Mercedes recalls almost 1m cars over faulty brakes

“We have found that in some of those vehicles, the function of the brake booster could be affected by advanced corrosion in the joint area of the housing,” Mercedes said in a statement on Saturday.

“It might be possible for a particularly strong or hard braking manoeuvre to cause mechanical damage to the brake booster,” it 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,” it added.

Mercedes said it is starting the recall immediately and that the process would involve inspecting the potentially faulty vehicles and replacing parts if necessary.

Last February, the company recalled over 1m cars because of a defect in its “eCall” feature, which alerts emergency services of an accident and relays the vehicle’s location.

The defect meant it was possible that a wrong location could be sent.

Because the problem was software-related, the fix was mostly done “over the air” – via a wireless download using the car’s existing mobile data connection.