Cracked roof!

[persuaders]

After raising the roof to do some pre trip cleaning, left the top up overnight then in the morning came back to this! On the outer lip of the roof the grp just seems to of pulled itself apart. 2017 MP, nothing obstructing, not hit anything. Clearly im horrified. Any one had a similar experience or any suggestions?

 

[funkyegg]

I have not seen or heard about this issue before. Plenty posts about blisters but a cracked roof is news to me. Clearly this is either a manufacturering or assembling problem. Hope you will get some resolution from MB.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Grand Tourismo]

I saw someone on FB had a similar issue, but the crack was larger...my inclination is to think that the roof remained "caught" by the catch at the front whilst the hydraulic rams pushed up at the rear....but this is just a guess, I have not experienced this myself.

 

[Steve B]

Thats a first for me, can't help but having had fibreglass slalom kayaks in the early 80's they take some abuse before cracking. I know its 2017 but worth talking to MB as that looks like a major failure.

 

[persuaders]

This was one of the first ones in the country, i wonder if we will start getting more of this!

 

[Grand Tourismo]

I would consider skipping talking to your local MB dealership and head directly to MBUK, the contact we have been given at MBUK for the roof blistering issue is "Harry Clarke" if this helps

 

[persuaders]

We have located at least one other 2017 owner that this has just happened to in exactly the same way. This is ours.

 

[Steve B]

That is worrying; blisters are just something that's annoying and isn't acceptable on an expensive vehicle, you have the choice to repair or leave it. This is a roof replacement necessity and most probably out of warranty.

 

[Peter]

After raising the roof to do some pre trip cleaning, left the top up overnight then in the morning came back to this! On the outer lip of the roof the grp just seems to of pulled itself apart. 2017 MP, nothing obstructing, not hit anything. Clearly im horrified. Any one had a similar experience or any suggestions?
View attachment 1540
View attachment 1541
View attachment 1549

Dear Persuaders

Another cracked roof.

We have literally just had exactly the same happen to our roof yesterday (September 17th 2021).

We have a 2017 Marco Polo, registered in March 2018, which we have had from new. Our roof had a roof box on it at the time, but the weight of the box and contents was well within the 50kg limit.

I spoke to our Mercedes garage who said they would just refer it over to the Mercedes approved body shop nearby, and that it would require a new roof. Mention was made of them having referred one like it before, which at the time I chose to remember but not comment on. They cannot have sold that many Marco Polo's down in Cornwall, so if ours is indeed the second one that makes the situation feels like a definite Manufacturing fault/problem and not a consumer problem.

So 3 months on since your crack first appeared what progress, if any, have you made with Mercedes please? What have they said. Have they taken responsibility and made good? If not, what have you done?

I look forward to finding out where you are with getting this sorted.

Best wishes

Peter

 

[Webbah]

My roof needs replacement as it's warped (1 month old MP) and unfortunately the bad news is the wait for roofs is very long. They already have 2 others on order. One from April and one from July. Still no delivery date as these come from Westphalia to Mercedes. I was told I'll likely be waiting until next year.

 

[Grand Tourismo]

And me!
My 2017 MP has also developed a crack in the roof, specifically the nearside (LHS when looking forward) roughly where the lifting arms meet the roof, roughly in line with where the rear C pillar is.

When I look closely I can see lots of small vertical hairline cracks developing just under/around the seal area.
And of course the one major crack you see in the pictures below, this is taken with the roof half open, the crack reduces to a hairline when closed.

Thankfully my roof is already authorised for replacement due to the paint defect so not a biggie for me.
I’ll consider adding a section to the “roof questionnaire” if there is enough demand.

 

[Grand Tourismo]

Hi Peter,

There is a good chance that your vehicle VIN appears on the roof blisters short list created by MB, your local dealer should be able to easily access and confirm.
If so I hope this makes the dealer and MBUK decision a little easier and quicker.

You don’t mention in your post if your roof has suffered blisters as well?





Dear Persuaders

Another cracked roof.

We have literally just had exactly the same happen to our roof yesterday (September 17th 2021).

We have a 2017 Marco Polo, registered in March 2018, which we have had from new. Our roof had a roof box on it at the time, but the weight of the box and contents was well within the 50kg limit.

I spoke to our Mercedes garage who said they would just refer it over to the Mercedes approved body shop nearby, and that it would require a new roof. Mention was made of them having referred one like it before, which at the time I chose to remember but not comment on. They cannot have sold that many Marco Polo's down in Cornwall, so if ours is indeed the second one that makes the situation feels like a definite Manufacturing fault/problem and not a consumer problem.

So 3 months on since your crack first appeared what progress, if any, have you made with Mercedes please? What have they said. Have they taken responsibility and made good? If not, what have you done?

I look forward to finding out where you are with getting this sorted.

 

[persuaders]

Dear Persuaders

Another cracked roof.

We have literally just had exactly the same happen to our roof yesterday (September 17th 2021).

We have a 2017 Marco Polo, registered in March 2018, which we have had from new. Our roof had a roof box on it at the time, but the weight of the box and contents was well within the 50kg limit.

I spoke to our Mercedes garage who said they would just refer it over to the Mercedes approved body shop nearby, and that it would require a new roof. Mention was made of them having referred one like it before, which at the time I chose to remember but not comment on. They cannot have sold that many Marco Polo's down in Cornwall, so if ours is indeed the second one that makes the situation feels like a definite Manufacturing fault/problem and not a consumer problem.

So 3 months on since your crack first appeared what progress, if any, have you made with Mercedes please? What have they said. Have they taken responsibility and made good? If not, what have you done?

I look forward to finding out where you are with getting this sorted.

Best wishes

Peter

Hi Pete, yup this looks exactly the same. We have been unable to make any progress to be homest but have located one other MP via Facebook that also has this issue. Luckely for the owners Merc authorised a repair as they had an extended warrenty. I tryed Westfalia, they were not interested and told me that Merc did not let them talk to owners. I took the vehicle to the supplying dealer, they took pics and tryed Germany. Germany, refused to entertain the idea stating that they had never seen this before and that it must be due to user external actions. I then went to Merc customer services, who pretty much said the same thing but offered £ 125 off the cost of an authorised repair!! Its the classic 'we are only interested in your money' play. Its very difficult getting any where without proper contacts. Ive investigated getting the roof repaired but dont have any costs as yet- the roof has to come off so its going to be 000. It would sence to have metal rods embeded into both sides into the GRP, else i'm fairly sure a cosmetic repair will yest again pull itself apart. There is also an issue of using the cracked roof in high wind- as it wont take much to rip it apart.

So how many do we have on this thread now 3 instances?

 

[persuaders]

And me!
My 2017 MP has also developed a crack in the roof, specifically the nearside (LHS when looking forward) roughly where the lifting arms meet the roof, roughly in line with where the rear C pillar is.

When I look closely I can see lots of small vertical hairline cracks developing just under/around the seal area.
And of course the one major crack you see in the pictures below, this is taken with the roof half open, the crack reduces to a hairline when closed.

Thankfully my roof is already authorised for replacement due to the paint defect so not a biggie for me.
I’ll consider adding a section to the “roof questionnaire” if there is enough demand.View attachment 1885

Hi, I would say it absolutly does matter- we now have very clear evidence that this is a real issue, and will only supprise more owners in the future.

 

[Blackrat]

This is all very alarming. I’ve had the paint blisters and the roof now refusing to open so praying that things don’t come in threes.
Please keep the thread updated, I’m starting to worry about owning an MP once the warranty expires!

 

[Peter]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

I am sorry to hear that from you Persuaders that you have had no joy in getting anyone to own up to this being a fault.

Once we are home again in a few weeks I will first speak to our local privately owned Mercedes approved body repair shop to see what their opinion is of what has happened, following which I will try to see where we can get with Mercedes, having got proof of at least three others in the Country.

I have not seen to date that our roof has developed any blisters but will look carefully once home again.

 

[persuaders]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

I am sorry to hear that from you Persuaders that you have had no joy in getting anyone to own up to this being a fault.

Once we are home again in a few weeks I will first speak to our local privately owned Mercedes approved body repair shop to see what their opinion is of what has happened, following which I will try to see where we can get with Mercedes, having got proof of at least three others in the Country.

I have not seen to date that our roof has developed any blisters but will look carefully once home again.

Peter when you are back lets catch up and see if can kick up a bigger stink together!

 

[Peter]

Back home again at last. So, I will now do some local research as per my previous posting and let you know in the next couple of weeks what information I have gathered. We can then agree a suitable strategy.
Best wishes
Peter

 

[kanelynne]

Peter when you are back lets catch up and see if can kick up a bigger stink together!

Any further developments regarding your cracked roof being replaced?

 

[Peter]

Hi Persuaders

Nothing concrete to report as such.

As planned, I spoke to our local Mercedes approved body repair shop and they confirmed that they've had a number of these from the Mercedes dealership in Exeter to repair to date. They have said it is a defect and a warranty repair (however I assume those vehicles were less than 3 years old).

I also (about 10 days ago) contacted our local Mercedes dealership, and it was being referred to the Manager. I have yet to hear back and was planning on chasing it this week.

I will let you know as soon as there is something to report.

Best wishes

Peter