Bulging bags, flat tires, cracked wheels… The Maybach, a high-end car priced at two to three million yuan by Mercedes-Benz, has been exposed to frequent tire problems.
Recently, Mr. Li, a citizen of Nantong, Jiangsu, reported to the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) that the tire of the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S500 high-end car he bought in January this year burst frequently, and ran a total of 22,000 kilometers by September, but there have been 5 tire bursts and 7 tires have been replaced.
Mr. Li’s tire in Nantong broke in August.
It is not an isolated case that Mercedes-Benz Maybach has been exposed to problems such as "tire burst". According to public reports, in Ningbo, Zhejiang, nine Mercedes-Benz Maybach owners have encountered a similar situation, and some media have even issued questions about "why this tire is vulnerable to injury".
Mercedes-Benz replied to The Paper that it had recently received reports from "very few" Maybach S-Class customers about the situation of vehicle tires. "We attach great importance to this." We immediately arranged for local dealers to coordinate customers and contact relevant tire suppliers to "conduct professional and technical testing of tires."
Tire problems occur frequently
"I’ve been driving a car for more than 20 years, and there’s never been a car like the Maybach that has broken its tires so frequently," Mr. Zhu, of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, told The Paper. Since he bought his first Santana in 1997, he has driven BMW and Porsche models, and since he bought the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S500 in November 2015, he has not been worried: three flat tires and six bulges.
"It’s been almost a month, and I can’t accept it anymore," Mr. Zhu told The Paper on Sept. 18.
Like Mr. Zhu, Ningbo has also seen a number of Mercedes-Benz Maybach tire bursts. On July 2 this year, the Ningbo Evening News published a report saying that nine Mercedes-Benz Maybach owners had encountered flat tires and bulges. "Why is this tire vulnerable to injury?".
The report said that Mr. Zheng of Yuyao spent more than 2.7 million yuan to buy Ningbo’s first Mercedes-Benz Maybach 500 in October last year. In April this year, the tire burst after driving about 8,000 kilometers.
The report also said that a new Mercedes-Benz Maybach 400 bought by Ms. Huang’s family had just driven more than 6,000 kilometers, and the tires bulged. Mr. Wu bought a Maybach 500 in November last year, and the tires bulged many times. By April this year, six tires had broken.
Mr. Wu of Ningbo had a flat tire in September.
Flat tires caused by "disaster"?
Xiao Lin, the driver of Mr. Li, the owner of the Mercedes Maybach in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, told The Paper that he drove "on a flat road," most recently on Sept. 8, when he drove 100 yards on a highway between Shanghai and Nantong. "The display in the car indicated that I was short of air. When I got out of the car, I saw that the wheels of the car were cracked."
Mr. Li, the Ningbo owner, told The Paper that the Mercedes-Benz Maybach S4000, which he bought in April this year, changed its tires three times in May and July, "all on the highway from Ningbo to Shanghai, on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, there are no stones or potholes, and the tires bulge when they are turned on."
Li reported to the dealer, Ningbo Lixing Automotive Service Co., Ltd., that the dealer’s statement was that the Mercedes-Benz Maybach model was equipped with flat tires for driving comfort, and it was prone to problems if the road surface was uneven.
"Flat tires have a large area of force, and if there is a little uneven road, they will be hit very hard. External impact causes the cord to break, [so] flat tires are more common than ordinary thick-skinned tires," Guan Wenquan, a maintenance consultant at Ningbo Lixing Automotive Service Co., told The Paper.
"The dealer said our tires are flat and comfortable to drive. But the tires are often broken, how can we be comfortable?" Mr. Li suspects that Maybach flat tires do not conform to the actual road conditions in China, and there may be some problems with the design of the tires.
In this regard, Guan Wenquan responded to the surging news that as a dealer, he has no right to answer the above questions, and this should be contacted by the Mercedes-Benz China official.
Mercedes-Benz official: "highly valued"
According to public information, Mercedes-Benz Maybach models are equipped with flat tires. Flat tires are tires with lower flatness, which have a large force area, stronger grip, and greater friction, improving power and handling. Fast speed and good support are its characteristics, so it is more suitable for sports cars and racing cars that pursue faster acceleration and rapid driving. But the disadvantage is that it is not suitable for bad road conditions, unpaved roads, off-road road conditions, etc. Due to the thin tire wall, roads such as pits or bad road conditions are prone to tire blowouts.
Wang Yinglai, a member of the Automobile Consumer Protection Professional Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Consumer Protection Committee, gave an explanation for the frequent occurrence of flat tire bursts in an interview with the Zhejiang Education Channel "Xiaoqiang Lab" in March this year. He believes that,Flat tires bulge easily when they pass grooves and speed bumps.Wang Yinglai believes that the frequent revelations of luxury car flat tires may be caused by improper use by car owners.
Mercedes-Benz China officials responded to The Paper that a very small number of Maybach S-Class customers have recently reported the tire situation of their vehicles to them and related dealers. "We attach great importance to this and immediately arrange for local dealers to coordinate customers and contact relevant tire suppliers to conduct professional and technical testing of tires."
Mercedes-Benz says all of its products adhere to stringent Safety and Quality Standards from the development stage to the production stage. Before the vehicle is officially put into the market, the vehicle is tested and certified according to the relevant laws and regulations of the local market to ensure that each vehicle meets the safety standards stipulated by local laws.
Mercedes-Benz said that owners who encounter similar situations are advised to contact Maybach’s local authorized dealers, so that the dealers can coordinate tire suppliers to conduct professional inspections and provide corresponding technical solutions based on the test results.
As for whether flat tires are suitable for Chinese roads and whether there are design flaws, Mercedes-Benz officials have not given a clear explanation.