— A Mercedes-Benz air conditioning mold lawsuit may be settled soon as the automaker and plaintiffs agreed to the settlement agreement which must still be approved by the judge.
The class action lawsuit started as three separate lawsuits filed by the same attorneys, including the class action Biase v. Mercedes-Benz and the suit, Amin v. Mercedes-Benz.
According to the lawsuit, no amount of repairs fix the mold odors because the heating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are defective in their designs. In addition, the plaintiffs say the HVAC systems have defects in manufacturing that simply replacing the cabin air filters never fix.
The plaintiffs claim condensation builds on the evaporators and throughout the HVAC systems but never properly evaporated. The moisture leads to the growth of mold and mildew as spores enter through outside vents, allegedly causing occupants health problems.
The Mercedes-Benz air conditioning mold lawsuit includes current and former owners and lessees of these vehicles:
- 2008-2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
- 2010-2015 Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class
- 2012-2017 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class
- 2010-2019 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
- 2015-2019 Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class
- 2013-2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
- 2016-2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class
- 2017-2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class
- 2012-2015 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
- 2016-2019 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class
The class action mold lawsuit says Mercedes should admit the HVAC systems are defective and stop selling the vehicles until they are permanently repaired.
According to attorneys who filed the three lawsuits, the owners sued because the only solution offered by Mercedes was to replace the cabin air filters or flush the systems. The plaintiffs say these fixes are only "temporary and do not address the defective HVAC System design, and thus are not permanent fixes for the Defect."
Although the plaintiffs claim replacing the cabin air filter does nothing to fix the mold problem, those plaintiffs agreed to settle the lawsuit by allowing a "qualified future repair" to cover the cleaning of the evaporator or replacement of the air filter.
Nothing in the proposed settlement requires Mercedes to repair or replace the allegedly defective HVAC systems, even though that is why the lawsuits were filed.
Reimbursement for "Qualified Past Repairs"
A “qualified past repair” means a repair that occurred before the effective date of the settlement related to a customer who made a complaint of mold/mildew odors coming from the air conditioning systems. A past repair includes cleaning of the evaporator and replacing the filter. Evaporator replacement is included, but only if the work was performed by a Mercedes dealer.
To be reimbursed for a qualified past repair, a Mercedes owner will have to meet certain requirements and the reimbursements will vary depending on the time period when past repairs were performed.
According to the settlement, a customer may be reimbursed 100% for a past repair if it was during period one, defined as the time period during which the vehicle had or has fewer than 4 years or 50,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurred first.
A customer may be reimbursed 70% of the cost for a past repair if made during period two, defined as the time period from the end of period one until the vehicle had or has less than 8 years or 100,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurred first. This only applies if the past repair occurred during period two and exceeded any warranty or extended warranty coverage.
Period three is defined as the time period from the end of period two until the vehicle had or has fewer than 10 years or 125,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurred first. For qualified past repairs that occurred during period three, a customer may receive reimbursement of 50% of the cost of the repair.
Past repairs that occurred after more than 10 years or 125,000 miles from the original in-service date are not eligible for reimbursement.
To receive reimbursements, a Mercedes customer must provide certain items within specific deadlines. Documents must show the vehicle received a qualified past repair, the reasons for the repair and the cost of the repair.
However, a "repair shall not qualify for reimbursement if the invoice or other repair documentation either omits the reason for the repair or describes an odor source other than moldy or mildew odors originating from the HVAC system."
In addition, the customer must provide proof of payment for the repair and proof the consumer owned or leased the vehicle when the repair was performed.
The above requirements are for repairs made by Mercedes dealerships, but additional requirements must be met if repairs were performed by independent shops.
A customer must show "proof that within a six-month period prior to the first Qualified Past Repair performed by the Independent Service Provider, the Subject Vehicle was diagnosed by an Authorized Service Center as having moldy or mildew-y odors originating from the HVAC system."
No reimbursement will be offered if an independent repair shop replaced the evaporator.
Coverage for "Qualified Future Repairs"
A "qualified future repair" includes the cleaning of the evaporator or replacement of the air filter, but an owner must meet specific requirements. Coverage will vary depending on the time period the future repair occurs.
A future repair may be covered by 100% if it was during period one, defined as the time period during which the vehicle had or has fewer than 4 years or 50,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurs first.
A future repair may be covered by 70% of the cost if made during period two, defined as the time period from the end of period one until the vehicle had or has less than 8 years or 100,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurs first.
Period three is defined as the time period from the end of period two until the vehicle had or has fewer than 10 years or 125,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurs first. For qualified future repairs that occur during period three, 50% of the cost may be covered.
There will be no coverage for qualified future repairs that occur more than 10 years or 125,000 miles from the original in-service date, whichever occurs first.
For a future repair to be covered, the vehicle must be taken to a Mercedes dealer for a technician to perform an "odor diagnostic procedure" and verify the source of the odor is mold or mildew originating from the HVAC system. The technician must confirm the cabin air filter is a Mercedes filter or other approved filter.
A customer must show proof the vehicle received proper service according to the maintenance schedule for the two service intervals immediately prior to the requested repair.
Mercedes-Benz denies any wrongdoing and says the systems are not defective, but the automaker agreed to settle the matter to put an end to it. In addition, nothing is final until a federal judge signs off on the settlement agreement.
Attorneys who sued Mercedes will receive $5.4 million.
The Mercedes-Benz air conditioning mold lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division - Amin, et al., v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC and Daimler AG.
The plaintiffs are represented by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, and Corpus Law Patel, LLC.
