Mercedes Sprinter Ambulances - break down

[Franco Cozzo]

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/am...#ixzz2mk8o5pxs

Ambulance Victoria is under mounting pressure over worker and patient safety with emerging details of engine failure in one of its vehicles this week, the latest in a spate of fires and faults.

Paramedics abandoned the Mercedes-Benz sprinter vehicle in Frankston on Wednesday when the engine seized amid banging noises and smoke. An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said no patients were on board at the time.

No one was injured.

The incident was the latest in a series that have dogged the Mercedes Euro 4 sprinter, an important part of the ambulance fleet.
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Another vehicle was forced off the road in a similar case last month.

In October, Fairfax Media revealed Ambulance Victoria had feared a systemic fault in its Euro4 fleet after a spate of engine failures and fires through late 2011 and 2012.

Documents released under freedom of information revealed that in 2012 the authority had expressed ‘‘grave concerns’’ about its Mercedes sprinters.

But Ambulance Victoria and the Napthine government insist that investigations had since satisfied them that, despite the string of incidents, there was no systematic fault in the fleet.

WorkSafe is investigating the incidents in response to a request from the opposition.On Friday the opposition’s shadow parliamentary secretary for health, Wade Noonan, said: ‘‘I hope it doesn’t take a catastrophic event before the situation regarding our beleaguered ambulance fleet is resolved.

‘‘Rather than side-step or dismiss these problems, [Health] Minister [David] Davis needs to provide an unconditional assurance that these vehicles pose no threat to the safety of paramedics or patients.’’

Ambulance Victoria’s fleet manager Elizabeth Punton confirmed the Wednesday incident.

‘‘While breakdowns occur in any fleet of vehicles, our large fleet of ambulance stretcher vehicles travels 21 million kilometres a year, is extremely reliable, well maintained and safe.’’

A spokesman for Mr Davis said Ambulance Victoria took occupational health and safety seriously, and had ‘‘fine vehicles with high levels of reliability’’.

In October Mercedes-Benz Australian spokesman David McCarthy said there was no problems with Victoria’s fleet.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/am...#ixzz2mmoAi0tU

Having actually worked on these things, its true that they are a POS, our metro fleet are all the 4 cylinder variants and as an unloaded ambulance weighing 3500kg they're slow as anything, let alone loaded up.

The 3L V6 isn't much better either which our rural fleet get.

The Mercedes Sprinter isn't up to the job, which is why we are seeing failures like this.

They should have persisted with the F350 at least they could move their weight without problems and had a bullet proof driveline. I know they stopped being made RHD in 2006 but they could have still done the conversion process like they did with the GMC Ambulances of the 90s through to 2001.