Over 2.5 million Mercedes-Benz owners with mould growing in their car’s ventilation system will now be compensated for the bad smell.

MERCEDES-BENZ HAS agreed to a huge settlement in the US that will cover over 2.5 million owners of various Mercedes models in that country.

The class-action lawsuit has been in the courts for two years and now Mercedes-Benz and lawyers for the class-action have agreed on a settlement, according to a report from WSBTV which has covered the story since the beginning.

The issue revolves around a musty, mouldy smell which emits from the air vents when the climate control is switched on. Mercedes owner and the lawsuit’s filing lawyer Ketan Patel described it as “a pungent, mildew, sweaty, mouldy, sweat sock smell.”

WSBTV reports that it is due to mould growing in the heating, air conditioning and ventilation system.

#breaking major class action settlement covering 2.5 million @MercedesBenzUSA vehicles. for 2 years, @wsbtv has reported on HVAC mold making for smelly luxury cars. settlement provides repairs going forward & compensation for repairs already made for long list of mercedes models pic.twitter.com/21gNzV6VtA

— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) December 20, 2019

Mercedes-Benz has not detailed why or how the smell originates and owners have been paying to have the issue fixed as it isn’t covered by warranty. However, the settlement – which is yet to be signed by a US federal judge – requires Mercedes-Benz to fix affected US cars for ten years and pay back owners for prior repairs with reportedly no cap on payouts.

“It provides relief for all the money they’ve had to pay to deal with this, because it wasn’t covered under warranty,” attorney Annika Martin told WSBTV.

“It also basically provides a warranty coverage up to the 10-year birthday of the car to deal with it in the future if it is necessary, and I think that’s a big win.”

The Mercedes-Benz models mentioned in the lawsuit are:

2008-19 C-Class

2010-15 GLK Class

2012-17 CLS-Class

2010-19 E-Class

2015-19 GLA-Class

2013-16 GL Class

2016-19 GLE-Class

2017-19 GLS-Class

2012-15 M-Class

2016-19 GLC-Class

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