German newspapers, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, are reporting that employees at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Sindelfingen are under investigation for deliberately producing defective cars. Prosecutors are claiming that numerous workers have manipulated vehicles so that external repair workshops, which are not part of the Daimler AG, would get the job to fix them.
The employees were part of the “quality” control department, and received expensive gifts and trips for sabotaging the vehicles. They scratched the cars, loosened clamps and bolts, and even put liquid into brake lines. The cost to Mercedes-Benz is in the millions. It will be interesting to see what the magnitude of this is and if there are more cases like this. While we definitely can’t blame all MB defects on the group in Sindelfingen (would be nice if we could) Daimler AG need to do a thorough investigation and come to the bottom of this.