WITH a worldwide recall of 1.3 million vehicles Mercedes-Benz is improving the quality of passenger cars already in the field says the head of the company, Dr Eckhard Cordes.

The 58,000 UK customers affected - accounting for about one-eighth of Mercedes sold since 2001 - will be notified by letter in the next couple of weeks, given details of the work on electronic braking and electrical systems which should only take a couple of hours on each car.

Dr Cordes says the recall is adding emphasis to his quality initiative.

"We are now producing the best product quality ever and our aim is to ensure that those vehicles in the hands of customers which are the cause of complaints achieve a standard of quality that reflects our highest expectations."

On vehicles with six and eight-cylinder petrol engines built between June 2001 and November 2004, the voltage regulator in the alternator is being checked and, if necessary, replaced.

On E-Class and CLS-Class models made from January 2002 to January 2005, new battery control unit software is to enhance the on-board power supply.

In addition, the braking system electronics on E-Class, SL-Class and CLS-Class models from the production period June 2001 to March 2005 are also to be updated.

Spokesman Rob Halloway said that the faults that had arisen had been very rare and did not impinge on safety. "In the case of the braking system when there is a fault it simply goes into the failsafe mode rather than with all the extra features for which our vehicles are renowned," he said.

Although customers are being informed in writing, Mercedes-Benz has set up a special free European hotline to answer customers' questions: 00800 1777 7777.