Laundry list of failures. Jack has almost killed me while changing tire. Vehicle fell, almost hitting me but catching side of vehicle before landing on me! hood latch has failed on a few occasions, causing hood to open while vehicle was in motion. Air mass meter failed. Has required 5 (five!) alignments in two years. When brought to dealer's attention, was told nothing was wrong. A month later requires another alignment. Alignment problems causes wear on tires, which has caused hydroplaning and loss of control of vehicle. Vehicle swerves uncontrollably when hits anything other than flat road. Transfer case motor fixed by dealer without consulting. After repair, transfer case motor failed. Dealer states owner responsible for costs. Has had repair of harmonic balancer on front of engine due to excessive heat buildup leading to oil leak and failure of belt tensioner. Window switches have failed twice and fixed at expense of owner. Six different keys have failed @ the cost of $220/key. Rear window defroster causes loss of stereo reception. Rear window wiper motor has failed. Front end makes noise.

- Columbus Afb, MS, USA

Steering failure due to defective harmonic balancer. Refer to NHTSA action number: PE03058

- Plano, TX, USA

The crankshaft harmonic balancer pulley of my Mercedes ml 320 gave out on me while I was driving. The belt started to burn. I called the Mercedes Benz dealer in honolulu, hi and the service manager, dan told me that there was no recall on the pulley to date and that I should bring my ml 320 in to get repaired. Dan stated that the pulley may not be the only part that is damaged and that the cost could probably go up in price. I stated that I had a mechanic looked at it and said that nothing else was damaged. Dan insisted that there were probably internal damages. At that point, I decided to just purchase the part and have my mechanic fix my car because my mechanic looked at my car thoroughy and I felt that the manager just wanted to have me bring in my car in for the repair(s) which would have probably cost me a lot of money.

- Honolulu , HI, USA

Belt tensioner failed at 73886 mile, $308. Harmonic balancer failed @80,772 miles. Lost power steering and all accessories. Replaced belt, oil pan, tensioner(again),harmonic balancer, oil, oil seal. Mercedes paid for parts. I paid for labor $675. Did tensioner fail first time because of balancer. Was balancer a known defect?

- Orange Beach, AL, USA

Regarding NHTSA action number PE03058. The crankshaft pulley harmonic balancer was found to be defective on my Mercedes ml, 320 today. The vehicle had 57,435 miles. The dealer told me it was starting to fail and recommended it be replaced or it could lead to a loss of power steering and major engine damage.

- Oconomowoc, WI, USA

98 Mercedes ML320 with 75,000 miles harmonic balancer went up and destroyed half of the engine which cost over $5,000 in repairs. Mbusa said they had no previous complaints and that I was responsible for all repairs since it was out of warranty. I have since found out that this is a known problem for these vehicles/engines that mb is trying to cover up.

- Lutherville, MD, USA

The crank shaft damper (harmonic balancer) came apart causing damage to the middle oil pan and the front timing cover.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

The consumer pulled into the driveway where both lights had come on at the same time and had become unable to steer the vehicle. The battery light came on, because the belt came off the alternator, power steering, and the ac, which made the vehicle difficult to steer.

- El Monte, CA, USA