This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
As I noticed in other complaints they all Focus in the power steering issues, fuel / oil leaks and loss, esp option, electrical mail functions that relate with the ECU, problem with the shifter. All these are safety concerns since all the above problems can cause an accident. I have the same problems in my car and it is really difficult to operate the vehicle. The power steering is not working as the car is not in speed motion unless you use strength to turn the wheel, the esp is not working at all, the shifter is not changing to drive unless you override it and that's the only way to start it and the fuel along with the oil is leaking and all the fluids are disappearing in no time. All these are safety hazards and not just a simple problem. There should have been a repair for all of these issues asap free of charge from Mercedes for the owners of the particular defective vehicles. Thank you in advance
Was driving truck at highway, when brakes activated by itself, ABS, traction light, brake lamp and hazards flashed. Had to immediately move to side of road, while brakes where activating. Felt as if ABS was activating as if I was sliding on and icy road. Had to have vehicle towed as I was not able to move more that 5 feet
Vehicle automatically switches off its anti-lock-brake and electronic-stability-control systems for unknown reason, thereby endangering its driver and passengers, as well as other vehicle's drivers and passengers, every time it's driven.
The vehicle brakes, within a five second period, violently engage at seeming random patterns and bring the vehicle to a complete stop. This is happened twice on two different days roughly a month apart, and only twice, in the same location at exactly the same driving conditions (vehicle speed, weather - sunny day no rain, straight road, light traffic, same 25-30 mph speed). I went to the Mercedes dealer in tysons corner and they said they did not know of a recall for this issue. The interesting thing about the location is that it is in within 50M of high capacity power lines which go over the road, and within 300M of an extremely powerful radio antenna tructure tower. I believe the electronics of one or both of these are causing the car's electronic stablility control /brake assist computer to go haywire and cause a complete loss of vehicle control. The location is on route 29 lee highway, va right before the bridge that crosses over the beltway going westbound, just past where you cross under the power lines that go overhead. The radio tower is on the other side of this bridge. 95% of the time I drove this exact route over the past several years this problem does not happen, so it is an intermittent issue. Turning the engine off twice seems to reset the system and it seems to work fine. Also note that these powerlines, without fail, also cause the same car's alarm to go off 100% of the time when I park within 100M of them. The dealer did acknowledge that this make/model/year can have a spontaneous car alarm issue. Hopefully this will help solve the problem of electrical interference with the cars braking safety computer and prevent a serious accident in the future for someone else. It would useful for your staff to use a geographic information system to map the similar incidents. I suspect they are all near electrical or radio interference as well.
- Falls Church, VA, USA
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First incident in August 2012 driving 20-30 mph just got on hwy and car suddenly slammed on brakes. Could not go over 1000rpm without brakes engaging but fortunately a policeman who witnessed this escorted us to safety on single lane hwy very dangerous. Replaced yaw rate sensor for $1000. Now it is doing the same thing again 2/27/13 and is undrivable. Most likely facing another replacement of yaw rate sensor for another $1000 that only lasted 6 months last time. There are hundreds of these same stories online and ridiculous that Mercedes Benz with its classy reputation would not recall such a potentially dangerous issue. How many people have to be injured to justify a recall?! I do not feel safe driving my 2 year old daughter anymore and still owe on this hunk of junk so I am stuck.
While driving on a highway at about 55-58 mph for no reason brakes engaged and locked wheels. Smoke was coming out of the tires and esp light came on. My wife (she was driving) and two small kids as well as I were scared to death. We were lucky, nobody was right behind us and we avoided accident. After the esp light come on everything went to normal. We finished our trip with no more brake incidents. Next day after restarting the car light was off but brakes locked in the moment RPM went over 1000. Speed at that time was only 5-10 mph. After complete stop esp light came on again and I was able to continue my trip. None of the Mercedes Benz mechanics wanted to tell me what this was caused by. I continued to drive like that for the next year. Every time I would drive without the esp light on the brakes will lock in and bring the car to complete stop. I also learn that if I start the car and wait five minutes light will come on and I can ride without brakes locking in. This worked for a while but then esp light stopped coming on before driving and I had to wait for the brakes to engage and cause the light to come on. At that time on April 2011 I had the car tested at the Mercedes dealership and was told that has faulty yaw rate sensor and the part cost is about $550 not counting labor. I didn't have this replaced because the cost of it and because I believe this is a safety issue and Mercedes Benz should have a recall on this as soon as possible to avoid tragedy one day. Someday somebody will die in the car accident caused by this faulty yaw rate sensor and nobody will even know what led to this crush. Please have this checked quickly before somebody will get hurt and who knows maybe somebody already did die already and we don't know about it. There were a lot of identical incidents reported. It is dangerous behavior on Mercedes Benz part. Regards, ML320 user
While driving around 50mph on the bqe road (NY), suddenly the bas/esp light came on, all the brakes engaged and car was coming to a stop. Warning light on a dashboard was flashing and at first I thought the engine died. Not realizing what is happening, I tried to add power/gas to the car, but the engine didn't want to go past 1000 RPM. Being in a fast lane and having hard time controlling the movement of the car, I"?ve noticed overpowering smell of the brakes. I was absolutely shocked by the event as the traffic was heavy and I was just hoping no one will rear me. Stepping on the gas pedal had almost no result even though the motor was running. It then started to accelerate very slowly when my foot was pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor of the car. Some 5-10 minutes later, the car started to accelerate and behaving as nothing has happened. However, 15 minutes into the ride, the same thing happened and this time, I was driving in a slow lane - some 30-35 mph. I pulled over and let the car rest for about 5 minutes and it stared fine and drove fine for the rest of the evening. Once I parked the car, the bas esp light was still on and stayed on. I took the car very next day to a car mechanic, but the computer reading didn?"T give any errors, faults nor notifications. By that time, the esp light was off once again. The incident recurred 3 days later while coming to a stop due to a traffic lights - some 15-20 mph. My mechanic (and my internet search) advised me to change the yaw sensor. I fully understand the sensor can become faulty, but fully engaging the brakes while traveling is extremely dangerous. I'm now waiting for the yaw sensor to be replaced.
At highway speed car jerked violently to the left as off the from right brake was being applied on its own. Turned the esp (electronic stability control) off and proceeded and the event happened again, car jerked to left and headed to ditch but was able to overcome with steering wheel. It appears a car system failed crash rather than fail safe.
While driving my 2000 ML320 Mercedes, the car suddenly applies brakes while traveling at various speeds. The bas/esp warning lights come on. This is a very dangerous malfunction and someone should make Mercedes address this defect immediately before someone is killed! if you do a search on the internet, it will amaze you how many people have experienced this horrifying ordeal. Please do not ignore my complaint.
I own a 2000 ML320 Mercedes Benz. In 4 different events the car applies brakes on tires randomly and the car comes to a stop and pulls and jerks to that side the esp light blink on instrument cluster and bas/esp light comes on. My wife taking the kids to school from stockton to lathrop on I-5 had this problem too and it really scared them luckily the right lane was empty and they managed to somehow pull over. This is a major safety issue that can cause death or serious injury. The brakes and electronic stability applies on by itself randomly causing the car to jerk or stop and pushing on the accelerator does not make the car move due to the lack of power and car won't pass 1000rpm restarting the engine resets the problem until it occurs again. Took to the dealership and they say this is most likely due to a bad "yaw rate sensor" I have had this problem on 3 other occasions driving around 30-40 miles per hour and the car came to a stop in traffic and the driving conditions was clean on a straightaway road. Mercedes Benz refuses to fix this dangerous problem as a major safety recall they want $300 to look at the car $500 for yaw sensor and $600 for labor and they will not guarantee if it will solve the problem. Please help I do not want my wife and kids get in to a car accident but this is our only car.
I purchase a my 2000 Mercedes Benz ML320 used with approx. 78K miles. The vehicle now has 105K miles, while driving the vehicle normal, and no off road activity the front brakes would activate causing the vehicle to pull suddenly to the left or right depending on which side had been activated with no input from the driver. The incident would last anywhere from three to five seconds in duration and loss of brake control to the rest of the vehicle. This has happened several different times 5 to be exact all at different speeds. The last episode I was traveling at 50 mph when the front left wheel slammed on brakes and jerked the vehicle to the left, thank god, no on was coming at me at that time. The vehicle has been taken to a repair shop and a yaw sensor ordered. I have read previously that a similar complaint had been filed and closed back in 2007. All I can say is that this could have been a very serious issue, because it happens unexpectedly and at any speed!
I was driving my 2000 Mercedes Benz ml 430 at approximately 40 mph, when without any warning lights being displayed it abruptly stopped. The brake pedal had not been depressed. The vehicle then skidded, stopped, skidded again and stopped. This went on for approximately 45-60 seconds then the bas esp malfunction light came on. I was then able to drive the vehicle while the light was illuminated. I have experienced this on 4 separate occasions and have almost been involved in three accidents which all could have been fatal because the vehicle stops completely, it does not slow down then stop, it stops. I was advised to change the tires and have the brake light switch replaced. I did but the problem continued. I have been told by three certified mechanics that there seems to be a defect with or within my ABS system because even if there is a problem with my ABS system the car should not abruptly stop while being driven and it seems that the ABS system is working in reverse order because the malfunction lights illuminate after the malfunction occurs. The abrupt stopping of the vehicle while being driven is dangerous and can cause a fatality or serious bodily injury. I have my old brake light switch but do not have the tires that were replaced.
2000 ML320 vehicle engages bas / esp system during left turn after which these warning lights remain on. ABS system activates brakes causing loss of speed. Occurs in wet or dry conditions.
The antilock braking system can take over throttle and braking. Vehicle will automatically apply brakes to various wheels. It will pitch the car left or right and require driver to counter steer to keep the vehicle straight. There is no warning on when this will happen. Can cause accident or cause vehicle to spin. Mercedes dealer service manager advise me it is a faulty sensor and it is replace at owners expense for $600. I complaint that it is dangerous and should be replaced. Service advisor simply replied " yes it is, you should pay for the repair. "
Same problem as discussed in NHTSA PE 07007-left front brake engages for no reason-esp/bas light comes on-this last for a couple of seconds and as stated after stopping and restarting engine seem to go away for several days.
This failure is best described in this investigation www-ODI.NHTSA.dot.gov/cars/problems/defect/results.cfm?action_number=PE07007&searchtype=quicksearch&summary=true I have this exact problem and Mercedes Benz doesn't acknowledge this as a known problem. No particular events led up to this failure. A couple of months ago this incident happened to me in a parking lot while pulling out. I took it into the dealer and they replaced the brakes and said the problem was fixed. 2-3 months later, this same incident happened to me again but this time on the highway while I was going 60 with my family in the car. This is a very dangerous issue that needs to be resolved but Mercedes Benz is not complying.
Two recent incidents of my 2000 ml-320 suddenly braking and losing power. All brake and esp lights lit up. I was able to steer car to an exit - it had very limited power and the accelerator did not seem to react when pressed. One incident was Wednesday 7/23/2008 at appx 12:50 pm cst. I was driving South on us 431 S at appx 60 mph on a clear day. The second incident occured on Sunday July 27, 2008 at appx 6:30 am driving North on us 431 also a clear day. 7-30-08 eps module failure placed vehicle in limp home mode*smch
While traveling with my family (wife and 2 kids) on the freeway returning from an family outing. We were traveling approximately 65 mph on the freeway when all the sudden without any warning the cars brakes are activated and the car pulls to the right, fortunately there was no car on the right lane next to me. The car braking on its own did not stop until the car came to a complete stop. After removing our hearts from our throats and changing our soiled undergarments we decided to head straight home 45 miles away. This same thing occurred about 3 times during our trip back home. I will be more than happy to allow dot inspectors to drive the car to assist your investigation. (I recommend you bring a change of underwear.).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Victorville, CA, USA