'Park outside' recall leaves Utah man asking: Can I break my lease?

KAMAS — A safety recall usually means taking your car in, getting it fixed, and getting back on the road.

But what if the fix is months away?

Salt Lake City resident Alan Nusbaum says that is the conundrum that has left him paying for a leased Mercedes he cannot practically use.

His Mercedes is currently parked on a residential street in Kamas, despite the fact that he lives in Salt Lake City.

People in the neighborhood have noticed.

"I think I just got a note," Nusbaum said while looking at a message left on the car.

He read it aloud: "This is a residential street, not a parking lot. Why is this car always parked on the street?"

To be fair, Nusbaum does not want to park it on the street. But he says he has to because of a recall notice he received from Mercedes-Benz in February.

The notice warned Nusbaum to park his vehicle outside because a battery issue "could lead to a vehicle fire while parked or driving." It also warned that he should not charge the battery beyond 80%.

"So it had to be outside, parked outside, not near any structure," Nusbaum said.

The fix is a battery replacement. The trouble, Nusbaum says, is he's been told that it could be December or later before a replacement battery is available for his car.

The situation is especially difficult because his Mercedes is an electric vehicle. The charging station he uses is in his garage, the very place where he has been told not to park the vehicle.

So instead, since February, he's parked it in Kamas, waiting for a replacement battery to become available.

"I've been really patient," Nusbaum said. "If I had more time to be upset, I'd be upset. But I just want it to end."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz USA said they "very much regret the inconvenience" and "sincerely apologize."

"The battery replacement will of course be carried out free of charge," the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson did not say when Nusbaum can expect the new battery but encouraged him to stay in touch with the company.

Break the lease?

Nusbaum did not buy the Mercedes. He leased it. He said he asked Mercedes-Benz to take the vehicle back early and lease him something else. He said Mercedes told him no, but that he could buy the car and then sell it.

"We are paying for a car that we cannot use," he said.

Mercedes-Benz did not answer questions from KSL about terminating Nusbaum's lease early, but emphasized in its statement that this is not a "stop drive" recall. It is a notice to park the vehicle outside. Nusbaum can still drive it, Mercedes-Benz said, as long as he does not charge the battery beyond 80%.

The law does not appear to be on Nusbaum's side. Utah's lemon law does cover leased vehicles, but there is a catch. The problem generally must show up within the first year. That does not help Nusbaum, whose Mercedes was already beyond that window.

The law also requires that the manufacturer be given a "reasonable" opportunity to repair the vehicle.

Since KSL contacted Mercedes-Benz, Nusbaum says he has heard from the company and they are now negotiating a possible early termination of his lease.

2026 surge in "park outside" recalls

"Park outside" recalls are piling up, and the issue is not limited to Mercedes-Benz.

Data from Carfax shows that the number of vehicles nationwide with an open "park outside" recall jumped nearly 50% this summer, reaching more than 3.2 million.

"An unrepaired Park Outside recall doesn't just put a vehicle at risk, it can threaten garages, homes, and anything parked nearby," Faisal Hasan, the vice president of data acquisition at CARFAX, said in a written statement.

The increase in "park outside" recalls is not just an electric vehicle problem. Batteries are behind some of the warnings, including Nusbaum's, but other recent recalls involve issues ranging from power-steering wiring to power-seat motors.

And as KSL has reported before, just because a vehicle is under recall does not necessarily mean a fix is immediately available.

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