Destroyed Mercedes Sedan on the Road to a Lawsuit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 10, 2002

Destroyed Mercedes Sedan on the Road to a Lawsuit

Mercedes-Benz China Wednesday threatened to take legal action against Wang Sheng, who destroyed his sedan in public last month on the grounds that Mercedes had failed to repair his car.
The car firm said: "We are currently actively investigating the possibility of taking legal action against Wang, the Wuhan Wildlife Zoo or any other party involved in these actions."

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Mercedes-Benz Sedan Claimed with Faults Destoyed in Wuhan

Extreme Action?

Drivers are frequently accustomed to developing a rage when behind the wheel of a car - but few take it to the extremes of wildlife park chiefs in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province.

Armed with sledgehammers, the Wuhan Forest Wildlife Park workers last December 26 destroyed their Mercedes-Benz SLK230 that they bought for nearly 700,000 yuan (US$85,000) a year ago in a public show of anger against the perceived failure of the car giant to correct inherent faults.

Wuhan park bought the sedan in December 2000 and claimed it developed engineering faults within days. Mercedes-Benz in Beijing sent technicians to Wuhan to repair the car five times at the zoo's request, but the same problem kept cropping up.

After several failed attempts to return the car to the company, the zoo took the extreme action, attracting attention across the country.

Quality Problem?

Mercedes-Benz, however, has repeatedly denied that Wang's car had any production faults. The company said: "We remain confident that the vehicle does not have a quality problem." Wang had trouble starting the car's ignition, but the firm blamed the problem on the use of contaminated fuel.

"We stress that Mercedes-Benz strives to deal with all reasonable issues and concerns with care and thoroughness for our customers in China - as we do around the world, and feel it is a pity that in this case, such an extreme, unnecessary action has been taken," the German auto-maker said one day after the incident.

The general manager of the Beijing Bingshi Car Sales Corp - which sold the defective Mercedes Benz SLK 230 - said he had reported the event to the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Germany which had postponed a decision on whether to start a legal fight until after New Year.

Legal Protection?

The zoo could not be reached for comment on Wednesday's announcement because its top management personnel are in Beijing to seek media support.

On Monday, the zoo organized an association of Mercedes users who have been complaining about their cars' defects. The association members are from five cities in addition to Wuhan, namely Beijing, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Xi'an and Zhuhai. A joint declaration released by the association demanded that the German carmaker take responsibility for its products as soon as possible.

The disillusionment of the car-buyer at least points to the inefficiency of the national legal service. The buyer complained to the local consumers' association but this was rejected because his car was registered in the name of his company while the association serves private consumers only.

So why did he not file a lawsuit against Benz, then? Such cases usually guzzle time and money, and there are few precedents in which domestic courts have favoured private consumers challenging powerful foreign companies.

Moreover, the court seldom imposes punitive compensation. That means the sum of compensation will only cover the plaintiff's direct losses even if he wins the suit.

The status of consumers and big companies are not on a same par in terms of power, wealth and information. Only efficient legislative and judicial measures can discipline the stronger side and protect the interests of the weak.

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