NHTSA Complaint #11474106 — 2007 MERCEDES-BENZ E350

Vehicle fuel system known component issue, fuel pump failure, intermittent. Driving vehicle can lose power at speed, causing potential loss of control as hydraulic assist to steering and braking fails with engine. This known issue has intermittently cause our car to fail to start, or fail in operation. This was a known issue, the manufacturer was allowed to avoid a recall by extending the warranty for this component (fuel pump in fuel tank assembly) to 15 years. Our car started showing this around that time (3 months ago, when extended warranty expired), however we were not then aware of said warranty. Now that we've been two months of diagnosis and discussions with MBUSA Customer Care, they are not willing to replace the known failure point as warranty expired 3 months ago. This should have been a recall from the beginning, and now we, and many others to come, will have the value and usefulness of our vehicles reduced or eliminated. Those not aware of the potential failure of this very expensive part, will be at risk every time they operate their cars at speed on the public highways. NHTSA should never have allowed this warranty extension scheme to substitute for a recall. There is no way to predict failure, and entire fuel tank assembly replacement is <$4,000. Fuel pump is not individually accessible or available for replacement, only entire tank assembly in these PZEV vehicles is available. Mercedes-Benz is shirking responsibility here, and flipping it over to the dealerships and consumers.