Mercedes-Benz Tele Aid System
Class Action Litigation
Class Certification Granted in the Mercedes-Benz Tele Aid System Class Action
On April 27, 2009, the Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise of the District of New Jersey issued an order granting plaintiffs' motion for class certification in the In re Mercedes-Benz Tele Aid Contract Litigation.
The class is defined as: consumers who purchased or leased a Mercedes-Benz vehicle equipped with an analog-only Tele Aid system after August 8, 2002, and either (1) subscribed to the Tele Aid service until they were informed that such service would be discontinued at the end of 2007; or (2) purchased an upgrade to digital equipment.
Click here to view the Order Granting Class Certification
Case Background
In 2002, the FCC announced the start of a five year "sunset period," after which time cellular providers would no longer be required to provide or support mobile phone services on analog networks. According to the class action complaint, the Tele Aid wireless carrier notified Mercedes-Benz that it would cease to provide service to the Tele Aid units after December 2007. Mercedes-Benz nonetheless continued to install analog-only Tele Aid systems in their vehicles and to market these systems to consumers without adequately informing them of the systems’ limited lifespan.
In late 2006, , Mercedes-Benz belatedly told its customers that the Tele Aid systems installed in their vehicles would no longer work after December 2007. Mercedes-Benz told these customers that they would need to pay approximately $1,000 for an “upgrade” if they wanted to continue receiving Tele Aid’s safety services.
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