I have 2012 sprinter that is still within the 7 year 70,000 miles or was when I brought into the dealer 2 weeks ago. The warranty for the 2012 long term California Emissions which Washington state where the van was purchased and is is part of says this
[...]
Well needless to say the dealership did not cover the nox sensor under warranty and I took all the way to corporate to review. I am frustrated and confused by the vagueness in my warranty and the specifics in the 2013 and 2011 warranties. Should I take the dealership to small claims court?
Trying to be exact, not pedantic; I am not a lawyer and I try to avoid legal battles as much as possible as the outcomes are generally uncertain. Please forgive me if you already know this and were just using shorthand when you said "take the dealership to small claims court." It is my understanding that the warranty for MB vehicles in the USA is the responsibility of the entity known as "Mercedes Benz USA", not the dealership. Dealerships are (generally) separate legal entities from the vehicle manufacturers.
Perhaps others with more specific knowledge could jump in here, but I think you should be taking MB USA to small claims court, not the dealership, and then only after communicating with MB USA about your needs. You mentioned "corporate review" but it wasn't clear to me whether that was review at the dealership or by MB USA. Before taking any legal action, I would request in writing a copy of your vehicle warranty from MB USA (by model year and VIN) even if you think you already have one so that you have in hand a legally traceable document; I believe that they would honor such a request. They have warranty information on-line for recent years (2016-2018) at
https://www.mbvans.com/sprinter/mercedes-van-warranty-protection-plan. They don't keep all years on-line perhaps, but certainly have copies at the office.
My information about who warrants the vehicle comes from my 2017 MB Sprinter Warranty, which explicitly says:
"The following terms are referred to in this booklet as:
Vehicle Distributor / Vehicle Warrantor / Parts Distributor
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC 303 Perimeter Center North Atlanta, GA 30346"
The 2017 MB Sprinter Warranty goes on to say that:
"ANY AUTHORIZED VAN DEALER: Any authorized Van Dealer of the owner’s choice will perform warranty repairs or replacements. The vehicle should be delivered to an authorized Van Dealer during normal service hours. A reasonable time should be allowed after taking the vehicle to an authorized Van Dealer for performance of the repair."
So "authorized van dealers" can perform warranty repairs/replacements (and get reimbursed directly by MB USA), but the authorized van dealer is not the vehicle warrantor, MB USA is. When the authorized van dealer performs warranty work, the costs are covered by MB USA, not the dealer. I expect that the dealer is careful about what work they perform under warranty, as they will not be reimbursed by MB USA if they do work that MB USA doesn't cover under warranty.
I think it's possible that some of the varied outcomes from people seeking legal action may result from how the claim was made. If a dealership that is NOT responsible for a warranty is sued, the court may determine that the dealership is not responsible. This wouldn't mean that someone (like MB USA) isn't responsible, just that the dealership isn't. My understanding is that courts generally rule only on the issues at hand, and usually don't provide any guidance as to what should have been done to get the best results.
My interest in your experience is related to the fact that my 2017 has its 4th Check Engine Light illumination for the DPF system with about 12k miles on the odometer. The differential pressure sensor has been replaced twice (so I'm on the 3rd sensor). Either the quality of the sensors is low, or else there is something else wrong with the system that is being blamed on bad sensors but is more obscure. The codes that were present indicate that the performance of the system is questionable; it was suggested to me by one dealer that I wasn't driving the vehicle for long enough durations. However, three of the four times the light has illuminated I was in the middle of 60-75 MPH highway journeys over hundreds/thousands of miles, so the DPF regens had optimal conditions and performance should not have been a problem.
I'm getting ready to request a more thorough examination of the vehicle systems than the dealerships (I have been to two of them in my area) seem willing to do on their own. I'm going to contact MB USA first to see their perspective on the matter since ultimately they are on the hook.
