, 1:11 PM

posted by:

sakio327

Please! Do you really think people are going to buy this “Lone Disgruntled Employee” story? What was his name? Oswald?

MB’s quality has been dropping for years and one employee might have caused some problems, but I doubt that has affected the overall problems that MB has been having. Why would this employee bother to damage a car that would be headed out of their local market where this supposed garage might be?

I know there are idiots all over the world that think that damaging stuff that they build is some sort of victimless crime, but if one employee can affect a whole company for years without being a CEO, there’s something wrong with the company.

11/18, 2:56 PM

posted by:

megeebee

It’s never theri fault, is it? The Germans claimed the Hindenburg disaster was sabatage, too.

11/18, 3:48 PM

posted by:

F3INT))AP3X

F Merc anyway, almost all of their stuff is way overpriced and they break down all the time regardless of disgruntled employees; there is a reason that Consumer Reports up until just a year ago or something had them listed as the most unreliable cars on the road.

11/18, 5:40 PM

posted by:

wideopenthrottle

This is total BULLSH!T. Even if a few disgruntled employees managed to loosen bolts or take a piss in the brake lines, that would’t affect the entire line of MB cars….therefore just bad build quality from MB

11/18, 8:54 PM

posted by:

tastyorange

Their cars may have more problems than they should for the money you pay… but I’ll tell you everytime I see crash photos involving any MB and say a Honda Accord, Chevy Impala, etc… the MB has damage confined to one section while the other car is crushed past the passenger compartment or even torn into pieces.

 
 
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