Just because something is a “luxury” brand and expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good quality. fashion, Analyst Popular chic names are “You won’t be punished for lowering quality.”
The same can be said about car manufacturers who charge high insurance premiums, according to TikToker. MenzikerLuxury brands once renowned for their quality are struggling, at least when it comes to HVAC systems.
In a video that has been viewed more than 820,000 times, he shows off a “cheap plastic” piece of gear under the hood of his Mercedes-Benz that he says does little to filter out debris from getting into the car’s air conditioning.
Mercedes Benz air conditioning problems
“Yeah, they told me to buy a Mercedes-Benz,” the TikTok user says at the beginning of the video, as he sits at the wheel of a German car and expresses his dissatisfaction: “A woman came in because the air conditioning was making a really weird noise.” He then begins pressing a button in the center of the dashboard “up” several times to switch between the different options.
“When you start the engine, it literally sounds like a lawnmower,” he continues. If you turn up the air conditioning, you’ll hear what he describes as a loud noise — so loud, in fact, that it sounds like parts inside the car are vibrating.
“The dealer wanted to charge me hundreds of dollars just to check this,” he says, pointing to the glove box. His clip then cuts to him looking under the hood of the car. He points to a patch of dead leaves. “That gives me a clue as to what this is. Honestly, this is a really bad design, because look at this.”
The TikTok user begins lifting up a plastic cover that’s part of the air conditioning system. The cover comes off easily, but he says it’s a manufacturing error on Mercedes’ part. “When this plastic piece comes off, all these leaves that you see here go in here and into the blower motor.”
He pointed to where the blower motor was, where some leaves were clustered, and said, “I’m going to turn it on so you can see what it’s like,” demonstrating how the blower worked. The technician then turned up the car’s AC temperature and went back under the hood.
Leave it alone
You’ll then see the blower motor spinning steadily, free of leaves and the “lawnmower” noise. “Now it’s all cleaned up, but this is what it looks like when it’s spinning. Of course, leaves will fall on it and it will get clogged.”
He then grabbed the plastic cover that’s meant to keep debris out of the blower motor area, “Let’s put this cheap plastic back on, but like I said, it’s a pretty poor design. Everything falls in here and there’s no filter or anything to catch anything.”
Back inside, @menjicar turns up the temperature on his car’s A/C system to test if that fixed the problem. “But let’s see if that fixes it,” he says, and clicks the A/C system’s fan strength toggle switch. “And sure enough, when I turn it to full power, I don’t hear the random noise anymore,” he says.
In the video’s caption, he also expressed disbelief that the vehicle did not have a filter to capture the debris.
“I don’t understand why there aren’t filters or screens to prevent that,” he wrote.
Menziker I don’t know why there aren’t filters or screens to prevent that. #mechanic #car #Good system #HonestMechanic #Honest mechanics exist #Mercedes #BMW #luxury ♬ Original Sound – Menjicar
Mercedes Benz driver’s response
Some commenters thought it was odd that there wasn’t a filter inside the car to prevent something like this happening, but others responded that their Mercedes has a screen.
“There’s no filter there. My E-Class has a filter there and in the cabin,” one person said. Another replied, “Mine has a filter.”
Still, some, like @menjicar, were surprised by the manufacturer’s design decision. “They should at least have a mesh screen. Crazy,” one person wrote.
Others responded that today’s Mercedes cars aren’t technically the Benzes of the past: “Most modern Mercedes engines are Renault and have Infiniti interiors,” one viewer wrote.
Another viewer thought that the assembly location plays a big role in the overall quality of the vehicle, commenting, “People don’t realize these Mercedes are made in the USA.”
This commenter doesn’t seem too impressed with the build quality of Mercedes these days: “All the newer Mercedes are made to look and feel premium, but half of it is cheap looking plastic and has major issues. They’re trying to cut costs so much to get a high price that the cars just aren’t worth the price.”
Is that really a design flaw?
But some commenters thought there was something else going on with the car. “We all know it’s not the design,” they wrote.
Another commenter noted that for Mercedes cars that aren’t equipped with screens, filters or mesh, there are aftermarket solutions available. “Mercedes has an aftermarket kit that has fine mesh for the drainage and sealing pieces for the trim parts,” one poster wrote.
Another TikTok user who responded to @menjicar’s video seemed to agree: “I work for Mercedes in Germany and recently we had a customer test drive a car. It’s a shame. But we’ll upgrade the mesh under warranty,” one user wrote.
Mercedes appears to be building some cars without cabin air filters, according to this poster: Mercedes Benz WAnswering questions from concerned owners, one owner on an online forum said that while repairing the “wiper mechanism” on his car, he noticed that there was “no filter at all.”
One person responded that early w124 models (produced from 1984 to 1997) didn’t have cabin filters at all, although if you look inside the vehicle featured in @menjicar’s video you can tell it’s a newer model.
The Daily Dot reached out to Mercedes and @menjicar via email for more information.
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