Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 02/01/2004 | 1164 | 1 | 06/30/2003 |
| I purchased a mercedes-benz e320 in june 2003 and have continued to have an issue involving uncontrolled acceleration and speed surges since september 2003. the condition seems to be more prevalent when the vehicle is approaching low speeds or in a downhill plane the dealership has attempted to repair the vehicle during five (5) service appointments and has acknowledged they are aware of the uncontrolled power, or acceleration, fluctuations. they have attempted to repair the vehicle using m-b advice; without success. m-b representatives have acknowledged this condition exists as well; but, that it is not a warrantable defect. this surging has further developed into bucking on several occcasions causing loss of control of the vehicle. this condition appears to be similar to other complaints filed with the nhtsa regarding the e320 where the torque converter lock up is described. i do believe it is a safety hazard due to the inability to control the power / speed fluctuations of the vehicle.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 03/21/2006 | 16390 | 6 | 10/18/2003 |
| I have had several problems with my car hesitating and jerking first few times they fixed it then my car stopped on the freeway in traffic going 40 miles per hour, then the engine light came on again and after changing the transmission it stopped again on the street going 30 miles per hour. my car is still hesitating and jerking. i am so tired of taking the car in all the time and them giving me a rental, my family and friends think its funny that i have driven a rental so many times. the car has been in the shop total of about 50-60 days total. mercedes will not give me my money back or change my car. i need help please before my car stops on me again on the freeway and someone hits me or i hit someone. *jb | |||
| 03/27/2006 | 30000 | 5 | 10/18/2003 |
| My car has stopped on the freeway as i was driving. then again a few weeks later while driving it stopped on the street. also it jerks and hesitates often. i am afraid its going to stop anytime. the dealer will not give me a new car or my money back. i have taken the car in 16 different times and its been in the shop for over 45 days total. my lease is going to be up in about 4 months, i think that is my they will not do anything. *jb | |||
| 11/17/2004 | 1 | ||
| Generally consumer's vehicle hesitates to motion when immediately pressing the gas pedal. once in gear vehicle suddenly accelerates, resulting in a jerk.*ak | |||
| 05/20/2004 | 3 | ||
| While driving at any speed vehicle stalled. consumer restarted vehicle, and drove it to dealer for inspection. mechanic determined that transmission and computer sensor needed to be replaced, and replaced them. however, the problem recurred, and the mechanic could not duplicate the problem. *ak | |||
| 06/17/2003 | 50 | 24 | |
| While driving at any speed and when depressing the brakes consumer heard a noise coming from the engine. the noise occurred at least 23 times since ownership of the vehicle. also, transmission caused the vehicle to jerk when the gas pedal was depressed. dealer examined the vehicle three times. *ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - CONTROL MODULE (TCM, PCM) | |||
| 02/17/2007 | 200 | 5000 | 09/15/2002 |
| I purchased a 2003 mercedes benz e320 custom ordered. there are erratic, inconsistent,intermittent problems of defective brake operation, radio,cd,seat controls,instrumentation,windows control,tire pressure indication, restraint system,transmission operation, srs system. these problems occur randomly. twice,when i needed to brake quickly the brakes did not stop the car. the brake assist feature did not work. the car's brakes are terrible and unreliable, and constitute safety danger on the road. there are numerous malfunctions reported by car indicated on the instrument panel. all or most of these problems are electrical system problems associated with the gateway module*software*.the can-bus system on car,which also controls brakes,does not have correctly-operations of ware,and it affects most electrical and mechanical system functions in the car. there are data collisions and packet conflicts on the bus because the software is not written correctly or the computer system and software is overloaded. reading over the 55 2003 e320 complaints on your website,it is clear that most of them are due to this software problem. the car has been brought back to the selling dealer ,mercedes benz of san diego,*over 50 times*during the years 2003-2007 with no solution. the car warranty is set to expire in a week, and these problems are not yet fixed. the nhtsb demand mercedes benz either redesign the system or rewrite the software and test it for about 40,000 hours, or replace the vehicles with post-2003 e-class models, free of charge the nhtsb has been duped by mercedes benz into believing that replacing hardware components solve these problems the nhtsb should test the network software by examining data flows and function calls during the operation of the electrical and mechanical system features of an e320 and diagnose for data collisions and packet conflicts during automobile feature operation. *jb | |||