I wish to respectfully report a safety concern with my new 2026 Mercedes All-Terrain Wagon. Specifically, at certain sun angles under cloudless skies, flaring occurs on the inside of my front windshield. They would appear to be linked to the Heads-Up Display Unit via reflection. The housing and dash can also reflect patterns on the windshield. Again, this occurs under certain sun angles when the sun is anywhere between 11 o'clock and 4 o’clock. Additionally, the density of a flaring pattern can be dense enough to obscure signs, objects, or other hazards. For this reason, I strongly believe this constitutes a safety hazard as well as something that plagues automobile travel: principally distractions. I do agree that flaring on a small level can occur in connection with HUD’s. Nevertheless, on this vehicle, I contend it is excessive and usually appears every day under bright sun conditions. In shade or cloudy conditions, this is not an issue. This was first noticed sometime after 500 miles in winter, under sunny conditions. I now have 10,500 miles with no resolution from Mercedes national. After documenting this case from the beginning, I was notified today, 06/25/26 by the Service Manager at Chico, California, Mercedes, that the national engineers determined this was normal. In fact, one of these engineers came to Chico to inspect my vehicle. Respectfully, I beg to differ and ask you to open a case to investigate further whether this is an anomaly that constitutes a safety concern and/or a distracting issue, which is another threat to safety. For further information, contact Mercedes Benz of Chico Service 530-345-9444. I wish to add credibility to this case, as I am a retired airline captain with 26,000 hours of flying time, including 10,500 hours on the Boeing 777. You can understand my emphasis on safety: anything that impairs visibility and distracts, in my view, is a red flag. I certainly appreciate the work all of you do, with thanks, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATIO
- NHTSA ID
- 11746559
- Incident
- Feb 19, 2026