The Xinhua news agency reports that the Chinese government has asked Chinese users of the Mercedes-Benz MB100 minibus to stop driving the vehicle because of what is described as a ‘serious manufacturing flaw’.
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China’s State Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine has also asked the users to send the vehicles to maintenance centres as soon as possible. An administration official said the import of the 12-seat vehicle made in South Korea will be suspended according to Chinese laws and regulations. The administration has asked Mercedes-Benz to recall the vehicles in line with internationally accepted practice.
The move was prompted by the inspection of an MB100 van belonging to a branch company of China National Petroleum Corporation. It was found that the space between the exhaust pipe and axle shaft was less than required, which caused the exhaust pipe and the brake oil pipe to bump. The latter was then deformed, leading to fuel congestion. Xunhua reports that eleven such vehicles in the provinces of Gansu, Helongjiang, Anhui and other places have found ‘severe abrasion’ in the rear brake oil pipe and that brake failure has been a factor in accidents involving the van.
The agency adds that ‘more accidents related to the defect have taken place in areas where roads are of poor quality’. The import of MB100 vans to China from South Korea began in 1998 and Xinhua reports that more than 5,000 units have been sold on the Chinese mainland.
