Mercedes to recall more than a million cars in the US

Mercedes-Benz is recalling more than a million vehicles in the US following a fault discovered in its eCall service that's supposed to dial the emergency services if the car thinks you've had an accident.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the issue with Mercedes-Benz's eCall system is that it's possible the wrong location could be sent, potentially delaying or preventing the police, fire service or ambulance from attending a life-threatening incident.

Claimed to affect 1,292,258 cars in the United States alone, the car-maker has announced that cars in other markets, including Europe, could have the faulty eCall system.

The fault has already been recognised in Australia. In November 2020, a recall notice was issued for 571 examples of the Mercedes-Benz CLA after it was found that the software in the communication module for the eCall system may be incorrectly programmed.

Affected Australian-spec vehicles were to automatically receive an over-the-air software update to fix the problem, negating the need to visit a dealership.

Mercedes-Benz says this is also expected to be the case overseas with the issue now extending to the US and beyond.

The eCall system has been mandatory in all markets in the EU since 2018, but there have been reports of problems dating as far back as October 2019 when a wrong location was sent from a Benz that had crashed in Europe.

In the US, the problem is said to affect more than 200 different models made from 2016 to 2021, with almost every car Mercedes-Benz produces requiring a fix, including the flagship S-Class and the high-performance AMG GT.

It is not yet known whether the recall will now extend to other vehicles in Australia.

In the past the issue has arisen when in the event of an accident there's a temporary drop in the vehicle's voltage that triggers the module to communicate the wrong location when an eCall is made.

Mercedes said it discovered the fault during internal monitoring and that safety remained a "top priority" for the car-maker.