German carmaker Mercedes-Benz is recalling
nearly one million older vehicles worldwide due to a potential problem with
the braking system, the federal transport authority (KBA) said.

The KBA said in a statement dated June 1 and reported late Saturday in German
media that the recall affected cars built between 2004 and 2015, of the SUV
series ML and GL and the R-Class luxury minivan.

“Corrosion on the brake booster can in the worst case lead to the connection
between the brake pedal and the braking system being interrupted,” the KBA
said.

“As a consequence, the service brake can stop functioning.”

The KBA said that worldwide 993,407 vehicles were being recalled, including
around 70,000 in Germany.

Mercedes-Benz confirmed the recall later in a statement sent to AFP, saying
the move was based on “analysis of isolated reports for certain vehicles”.

“In rare cases of very severe corrosion, it might be possible for a
particularly strong or hard braking manoeuvre to cause mechanical damage to
the brake booster, whereby the connection between brake pedal and brake
system would fail,” Mercedes said.

“In such a very rare case, it would not be possible to decelerate the vehicle
via the service brake. Thus, the risk of a crash or injury would be
increased.”

The company said it would “start with the recall immediately” and contact the
owners of the “potentially affected vehicles”.

“The recall process will involve inspecting potentially affected vehicles
and, depending on the results of the inspection, replacing the parts where
necessary,” the company said.

“Until the inspection takes place, we ask our customers not to drive their
vehicles.”