German luxury car maker Daimler will recall about 85,000 Mercedes Benz C and E-class autos in the United States to fix a problem with power steering systems, the US traffic authority NHTSA said.

A problem with the system's pump could lead to a loss of fluid and "owners may not have sufficient control of the vehicle in areas, such as parking lots, where maximum power steering is required, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash," the body said on its website

Mercedes planned to fix the problem in 2010 and 2011 models by re-tightening a faulty fitting free of charge, it added.

On October 1, rival BMW said it would recall 350,800 BMW and Rolls-Royce vehicles worldwide because of brake problems that a spokesman stressed were "without danger."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.