A Scots mum has been left traumatised after her two Mercedes-Benz motors burst into flames in separate incidents just 10 weeks apart.
Nikki McAllen was driving her 21 plate A-Class saloon in Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, on November 7, when black smoke began pouring from the engine.
The 34-year-old and her friend were able to jump out of the motor and called the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as they watched the flames take hold of the stricken vehicle.
The couple’s four-month-old daughter Savannah wasn’t in the car but her baby seat was wrecked by the flames and needed to be replaced.
An investigation was launched by Mercedes to determine what sparked the blaze but Nikki claims she was forced to beg for a courtesy car in the meantime.
She was eventually given another new A-Class motor more than a week after the first fire but was horrified when it too burst into flames on Friday last week.
Her partner, John Morton, was behind the wheel at the time and immediately pulled over when he spotted smoke coming from the engine.
Mum-of-one Nikki, from Stevenston, North Ayrshire, said: “A friend and I were coming back from climbing Conic Hill and we had our heated seats on.
“It was my first time out hillwalking since having my C-section. I started smelling something funny in the car but my friend couldn’t smell it.
“Then just seconds later I noticed smoke coming out of the engine on the driver’s side. I pulled over into a residential street away from people and we got out.
“Thankfully the fire station was only about a minute away. The whole engine was properly on fire within about two minutes of me first spotting the smoke.
“I called Mercedes and they said it wasn’t up to them to give me a courtesy car because that’s what insurance was for.
“But I repeatedly told them that the fire was caused by a fault in their vehicle - not something I had done - so they eventually gave me one eight days later.
“But now this car has done the exact same thing.”
On Friday last week, John, 43, was forced to make an emergency stop near the busy Whirlies Roundabout in East Kilbride.
He noticed the car’s engine was running hotter than normal before smoke began pouring out from under the bonnet.
A video taken at the scene shows fierce flames engulfing the entire front end of the motor which was extensively damaged.
Nikki added: “I just think it's too strange that it’s happened to us twice.
“That in itself is bad enough but I feel like I’ve had to spend hours and hours away from my daughter while dealing with Mercedes and the insurance company on the phone.
“I’m genuinely not sleeping at night because I can’t stop thinking about it all.
“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment coming up and I’m going to speak to them about my mental health because I’m not doing very well. I feel like I can constantly smell fire.
“I just want to raise awareness for other Mercedes drivers to know that there could be an issue and to take care when driving themselves.
“I also want Mercedes to take my complaint seriously. It’s been ten weeks now and I don’t know how long it’s going to go on for.
“I want them to admit liability but they’re never going to do that because they need to investigate it."
Little Savannah’s car seat was badly damaged during the first fire with Mercedes offering to pay £300 towards a new one.
But months later, Nikki is still waiting to be reimbursed after allegedly being told that they need to establish the cause of the blaze first.
Her pram was also left covered in soot with the first age attachment rendered unusable.
Earlier this month, Mercedes wrote to approximately 800,000 car owners warning them of a technical defect which could pose a fire risk with their luxury vehicles.
A number of motors were identified as possibly having leaking engine coolant pumps but a fleet recall is not currently possible due to a lack of parts.
Owners of affected vehicles are being told to drive “particularly carefully and usage kept to a bare minimum”, Reuters reports.
Vehicles identified include Mercedes’ GLE/GLS, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, S-Class, E-Class Coupe/Convertible, GLC, CLS and G-Class automobiles produced between January 2017 and October 2021.
A spokesperson for Mercedes said: “We are very sorry to hear about Ms McAllen’s experience.
“We take any incident extremely seriously and work with all relevant parties to review the circumstances. The investigation into the first case is currently ongoing.
“Our technical experts are currently making arrangements to examine the courtesy car too. “Please understand that we cannot comment or speculate further at this time.”
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