1997 Mercedes Benz 129 problems

Filed Jan 30, 2009 · Visibility · 43,134 miles · CA

The inside rearview mirror has inadequately sized spring clip posts resulting in easy breakage, with leaves the mirror very loose, distracting and unusable in daily driving. The snap-on mirror glass surround trim with the aforementioned spring clip posts is marked with p/n 129 811 0635, and would have a likely price of around $15, however mercedes benz only supplies the mirror assy @ $942. Two m/b dealers and an independent m/b garage says this mirror is used on many of their products, and the clip breakage is very common. They also indicated it was rare/never the case where a customer would spend $1000 (incl labor) to fix the problem, therefore this could be a significant issue in terms of safety and driver distraction. At the direction of the 2nd m/b dealer, I called m/b na and they basically said they had no intention of making the potentially defective part available as a service part... Either spend the $1000 or drive an unsafe car.