[StenoPete1911]

Yesterday I finally got the recall notice - nothing except what has been told before. MB flatbedded the car to the nearest dealer (75 miles away) and back. When the car came off the tow, the Suspension light was on. Drove it a short dostance and it rode like there were no shocks - unsafe to drive. Have no idea if the Dealer screwed it up or the result of the flat bed ride, buit in either case neither the tow company nor the dealer will take responsibility. TOTALLY SCREWED!
No way is this car ever going into the hands of the stealership - will have to find the cause myself (fuse, disconnected sensing link, etc.) Has anybody ever had this sudden failure? Rides like no shocks, bottoms out, ride height can not be adjusted. Result of the dealer ripping off the boot on the brake booster or damage from the tow hooks or car not liking the ride? Will NEVER EVER in a trhousand years ever buy another Mercedes made after 2000. If I need a reliable car, it will be a Toyota.

Hello. Call your insurance company and have them deal with the dealer and the tow company. They are responsible for it, or you can have the tow company tow it back to the dealer. Most likely, the tech or something at the dealership, made your compressor turn off and/or deflate pressure from your main pressure tank.

If the car is sitting low and you don't hear the compressor running then they either disconnected th connection to the system or missed a fuse to it. If you're handy, you can get underneath and double check for connection issues.

In my case, it was the front struts and the compressor that went out, and yes, it can happen suddenly.
GL.

 

[Finding the Fix]

Looks like Mercedes has a MUCH MUCH bigger issue on their hands and may be purposefully allowing vehicles that are let's say "borderline unsafe" on the roads since Mercedes is needing to re-designing the part for replacement in approximately ONE MILLION affected vehicles worldwide. Considering designing/related testing issues and likely supply chain problems that many companies have been facing in recent times, they probably won't have the parts for some time (which is why they are requiring another inspection/part replacement within two years - see more discussed below).

I know, for a fact, that my vehicle failed the comprehensive testing in my discussions with the dealer, but as I have experienced and discussed with people at Mercedes, if cars fail the tests they are now re-testing the vehicles (sometimes more than once) and miraculously many (some have reported that practically all that are re-tested) are subsequently released and owners are told that the vehicle "passed". Some people have however learned that Mercedes apparently later modified the subsequent test standards, to in essence enable more/nearly all to pass, for the time being that is...

If you had your vehicle tested and were told it "Passed" most people think "great" and go on with their things not knowing what was tested and thinking that they don't need to have the car repaired. However, this is far from what is really happening. If you actually look at the paperwork, as the dealerships were "supposed to" provide the owners with a follow-up letter with the service records that announced that the vehicle passed, where later in the letter it states that those owners - must have the car inspected again within two years or completely stop driving the vehicle after two years. Furthermore, that notice also references that if you sell the vehicle you "must provide" this warning notice to the prospective buyer. So your vehicle "may" have passed (as it may have failed and was then retested and retested to get closer to passing with changed parameters of the testing), but is it really safe??? Remember this is your braking system!!!

The problem is much more complicated and damaging for Mercedes, as Mercedes has ultimately admitted - in writing to the U.S. Department of Transportation that; "Estimated percentage with defect: 100 %"

In being forced to announce a DO NOT DRIVE / STOP DRIVING NOTIFICATION, it seems that Mercedes has been experiencing many more test failures than they estimated, and it then resulted in ongoing costs to provide rental / loaner vehicles, had resulted in extensive expenditures - especially when you consider that there are approximately one million affected vehicles worldwide. So it seems that in order to reduce such expenses on these older vehicles, they have apparently "secretly" modified the testing standards/parameters (and seemingly not notified many/most dealers, nor the US Department of Transportation). Such would then, for the time being, create less concern as more people are told that their vehicles passed the tests... it would then importantly buy-time, while help reduce many associated expenses that Mercedes has been facing (rental, storage at dealers, etc). Additionally, it could then make it "appear" in recall reports that Mercedes provides to the US Department of Transportation (and other countries) that the issue isn't that bad.

There are several Class Action Lawsuits that have been filed in the United States, where at least one filing alleges that Mercedes knew about the problem and created an internal Technical Service Bulletin over a decade ago concerning such brake booster problem, but failed to take action early on and allowed the problem to get much worse. With a million affected vehicles, one can only imagine the costs associated with the problem, while the more time that passes, the more vehicles come off the road, the more people would tend to attribute it to parts simply wearing, and the lower the values of the vehicles over time. Also if the vehicle gets into an accident, how many situations are realistically going to be inspected so thoroughly, that this specific part will be then specifically tested, traced as defective, litigated, and determined to be the cause/contributing cause? Mercedes had an army of lawyers on call to fight claims, but in this situation, it seems likely that someone (with a conscious) ultimately leaked info to force the recall.

It is certainly extremely rare for the U.S. Department of Transportation (through its safety agency NHTSA) to push/order a manufacturer to announce anything as drastic as a STOP DRIVING NOTIFICATION... unless the issue is determined to be extremely serious! And if such recall is so concerning, it is in Mercedes's interest to make it "appear" that it isn't so bad....with failing cars instead being re-tested to pass (despite no repairs being made).

Assuming that the reporting noted in the Class Action Lawsuit has some merit with regards to Mercedes knowing of this problem more than a decade ago, with the huge population of vehicles involved, the passing of time... without conducting the repairs needed.... is often a calculation that automakers and their "bean-counting" accountants access.... and where they put expenses in front of people with calculated "acceptable losses". Over and over again this has been proven to be the way vehicle manufacturers handle things going back 50 plus years when it first really became exposed in the Chevrolet Corvair and Ford Pinto design flaws. Where for example Ford was found to have handled manner by hiding information, delaying taking any action, and cutting corners, and literally calculating the number of lost lives and injuries expected and the costs associated with those losses vs. repairing all the vehciles! Sadly this type of scenario has been repeated by many manufacturers, and it is likely that all / practically all vehicle makers do this.

Check out more details and the discussion regarding Mercedes's handling of this recall, and several references to Mercedes created reports concerning the recall, at this link:

Mercedes brake booster recall - my R Class failed safety...

 

[wallyp]

My personal knowledge is based upon a sample size of three...

The three vehicles that I am familiar with were inspected, and on all three, the booster looked brand-new and had not a trace of corrosion. That is owner's eyes-on inspection. There may well be some vehicles with a corroded brake booster, but it darn sure isn't 100% of them.

 

[Finding the Fix]

Wally, I certainly understand your position based on what you have seen. I would have thought the same based on how my booster appears. However, the problem, as I was told, usually manifests at the bottom of the booster where you can't simply see by looking at the brake booster installed on the vehicle.

Here are links to multiple documents in which the U.S. Department of Transportation's - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in discussions with Mercedes, has identified that the percentage of vehicles affected to be 100%.

In these reports which are titled PART 573 SAFETY RECALL REPORT each and every report over the past several months (since the initial recall notice) identifies "Estimated percentage with defect : 100 %" of the vehicles. You can see it on the first page on the right side of each report under the reference to "POPULATION", (and this is obviously referring to the U.S. population of nearly 300,000 vehicles in these U.S. reports):

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V315-3653.PDF

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V315-9275.PDF

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V315-9875.PDF

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V315-3577.PDF

For those that want to review more official (publically available) correspondence between Mercedes and NHTSA here is the link on NHTSA's government website (where the above documents were found) showing that, at the time of my posting, there are 53 affected Mercedes products (although I don't know how they count, as it may be counted by model year of each version to get to that number) and where there are 20 public documents to date:

Recalls | NHTSA

Use our VIN lookup tool to check for recalls on your car, or search by make and model. Also, get recall information on car seats, tires and equipment.

www.nhtsa.gov

I am trying to inform people because I am greatly disturbed in how Mercedes has handled matters. Where it has come out that many vehicles (such as mine) have failed the testing, are then being re-tested and miraculously later pass the reported same test with "no repairs" being done. I have been told by the dealers that, as far at they know, it is the same test, however the system generates the pass/fail notice where dealers have told me they actually don't know the criteria or if it had changed with periodic system updates.

This is a serious safety concern and especially when it concern the integrity of the braking system - a serious problem with no fix available at this time! Consider this....Mercedes then says for the reported "pass" vehicles that the owners should only drive it only up to an additional 2 years (further supporting that it is a serious issue, and where Mercedes is facing a significant problem with designing and making replacement parts for a million vehicles worldwide) and then noting therein that you must stop driving it if not re-checked or repaired by then. This is specifically cited in documents provided to the dealers, see MANUFACTURER'S NOTICE TO DEALERS filings in the above link (last page of those filing) in which the dealers are instructed to provide to the owners a conditional pass letter, wherein we are further told that if we sell the car before the parts are replaced we MUST notify the purchaser of such issues.

Would you really want to buy a vehicle in which the guy selling it gives you a document stating that the brakes are under recall and may fail, so you as the new owner buying the vehicle you must take on the responsibility to get it re-inspected and likely repaired when Mercedes (eventually) contacts you (if they can find you) - or you will need to stop driving it! How many people driving these older vehicles actually have their vehicles serviced/maintained at the dealerships?

As the reports note, the failure may be a gradual loss of efficiency due to a defective booster, which you may not notice over time. As an analogy, think of it initially as a tire with a nail in it - but where the vacuum in the booster is constantly replaced it would often be much harder to notice where the integrity of the booster is compromised). It may be a loss of efficiency that is increasing over time, or may result in a sudden failure and loss of proper braking ability (such as a sudden blow-out of a tire).

Then I found information discussing "changes" (some reporting as dramatic changes) that were made to the testing, to apparently make many many more vehicles pass. I contacted others that I know in the industry and Mercedes...where my alarm then went off. I have not found where NHTSA was notified of any such testing parameter/passing criteria changes (going back months), a factor that should be clearly defined. When I contacted people at Mercedes they did not deny that changes were made to re-test initially failed vehicles and obtain passing reports to get the vehicles back on the road in the interim and thus reduce their current expenditures. Then I learned that Mercedes initially instructed the dealers to test the vehicles once and only once. Only to later state that if the vehicle failed then to conduct the test again and see if it passed a second time (but only one more time as the instructions state). My vehicle failed and then reportedly passed the same braking integrity test. Why should I feel comfortable with a vehicle that passed the claimed comprehensive braking integrity testing only half the time? While people in other countries are reporting that the test is being done three times (or perhaps more) to eventually see if the vehicles might pass? This is not the way you handle a serious safety issue such as the brakes being able to properly stop a very heavy vehicle!!! Yes, I understand that Mercedes is bleeding with mounting expenses (loaners, storage, testing, designing, the logistics to manufacturing such new parts for a million or so vehicles, etc.) and is likely trying to band-aid things in the interim and buy-time, until perhaps years from now they have enough parts to properly repair all the vehicles.

I am simply not about to risk my family's safety with a vehicle that may not stop property when needed, where there is no current repair available. Where I especially know that my vehicle failed the testing (and where many others may not have any such knowledge, if the dealer did not honestly tell them). Nor do I want to potentially cause a serious accident due to a sudden mechanical failure that is beyond my ability to control... if I can't properly stop the vehicle!

 

[Rattosh51]

I had my 2012 GL450 in the dealership for an oil change when I found out about this recall in June of this year. Mine was the first one they had seen that needed the replacement done, but no parts were available. Told to not drive, and I had to sign off on it...drove it home & parked it. Contacted dealer in August, & they said no parts would be ready until mid to late Fall. Had enough,..loved the vehicle, but I didn't buy it to have it sit. Traded it in for a 2014 GL450 in Oct. End of problem. Of course, a month after the trade-in, the brake booster was finally in at the dealer. Left it up to them to track it down to where I traded it.

 

[Finding the Fix]

Thanks for your message. My family's vehicle was brought into the dealer in June, ours was deemed unsafe and they kept it there until August when I had it towed back to my home. The vehicle remains parked and we have not driven it since June (so 5 months now). We find ourselves stuck, as Mercedes has been 'exceptionally difficult and evasive' in answering my basic question as to "why I should feel comfortable driving the vehicle, knowing that it failed their comprehensive testing and no repairs were ever done?" I don't trust them when they won't answer this simple question and I can't reasonably feel comfortable knowing it failed the test and where the dealer originally told me at the time it was one of the worst ones that they had tested. Since we live in a hilly area we are reasonably even more concerned with the potential of brake failure on such a heavy vehicle and not being able to efficiently/effectively stop.

I find it interesting that you heard that the repair parts came in as I have heard nothing about availability in my area. I have simply asked their corporate representatives several times to explain the difference, if any, in their testing that could make me feel comfortable. Yet their representatives 'seem to be instructed' not to answer this seemingly very reasonable and basic question. As my previous posts mention, and others have heard, Mercedes apparently changed the testing parameters - as it is suspected that the failure rates were so high it was costing the company huge amounts in providing loaners and storage and the company was likely trying to buy some time and reduce the bleeding of money.

Simply telling me (after it sat at their dealership for over a month) that it passed a re-test, but where the dealership tells me it was the same test, has the people at the dealership baffled too. The reps that I know at the dealer readily agreed with me that they would not feel comfortable under the same circumstances, but they had nothing more to suggest beyond what Mercedes corporate tells them. With vehicle prices as they have been, I have been apprehensive as to getting rid of this one and purchasing another vehicle, however I also don't want to have someone else driving this vehicle where the brakes could fail.

I however do understand your election to just trade it in to just get out of the problem, and let the dealer handle the issue. This has certainly tarnished my opinion of Mercedes on many levels. We will see what comes out in the future.

 

[Rattosh51]

Interesting that they have done retesting, I hadn't heard that. The local dealer here in MN wanted to keep mine, but I said no, then had to sign a bunch of paperwork releasing them of liability because I was driving it home! If they're so worried about liability, then they have some problems. I was driving it to work on a 70mph freeway, when this came up, so I didn't feel safe driving it where quick stops are needed. I did email MB-USA and got the same run around about parts not being available due to supplier issues. When I looked up my CARFAX on this vehicle initially it did say "No remedy available", but when I traded it in, it was changed to "remedy available", so some parts must've come in. To my dealer's credit-they asked where I traded it in and were going to track it down. I traded it to a non-Mercedes dealer who had the 2014 and got what I thought it was worth. They didn't care that it had a recall.

 

[wallyp]

Perhaps it is time to discuss this with the US Federal Government. They usually take a very dim view of manufacturers trying to evade a recall.