wish I had the slightest idea what was going on here.
Diesel fuel is significantly less volitile than petrol; if it had been a gasoline engine, any fuel-related problem would have burned it to the ground.
You can actually throw a lit cig or even a match into diesel and it won't catch on fire.... friend scared the shit out of me when he showed this to me..... As another poster said...
Quote:
Originally Posted by asianml
There's a lot of facts that were left out in this story. You think the diesel fuel has anything to do with it?
__________________
Newly on Benz #6
Finally traded 00 ML (miss it though)
You guys don't have "Friends" in the mob or anything do you.... Almost looks like someone put some kind of explosive gas in your tire.... Nitrous Oxide instead of just plain Nitrogen....
Please let us know what the final outcome is with your vehicle.... I've been drooling at the ML & GL320 CDI's so I'd greatly appreciate you guys letting us know what it is/was.
Sorry, but i'm taking this story with a LARGE grain of salt. My wife would also tell me she didn't leave the car in drive when she probably did.
I read the whole story and now I think I'm seeing this as you do.... I have never driven one of the newer ML/R/GL's with the shift stalk on the column... so I don't know if there's any mechanical part to it or if it's purely electronic....(I still prefer the shifter on the center console) this almost sounds as if she turned on the cruise control instead of putting it in park.
The only reason the doors locked is because the car thought it was moving. She said the tire was spinning .... the key wouldn't respond because..... it thought the car was moving. And as far as getting the thing center stuck on snow that blew under it during a blizzard.... well... I just have a very hard time believing that. That means so much snow would have blown under it it would have raised the truck. Sounds more like someone may have left the parking brake on..... it was left in gear... though it shouldn't have kept the gas on unless someone set the cruise control while inside.... all torque ended up at one wheel.... As it turned and got hotter and hotter the brake did less and less...except for creating more and more heat...but continually spinning faster.
And the testimony of the little girl is really kind of damning too.... says she saw a glowing yellow/orange or something.... I can't imagine how hot that wheel must have gotten... if you look at the wheel pictures it's almost as if there's charring around the edge... but I guess if it got that hot it should have melted the center cap. And the R is 4x4 so why no front spin too? Hell... what do I know?
It all smells a little funny and I find myself not buying the story after reading it. Glad nobody was hurt but I can't help but suspect some human error here... as hard as that may be to believe....
Z
Last edited by zaphodsplanet : 02-28-2007 at 08:38 PM.
I read the whole story and now I think I'm seeing this as you do.... I have never driven one of the newer ML/R/GL's with the shift stalk on the column... so I don't know if there's any mechanical part to it or if it's purely electronic....(I still prefer the shifter on the center console) this almost sounds as if she turned on the cruise control instead of putting it in park.
The only reason the doors locked is because the car thought it was moving. She said the tire was spinning .... the key wouldn't respond because..... it thought the car was moving. And as far as getting the thing center stuck on snow that blew under it during a blizzard.... well... I just have a very hard time believing that. That means so much snow would have blown under it it would have raised the truck. Sounds more like someone may have left the parking brake on..... it was left in gear... though it shouldn't have kept the gas on unless someone set the cruise control while inside.... all torque ended up at one wheel.... As it turned and got hotter and hotter the brake did less and less...except for creating more and more heat...but continually spinning faster.
And the testimony of the little girl is really kind of damning too.... says she saw a glowing yellow/orange or something.... I can't imagine how hot that wheel must have gotten... if you look at the wheel pictures it's almost as if there's charring around the edge... but I guess if it got that hot it should have melted the center cap. And the R is 4x4 so why no front spin too? Hell... what do I know?
It all smells a little funny and I find myself not buying the story after reading it. Glad nobody was hurt but I can't help but suspect some human error here... as hard as that may be to believe....
Z
All of this is based on ESP not working. Which it didnt.
All of this is based on ESP not working. Which it didnt.
Yea.... guess you're right about that. But it still sounds as if the car was left in reverse.... talk about just a freakish series of actions and events. I'll be very interested in seeing what the final verdict is on this.
Summary:
A defective Mercedes "4Matic" system caused the rear tire to explode causing $25,000 in car damage and $1500 damage to home. Mercedes and the dealer will not stand by the car and only tell us that it is an insurance issue. Automotive warranty items, including factory defects are not covered by insurance - only the resulting damage is.
To date, the dealer and Mercedes refuse to simply "undo the deal" giving us our money back and paying actual out of pocket expenses related to the damage caused by the Mercedes factory defect.
That said, and having read the "report" from the engineer, I find it hard to swallow. All the faults read out from the car are probably from after the explosion, not before.
The conclusions being drawn, and stated as fact, is completely implausible and cannot be proven with the data presented. There is absolutely no way for an arbitrary person to say with such conviction what the software was doing without having any knowledge of the software. E.g. concluding that the "false GPS speed signal combined with 3 stopped wheels confused the system." This seems to be the heart of the argument, but is utterly unconvincing. What possible knowledge of the processing can the engineer have to draw this conclusion? It would also imply simultaneous failure of multiple systems, which is extremely improbably, especially the "false GPS speed signal", which does not rely on any mechanical movement.
As Occam's Razor states - it's probably the simplest explanation that is correct. I suspect that the car got stuck, and the driver forgot to move it out of gear before getting out of the car, the tire overheated, and now someone else must pay for the damage.
As much as I'm against big corporations taking the little people for a ride, I'd have to see much more conclusive evidence than the weak "report" to say that the car is to blame.
Almost looks like someone put some kind of explosive gas in your tire.... Nitrous Oxide instead of just plain Nitrogen.... 
Conclusion: Forensics Report on Mercedes R320 Explosion 
Linear Mode
