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.
I was driving on a busy intersection in my 2002 Mercedes Benz ML320 when driving the yellow triangle in the speedometer starts to flash and all the breaks lock up, this is followed by a stall, thankfully I was able to pull off to the side of the road without being hit. After doing some research I discovered that many Mercedes ML320 owners were having this same problem. Specifically the yaw rate sensor. This is a serious life threatening issue that can injure or worse yet kill someone. You guys need to do a recall before someone dies!
On numerous occasions occurring in different conditions regarding speed, weather, road conditions, etc., I have had the vehicle pull hard to the right while engaging the front brakes, both while turning the vehicle and on straightaways. When this occurs, the triangle hazard light and esp lights start flashing. Most often I have been able to pull off to the side of the road, thankfully safely, or on one occasion stop in the middle of the road as the car wouldn't allow me to continue driving which was incredibly dangerous and scary. I have taken it to the dealership who replaced the front brake sensors, which didn't fix the problem, and returned to have them again diagnose the issue and declined their recommendations such as replacing the back brake sensors, until I came upon the repeated issues of the stability sensors failing (specifically the yaw sensor). I can't believe that, to date, this has not been a recall issue and no one has been seriously injured or killed due to this problem (I filed a previous claim, but the website went under maintenance and closed my complaint as I was filing and was given id #10923983, but there is no information filed in association that I could find hence the re-filing).
On multiple occasions and numerous different speeds, weather, both driving on a straightaway or turning, and other road conditions, the front brakes have locked up on the car causing it to veer right while engaging the brakes. Most often I have had to pull over, thankfully safely, or on one occasion, stop in the middle of the road to turn the car off to be able to continue driving which is incredibly dangerous and scary. I've taken it to the dealership and they had me replace the brake sensors which were obviously not the problem and then recommended other replacements, since the problem continued, that I declined until I found that this was a common problem with the stability sensors in this vehicle (specifically the yaw sensor). I'm amazed this is not a recall situation and that no one has been seriously injured or killed due to this problem.
I have a 2002 ML320, the radio is out and the hole clamp used to secure the power steering fluid does not provide sufficient clamping causing a leak, esp/bas stays on causing low traction and the door lock. These items were recalled on the M-class 320, what happened to thes recalls.
The contact owns a 2002 Mercedes Benz ML320. While driving approximately 45 mph, the front brakes activated independently. The contact noticed that the front rotors were red and hot. The esp warning light illuminated. The contact disconnected the esp cable and continued to drive the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 139,000. Updated 7/21/15 updated 10/18/2017
- San Juan, PR, USA
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While driving on the highway at 60mph the vehicle started shaking violently. The brakes started engaging on their own pulling the car to the left and right and nearly bringing the car to a sudden stop. It took a lot of effort to keep the vehicle from pulling into the other lanes and causing an accident. The bas/esp light came on the dash and has stayed on now. This all lasted for about 10 seconds. I was in the 3rd lane of a 4 lane highway during moderate traffic. I was almost rear ended by two different vehicles. I have been researching this issue and found many other drivers with the same thing. This is a dangerous defect and needs to be addressed. It doesn't take much for a sudden change in direction and speed to cause a severe accident when driving on the highway, and knowing that this vehicle is capable and know for doing this makes it very dangerous. It makes me wonder how many fatal accidents have occurred due to this problem, but no one knew because it was just assumed the to be driver error.
Front passenger side wheel brake on it's own, pulling me off to the left of the road vehicle brake (right side) stayed engaged until vehicle speed was down to about 20 mph. Dealer said a bad yaw rate sensor was the problem.
To whom it may concern, I had a near death experience while driving one of your vehicles. I am the owner of a Mercedes 2002 ML320, which was purchased at a phillips Mercedes dealership in Virginia beach va. I need to address a very serious incident that occurred over the weekend (December 18, 2010). I was driving back from richmond going toward Virginia beach, I was driving 70 mph on I-64 and had it on cruise control, ahead I saw that traffic slowing down so I stepped on the break; I then realized that my brakes weren't working and I was unable to stop or slow the car down. I attempted to push the break pedal down and it wouldn't nudge even though I applied all of my weight to it, the speed did not diminish at all, I then tried the emergency brake and that also failed to slow me down, my friend suggested that I put the car in neutral and then try the brake, fortunately that worked and was finally able to come to a complete stop. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. Your product put my friend's and my life in jeopardy. I had the bas/esp light come on in the pass and have brought it in for repairs 3 times already: 07/27/2005, 12/01/2009 and in 10/19/2010. I am stunned that a company who has such a great reputation and seems to thrive on customer satisfaction dropped the ball. At no point in time did any of the technicians who performed the repairs on my car advise me of the potential danger.
While driving her 2002 Mercedes ml 500 at a steady 40 mph in traffic the electronic stability control engaged for no reason locking the brakes and making the vehicle uncontrollable and unresponsive to driver input. The only thing that prevented us from being hit was there was no one behind us, had this of occurred going through an intersection we would have certainly have been hit. Our vehicle is at the Mercedes dealer now and we are being told it needs a brake switch this will be the third or fourth one changed on the vehicle, it also has a bad yaw sensor the part that the dealer says caused the stability control to malfunction. The yaw sensor that is currently in our vehicle is not the original and has a different part number meaning it has also been changed in the past. I have a serious problem with this whole situation vehicle safety systems should not jeopardize the safety of the operator this is a serious safety defect. I have researched the Mercedes owner forums and found numerous occurrences of this exact defect on several models of Mercedes vehicles one happened while a gentleman was going at highway speed and Mercedes has done nothing to take action.
Was driving vehicle on highway at 75 mph set speed in cruise control and stepped on brake as I approached traffic congestion. Vehicle would not stop and continued to maintain set speed regardless how hard I pressed on the brake. Eventually, I decided to try shifting into neutral and the vehicle was placed back under control of the footbrake. Thankfully, the vehicle was slowed down without incident but it was a very scary moment. Noticed, at this time, the bas/esp malfunction indicator lamp was displayed on the dashboard. Drove vehicle directly to a Mercedes dealership for repairs. Dealer advised stop lamp switch shorted. Replaced lamp switch. Although, this was the first incident while in cruise control the vehicle did have similar past problems with the braking system (ie-brake switch and shifter control module were replaced) that prevented shifting out of park into any other position. Vehicle should have safety device to override "cruise control" or prevent "cruise control" operation with any malfunction in the braking system or activation of the braking indicator lamp. What assurances are there to prevent this from happening again?
This car has been into service ov 27 time in the last 2 1/2 years regarding the electrical system/ all of the light on the dash board turn on. My lastest issue was on the highway my car just completely turn off on me will on the expressway when I turned the key again the warning light came on this car has been fix numerous times but the problem comes back.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wilbur, OR, USA