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2015 Mercedes C-Class owners reporting bleeding seats [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Daimler AG became aware that, in a small number of individual cases, it is possible for temporary spots and/or shiny patches to form on the man-made leather surfaces of the 2015 C-Class in sub-freezing temperatures. No accidents or injuries have been reported, and we have no reason to believe that there are any hazards to customers. Replacement parts are expected to start shipping to dealers by next week. Owners of the 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class are learning the hard way that you don't necessarily want to buy a new vehicle in its first model year. Besides reports of poorly fitting taillights and faulty infotainment touchpads, a number of reports are popping up on the forums of MBWorld.org claiming that the compact luxury sedan's seats are, for lack of a better term, bleeding. Owners of US-built, 2015 C-Classes fitted with MB Tex vinyl interiors are reporting a white, oily, shiny residue discoloring their seats that shows up, often after cold cars are quickly heated. It's important to note that this residue is not necessarily staining the seats permanently – warm, soapy water is often all that's needed to restore the original finish. In other cases, the residue disappears of its own accord, only to reappear in an entirely different pattern. That doesn't make things any more acceptable to owners, many of whom have reached out to Mercedes with complaints. It's not clear how many vehicles are affected, but there are a sizable number of forum threads on the issue on MBWorld alone, and the problem is prevalent enough that Mercedes has issued a technical service bulletin to its dealers. According to the forum postings, the TSB instructs service technicians to replace the headrest and seat cover (except for the front, passenger-side seat bottom because of "factory calibration issues") in affected customer vehicles. New C-Class models in dealer inventories, meanwhile, are to get the soapy water treatment if they're showing signs of the residue. Neither one of those moves seems to represent a long-term fix, though. Black MB Tex seats – both the standard and sport variety – seem to be particularly susceptible to the residue, although we stumbled across at least one image of what looks like Silk Beige MB Tex with speckles of residue.

Mercedes-Benz intros long-wheelbase E-Class for China

Long-wheelbase sedans are a pretty hot commodity in China, and to keep up with the competition, Mercedes-Benz has introduced an extended version of the 2014 E-Class sedan at the Shanghai Motor Show. Audi, BMW, Volvo and even Cadillac offer extended versions of sedans specific to the Chinese market, and now the E-Class L, shown off in E400L guise, will give luxury sedan buyers in China yet another option.
Compared to the standard 2014 E-Class sedan, the new China-spec E-Class L has been stretched by 5.5 inches - all of which goes to the rear-seat passengers. According to an article on China View from earlier in the year, the market for chauffeur-driven cars is growing in the Asian nation, so automakers need long-wheelbase models like the E-Class L in order to fully compete. As for what powers this stretched E-Class, it's available in three models: the diesel E260L, the V6-powered E300L and the E400 Hybrid.
The redesigned E-Class and the all-new A-Class are just the first of 20 new Mercedes-Benz products that will be introduced into the Chinese auto market by 2015. Scroll down for the full press release on long-wheelbase E.

Popular Science magazine's Best Of What's New 2012 all ate up with cars

Popular Science has named the winners in its Best of What's New awards, the victors coming in the categories of aerospace, automotive, engineering, entertainment, gadgets, green, hardware, health, home, recreation, security and software. The automotive category did not go wanting for lauded advancements:
Tesla Model S: the Grand Award winner for being "the standard by which all future electric vehicles will be measured."
BMW 328i: it's 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gets called out for being more powerful and frugal than the six-cylinder it replaces.