I left my home in cincinnati, oh at 8:25, with a 1/2 tank of gas, drove ~ 3 miles to hwy126 and merged to 75S. I moved from the right to the middle to the left lane. After being at 50 mph ~ 2 minutes on the left lane, the car suddenly stopped. The dashboard was all lit up with warning signs, check engine, brakes and oil. I put my hazard light on, put the car in park, turned the key off, and then back on. The same warning signs came on and the car did not start. I called Mercedes assistance who advised to call 911 and that a tow truck will arrive in 1 hour. I called 911 and surprisingly got a voice message that all operators are busy! a minute later an operator came on the line, she asked where I was and I told her that I was on the left (high speed lane). She asked me if I was in a black Mercedes. She indicated that a dispatcher is on the way. At 8:51 I called aaa to get a towtruck earlier. They said they will come in 45 min. A car assistance van came and eventually the police car. They stopped behind my car, and tried to turn the car on and were unable to, they asked me to put it in neutral but the gear would not move. The policeman stopped the traffic on the highway, asked me to step out of the car while he managed to put the gear on neutral and asked me to sit back in the car and steer. They manually pushed the car to the right shoulder but I was not able to steer as the power steering was not working. At 9:18 the aaa truck came and towed the car to the Mercedes dealership. They diagnosed the problem as a sudden failure of the crankshaft position sensor and replaced it for a charge of $463.46. I found on the web that several Mercedes models have had this problem occur but there has never been a recall. The sudden complete failure of a car in the midst of rush hour traffic creating a major hazard to me and other drivers needs the attention of the NHTSA.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

2004 E320 4matic wagon. Engine stalled while merging to I-65 sb. Vehicle was 7qt low on oil. Vehicle was not equipped with a manual dipstick to check oil. Vehicle is equipped with flexible service system that monitors oil level, conductivity, temp, pressure. Owners manual shows that if any parameters are outside normal, or in the case of sensor/system failure, a red warning would appear on instrument cluster to instruct the driver to stop the vehicle and turn off the engine. No warning was displayed. Dealership states instrument cluster failed to communicate with central computer due to a software issue. Engine must be replaced. Requested Mercedes Benz to replace engine and assign engineering team to address issue and issue a service campaign to prevent failure from happening to others. Mercedes Benz stated that they will provide no assistance. I am concerned that this issue could also fail to provide other important information (brake system, airbags, engine cooling parameters) as well. As an engineer, in my opinion, this is clearly a design flaw that needs to be addressed and should have been evaluated by a failure mode effects analysis prior to deciding to remove the manual dipstick. If instrument cluster could not communicate with central computer, it should display a warning to stop the vehicle.

- Louisville, KY, USA

Transmission problems, vehicle would not shift out of park position to reverse or drive. The plastic piece attached to the fender was loose and the tire was rubbing the plastic. There was an oil leak which had come from the pan in the engine. When the consumer went to change the tire, he discovered there was no spare tire in the vehicle.

- Riverside, CA, USA