Harmonic balancer broke apart at 140K, no indication of failure, just lots of smoke and no steering capabilities, was in the middle of the intersection. Police pushed me to safety. Plastic shattered everywhere in engine compartment.. the defect was the plastic pully, internet research showed other people had same problem and cost them thousands.

- King Of Prussia, PA, USA

Harmonic balance pulley was failed and was recalled 1998 Mercedes ML320 -[xxx]. Mercedes refused to pay total labor for process. Vehicle has no equipment other than Mercedes made and installed equipment. Vehicle has Mercedes fog light bar on front (standard Mercedes made and installed items). If the part had not been defective, this charge would not have occurred. Regardless of the fact that is was installed by Mercedes before I got the car--I do not feel that I should be burgeoned with Mercedes costs due to poor quality of defective parts. Updated 07/19/2012 information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Cornelius, NC, USA

Vehicle stalled on the highway while driving about 55 mph. Vehicle was towed to the dealership for analysis.

- Honolulu, HI, USA

Harmonic balancer failure at highway speeds.

- Westwood, NJ, 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

While driving 25-35 mph the vehicle stalled without warning. The dealer has replaced the fuel pump twice but the problems still exist.

- Newton, MA, USA

The serpentine belt had broken while driving at 45mph and caused the engine to overheat. Manufacturer was notified. The consumer stated that after the investigation per garrett engineering, the vehicle was determined to have a crank shaft pulley failure which caused the other systems to fail. The belts, altenator, and the cooling systems failed as a result of the pulley failure. This part was supposed to be covered under the 80K warranty, but has not been honored.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA