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Mercedes-Benz Tele Aid System
Consumer Fraud Class Action
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| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, represents owners and lessees of Mercedes-Benz cars
and SUVs equipped with the Tele-Aid system. The complaint
charges that Mercedes-Benz violated laws against consumer
fraud by promoting and selling the Tele-Aid system without
disclosing to buyers of certain model years that the Tele-Aid
system as installed will stop working in 2008 when cellular
telephone companies switch from analog to digital technology. |
| Mercedes-Benz is charging its customers,
some as much as $1,500, to install a new Tele-Aid system
that will work with digital technology. |
| Mercedes-Benz began marketing Tele-Aid
systems for its cars and SUVs in 2000. Mercedes Benz advertised
the Tele-Aid system as using advanced wireless communication
technology to provide subscribers with emergency road-side
assistance, unlock a car’s doors, and track stolen
cars. |
| Wireless telephone networks operate on
either an analog or a digital signal. When Mercedes-Benz
began marketing the Tele-Aid system, Tele-Aid communications
were conducted over an analog signal. The analog Tele-Aid
system was installed in Mercedes-Benz’s model year
2002, 2003, and 2004, and some 2005 and 2006 vehicles.
Later vehicles, however, were fitted with Tele-Aid systems
that had been re-engineered to communicate over a digital
signal. |
| In May 2001, the Federal Communication
Commission (FCC) proposed eliminating the requirement that
wireless phone carriers provide analog-based networks.
Mercedes-Benz, realizing that this change in FCC policy
would cause wireless companies to stop providing analog
network service, submitted comments to the FCC, objecting
to the proposed change. |
| Mercedes-Benz argued that the hundreds
of millions of dollars that had been invested by car owners
and manufacturers in analog communications equipment would
become worthless if the FCC’s analog service requirement
was eliminated because Mercedes-Benz’s vehicles,
whose Tele-Aid systems rely on the analog signal, were
intended to be on the road for up to twenty years. |
| Nevertheless, on August 8, 2002, the FCC
announced its decision: after a five-year transition period,
wireless phone carriers would no longer have to provide
an analog network. |
| After the FCC’s announced
its decision, Mercedes-Benz continued to install and promote
analog Tele-Aid systems in its vehicles without telling
its customers that the analog network over which the Tele-Aid
systems operates will stop working on January 1, 2008. |
| In February and March 2007, Mercedes-Benz
told its analog Tele-Aid customers that their analog Tele-Aid
service will no longer work after December 2007. |
| Mercedes-Benz told customers that they
could pay to upgrade their Tele-Aid system to operate over
a digital network. For some cars, the cost will be as much
as $1,500. |
| Plaintiffs’ complaint seeks damages
for Mercedes-Benz fraudulent conduct, along with reimbursement
for Mercedes-Benz customers with analog systems who paid
to upgrade their Tele-Aid systems to operate on a digital
network. |
| We are interested in learning of experiences of Mercedes-Benz
customers nationwide and will review your claim against Mercedes-Benz for
consumer fraud without charge or any obligation on your part. Please
click here to contact a Lieff Cabraser attorney. |
| Since 2002, companies have been on notice that analog wireless
systems will become obsolete or less effective in 2008. Many companies have
failed to disclose this critical information to consumers. The analog signal
loss may affect: |
- Users of home and business security systems with
cellular signal backup;
- Purchasers of fleet management systems;
- Purchasers of campus and highway emergency call boxes;
- Purchasers of "dual mode" analog digital cell phones;
- Purchasers of "panic button" alert systems.
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| If you own such a system and it operates on an analog system,
please click here to submit your
complaint to a Lieff Cabraser attorney. |
| State and federal laws provide consumers with remedies for
products that were defectively designed or manufactured or do not perform
as advertised. This is true in many cases even after the warranty period
has expired. The cost for a consumer to hire an attorney and file an individual
lawsuit against the manufacturer of the defective product is often prohibitive. |
| The law, however, does not leave
the consumer powerless. A small number of consumers may file a class action
lawsuit, representing all consumers that purchased the defective product.
A class action suit can provide a powerful and effective means for consumers
to compel a corporation to acknowledge its legal responsibilities and provide
just compensation to the class members. |
| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, is a national law firm with offices in San Francisco,
New York and Nashville. We are recognized for our successful
prosecution of class action lawsuits that resulted in substantial
recoveries for class members in cases involving faulty
building and home products as well as computers and other defective
products. To learn more about our firm, click
here. |
| This website is sponsored by Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, a national plaintiffs' law
firm. |
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LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP |
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP |
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