Image source: Flickr, harry_nl
A Wet Quagmire
Mercedes issued a recall in 2017 for over one million cars as starter motors sparked fires in various SUVs and cars. The recall affected over 300,000 U.S. cars that were made from 2015 to 2017. Overall, a total of 51 fires affected cars worldwide. As the transmission and engine failed to start, repeated attempts to turn on the car caused the current limiter within the starter motor to overheat and affect adjacent parts.
The issue was most likely to occur if a car got trapped in standing water and could not restart on the first attempt to start the car. Auto dealers promised to install a new fuse to correct the defect. Mercedes moved beyond the incident, but check out the next slide to see how another automaker is still dealing with auto malfunctions to this day.