Mercedes Benz E430 2001
Model E430 made in 2001 by Mercedes Benz got 29 consumer complains as well as 4 service bulletins. Consumer complaints with reference, among others things, to air bags and digital instrument panel. Technical service bulletines regarding air bags and exterior lighting.
Model 2001
Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIR BAGS | |||||
| SB-91-60-193 | 06/11/2010 | 10034306 | Mercedes: airbag durability and reliability. air bag srs control module (n2/2) does not have a set shelf life and will normally be reliable for the life of a vehicle. with 164, 216 221, 251 and newer, the airbag control unit can be reset | 11/01/2010 | |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING - FOG LIGHTS | |||||
| 8210196 | 06/04/2008 | 8210196B | 10015377 | Revised repair procedure and additional applicable models. model 170, 202, 208 and 210 models. front fog lamp(s) inoperative. mercedes-benz. *tt model years: 1994-2004. updated 09/09/08. *pe | 07/15/2005 |
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC | |||||
| LI-42-46 | 03/17/2010 | 10034488 | Xentry(mercedes): sbc control unit cannot be programmed. the sbc control unit is aborted at 20% progress. due to a defective electronic component in the sbc module, communication between the sbc module and the sbc control unit (a7/3n1) is | 11/19/2010 | |
| STEERING - RACK AND PINION | |||||
| 462046 | 12/04/2008 | SB-46-20-46A | 10020460 | Play in the rack and pinion steering system. models 203, 209, 210, 211, 215, 220, 230. mercedes benz. *kb updated 5/13/09. *pe | 10/23/2006 |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIR BAGS | |||
| 09/24/2011 | |||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz e430. the contact stated while driving 40 mph the side air bags for the front and rear seats on the driver's side deployed. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing nor was it repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was unavailable. | |||
| 09/24/2011 | |||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz e430. the contact stated while driving 40 mph the side air bags for the front and rear seats on the driver's side deployed. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing nor was it repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was unavailable. rvk | |||
| 09/24/2011 | |||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz e430. the contact stated that while driving 40 mph the side air bags for the front and rear seats on the driver's side deployed. the vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was unavailable. sm. | |||
| AIR BAGS - FRONTAL | |||
| 08/05/2007 | 88235 | 1 | 07/27/2007 |
| Non-deployment of airbags in an accident, my wife suffered a back injury, nothing done yet. *jb | |||
| 03/03/2003 | 31000 | 01/04/2003 | |
| I had a auto accident and none of my airbags went off. i had a side impact (passenger side) first and was driven head on into a telephone pole. the force of the accident broke the pole. my face hit the windshield and my chest was impacted by the steering wheel. windshield broke, glass was imbedded in my forehead. *ak | |||
| AIR BAGS - SIDE/WINDOW | |||
| 08/05/2007 | 88235 | 1 | 07/27/2007 |
| Non-deployment of airbags in an accident, my wife suffered a back injury, nothing done yet. *jb | |||
| DIGITAL INSTRUMENT PANEL | |||
| 08/01/2005 | 65000 | 1 | 09/10/2001 |
| 2001 mercedes e430. maybe as much as two years ago the time and temp sections of my instrument cluster began losing lines or pixels so the time and temp could not be read. i had just gone out of warranty due to mileage and was told, on the phone by a merc. service person, it could be fixed but not under warranty. i have seen many forum posts about others with the same problem making me think it is not an uncommon problem. i heard other models of the same year are being recalled for this same problem. why not my model car?? this is a costly repair i don't feel i should pay for. incident date below is approximate. *tr | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 12/01/2009 | 50000 | ||
| The catalytic converter began very lightly rattling at low speeds only intermittently at only around 50000 miles. it now has approx. 60000 miles on it and has a loud noticeable rattle which is also causing vibration in the car and has made the hard shifting from first gear in the transmission worse and of course it is now out of warranty when it needs to be replaced and i will have to pay thousands of dollars to replace a part that should last a lot longer especially for a vehicle that is pristine and garage kept. hopefully the oem remanufactured dealer part wont die in another 50,000 miles. as a note, mercedes should not say the transmission fluid is lifetime because it definitely is not and owners who obey the lifetime fluid recommendation will have transmission issues sooner or later. i can only assume my transmission shifting problems on this model is due to the fluid and will be having it replaced. also, the digital instrument cluster has malfunctioning temperature and time gauges and has burned out leds in the speedometer area, which requires a ~$1,500 complete instrument cluster replacement as advised. this occurred at about 40,000 miles. many owners have this issue and a recall was issued for other models but not this model even though it is common. | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - BATTERY | |||
| 08/10/2007 | 179000 | 1 | 09/01/2001 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz e430. the contact stated that the vehicle exploded when he attempted to start the engine. the dealer stated that the battery was defective, which caused acid to spill all over the engine and cause the explosion. he stated that this was the vehicle's original battery. the failure and current mileages were 179,000. | |||
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING - HEADLIGHTS | |||
| 03/01/2001 | |||
| The zenon headlights are blinding also for the driver of the car equipped with them. the reflection on objects and signs is annoying , blinding and a nuisance.they also tire the eyes much more. i am 52. i know you have a study on this and wanted to contribute this, as a driver and of course also as ad driver facing cars equipped with them. they should be banned.*ak | |||
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE - DELIVERY - FUEL PUMP | |||
| 1 | 09/26/2000 | ||
| 10 days after taking delivery of the vehicle the fuel pump failed. the transmission was replaced at 32,000 miles. nlm | |||
| OTHER | |||
| 07/29/2004 | 88048 | 1 | 10/01/2000 |
| A very small amount of liquid from a cup sitting in the cup holder spilled into the gearbox and the car began to sputter and shake, wouldn't shift or accelerate. i had to pull over and call for the car to be towed to the nearest mb dealer. the car would not function at all. the vehicle was towed to a dealer where over $600.00 was spent to get a brand new gearbox installed for the car to be functional again. the service advisor said all it took was less than a teaspoon of liquid to drop into that area to cause the car to fail and it was very common--that he'd seen it a lot on these cars. *jb | |||
| 1 | |||
| The consumer can not see the lcd informational displays on the dashboard when the consumer wears polarized sunglasses, the instrument panel lcd's (which are polarized) have their axis of polarization such that they cannot be seen when wearing polarized sunglasses. nlm | |||
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 12/01/2009 | 50000 | ||
| The catalytic converter began very lightly rattling at low speeds only intermittently at only around 50000 miles. it now has approx. 60000 miles on it and has a loud noticeable rattle which is also causing vibration in the car and has made the hard shifting from first gear in the transmission worse and of course it is now out of warranty when it needs to be replaced and i will have to pay thousands of dollars to replace a part that should last a lot longer especially for a vehicle that is pristine and garage kept. hopefully the oem remanufactured dealer part wont die in another 50,000 miles. as a note, mercedes should not say the transmission fluid is lifetime because it definitely is not and owners who obey the lifetime fluid recommendation will have transmission issues sooner or later. i can only assume my transmission shifting problems on this model is due to the fluid and will be having it replaced. also, the digital instrument cluster has malfunctioning temperature and time gauges and has burned out leds in the speedometer area, which requires a ~$1,500 complete instrument cluster replacement as advised. this occurred at about 40,000 miles. many owners have this issue and a recall was issued for other models but not this model even though it is common. | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 11/01/2008 | 22000 | 1 | |
| My 2001 mercedes benz e430 slips out of gear for no reason while driving. this occurs intermittently and with no warning . it occurs almost every day and in order to re-engage the drive gear i have to stop the car, put gears in park or neutral and then back into drive, sometime during this operation several times . i contacted a mercedes specialist and he showed me the problem. apparently the synthetic transmission fluid leaks into the electronics of the transmission and is actually drawn up the wiring and into the electronic control module located on the top of the passenger side of the engine compartment. i have been personally shown the fluid and was very surprised that this was possible, but apparently the fluid contains metallic elements which are affected by the electrical charge in the wiring and actually pull the fluid up into the control unit..the fix is installing a special plate inside the transmission to stop the hydraulic fluid from seeping into the electronics, this also entails replacing fluids and cleaning the electronic wiring and components. repair cost quoted is about $900. apparently mercedes is aware of the problem and i was told that this problem occurs in many mercedes autos including e class and clk class with this type of transmission. as of this writing i have not made any repairs. *tr | |||
| SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC - FOUNDATION COMPONENTS - DISC - PADS | |||
| 1 | 09/26/2000 | ||
| The brake pads had to be replaced at 17000 miles because they were squeaking , the consumer was told by the manufacturer that this vehicle was equipped with soft brake pads versus the previous e420 model which was equipped with hard pads. the manufacturer also suggested the consumer visit any authorized dealer to have the performance of his braking system evaluated by a trained techincian. nlm | |||
| SUSPENSION - FRONT | |||
| 03/02/2010 | 119698 | 1 | |
| I was traveling 65 mph on interstate route 70 when the right front suspension coil spring perch failed and broke off of my 2001 mercedes e430 sedan (w210 body style), causing the high pressure suspension coil spring to dismount and drag along the underside of my vehicle. the dismounted front right coil spring caused the right front end of my vehicle to collapse while traveling 65 mph on a busy interstate (cars in front, behind, and alongside my vehicle). i was able to drive my vehicle to a safe spot where upon inspection, i noticed that the front right coil spring was literally resting on the ground. the front right end of my 2001 mercedes e430 was collapsed so badly that turning the vehicle caused the front right tire to rub along the front right fender and the entire vehicle was dangerously unbalanced, with control being limited at best. upon later inspection by a certified mechanic, it was disclosed that the front coil spring perch had rusted out and upon further research, mercedes usa is aware of this type of failure (manufacturing defect -weak weld points accompanied by corrosion) but currently does not have an active recall program in the us but there is a recall in canada for this same problem (not sure why?). overall this is a very dangerous situation (limited control at high speeds, high pressure coil springs becoming loose due to weak / corroding coil spring perch mounts, dislocated vehicle parts, limited vehicle control, etc..). i consider myself very fortunate for not having sustained serious injury and not to have caused injury to others. *tr | |||
| TIRES | |||
| 01/01/1901 | 37000 | 5 | |
| Consumer has had 5 tire blowouts in 2 years. the vehicle experienced 5 tire blow outs within 2 years. the dealer told the consumer that two of the rims were bent and needed to be replacement. *nlm *cb | |||
| TIRES - TREAD/BELT | |||
| 10/15/2007 | 54000 | 1 | 01/01/2002 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz e430. the vehicle has continental extreme (na), size p235-45r1793w tires. the tread separated on all four tires by more than a half of an inch. a mechanic stated that the tires were extremely dangerous to use and should be replaced immediately. the contact heeded the advice and had the tires replaced. the fuel system and dot number were unknown. the vehicle and tire failure mileages were 54,000. the vehicle current mileage was 58,000. updated 4/25/08 *cn | |||
| VISIBILITY - WINDSHIELD | |||
| 12/01/2005 | 64000 | 1 | 09/10/2001 |
| Rubber seal around front windshield is deteriorating. *nm | |||
| WHEELS - RIM | |||
| 01/01/1901 | 37000 | 5 | |
| Consumer has had 5 tire blowouts in 2 years. the vehicle experienced 5 tire blow outs within 2 years. the dealer told the consumer that two of the rims were bent and needed to be replacement. *nlm *cb | |||
Car dealers selling
| State | City | Zip | Name | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | SAN DIEGO | MERCEDES BENZ OF SAN DIEGO | ||
| FL | POMPANO BEACH | DOLPHIN AUTOMOTIVE WHOLESALE GROUP | 954-974-3960 | |
| MO | SPRINGFIELD | 65807 | BIG LOT RELIABLE CHEVROLET | 417-887-5800 |
| NJ | LAKEWOOD | 08701 | AUTO LENDERS | 732-370-6633 |
| TX | HOUSTON | MERCEDES GREENWAY |