2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 acceleration problems

Filed Mar 21, 2024 · Acceleration, Engine · MA

Apparently the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) which is built into the gas pedal on this 2014 MB CLA250 only lasts so long before it becomes defective under highway conditions and causes the vehicle to go into LIMP MODE. When full acceleration is necessary, the unit will work for perhaps a few months or less, and then continue to fail worse and more frequently with each attempt at full acceleration. At highway speeds, this is an essential feature in a 4-cylinder vehicle such as this one and without the necessary acceleration capability, can expose the driver to serious risk of collision with other on-coming vehicles traveling at highway speeds. This "Limp Mode" features is extremely dangerous and hazardous to not only the driver of their vehicle, but to other drivers around them since they are left in a devastating position of being unable to accelerate normally and as necessary and as one would expect in any vehicle, let alone a Mercedes Benz. Never before have I driven a car that falls out of full acceleration mode only to subject the driver to serious collision circumstances. Whoever the imbecile is at MB engineering who incorporated this Limp Mode Feature should be fired!!! To make matters worse, this cheaply built TPS, which is the cause of the problem in my vehicle specifically, was only warrantied twice by the dealer and now they will not replace it under warranty which is a two-year period. I've only had the part 5 months before it failed again due to poor manufacturing and I had to pay all over again for a new one despite my warranty validity. There have been many other MB owners who have the same complaint for Limp Mode, which tells me that it's definitely not me, but rather the poorly built or engineered vehicle, as a matter of fact. MB has denied having these complaints to me, which of course, is a lie. That's misleading and deceptive business practices in my State and MB needs to live up to its warranty provisions and respect its customers.

Filed Feb 10, 2021 · Acceleration · 67,000 miles · FL

When accelerating hard to overtake, the engine lurches, and the car fails to accelerate further and slows down. The engine fault light then illuminates which switched off by itself after switching the engine off twice. It seems I am not the only person to have this problem as you can see in the comments to this video describing the problem and claiming the problem is a faulty high pressure fuel pump: https://youtu.be/-sbr28zbofs this seemingly common issue is clearly dangerous as drivers lose the power when they are most depending on it and it seems to be occurring in cars that are not particularly old.

Filed Jun 27, 2019 · Acceleration, Engine · 79,000 miles · TX

I was driving my car when all of a sudden the car slowed down and the steering became stiff. The pre safe light came on the screen along with "parking brake" "traction control" although the parking brake was not applied. I had to have my car towed home because it was unsafe to drive.

Filed Feb 15, 2019 · Acceleration, Airbags · 44,000 miles · GA

See uploaded document protected auto issues for full story. Hennessy buick, mazda, gmc sold me a car 8/18/2017 unknowingly I discovered on 2/5/2019 that it had an illegal can blocker/switch (manipulates computer systems in car and tampers true mileage on car) installed in ignition switch. After obtaining emissions test 12/26/2018, several car failures began to happen while stationary at testing center. While in motion that day, several lights began to stop working. In january 2019, while driving the power steering failed causing me to be unsafe as I could not brake, gas or turn wheel. The block affected all items above, excluding wheels & visibility,but due to limitations I was only able to select 3

Filed Dec 6, 2018 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 23,344 miles · CA

While driving at normal street speed "collision prevention assist inoperative" displayed and car would not accelerate. I was in traffic, but was able to exit and pull over and park, turned car off, & back on. Display reset and car normal. Took to dealership immediately-repair was "non connecting pins". Too early to tell if this solves. Upon investigation, this is a common issue with 2014 mb and I want to document this extremely dangerous performance.

Filed Dec 28, 2017 · Acceleration, Engine · 16,000 miles · PA

Purchased my new cla250 in september 2014. In august of 2015 my car suddenly stopped accelerating while driving 65mph on the nj garden state parkway!. The pre-safe warning was present on my dashboard. Luckily I was able to pull to the shoulder without causing an accident. This could have caused a major catastrophe killing me and others. I restarted the engine and drove to my destination making sure I stayed in the right lane on the parkway. It failed 2 more times while not on the highway but still a very dangerous situation. Took the car (which had 16,000 miles) to a mercedes dealership when I returned and they performed a series of tests. They found a product technical support system update which involved updating the software. The failure did not occur again until nov. 2017. I almost got hit by a bus in philadelphia when my car decided to stop accelerating. Finally, driving to the airport doing 70mph the car again displayed the pre-safe warning and rapidly slowed down almost causing a crash on I-78 in nj. Took the car to a mercedes dealership near me and they said since the car is 2,000 miles beyond the 50,000 mile warranty it's not covered. They are replacing a series of parts that will cost me over $4,000 to repair! There is no guarantee this will even fix the problem. Is mercedes waiting for someone to die before they acknowledge this car has a very serious problem? I have to wonder if there has been any crashes involving this car and nobody survived to detail what was happening! The 2014 cla is not safe and mercedes doesn't appear to be concerned.

Filed Aug 2, 2017 · Acceleration · 27,740 miles · SC

Yesterday I was travelling back home from office in the evening on highway, and suddenly my cla250 started showing message on console saying "pre safe features limited - see operators manual' and "vehicle inoperative - see operators manual" and lost its throttle, I was unable to accelerate, from 50mph I came down to 20mph within seconds and it was very scary as there were vehicles behind me thinking what I was upto. I immediately switched on flashers and tried my best to pull it back to small space between divider and exit, there was no proper shoulder space so got some scratches on my car. I had purchased this car from dealer as certified preowned vehicle just two months ago, and this was first time I was in such pathetic situation. I called roadside assistant and they were ready to send towing truck, meanwhile I turned off the engine and restarted it and all the messages disappeared and everything looked okay. I made a decision to go back home, as if my car were to be towed late in the evening , I wouldn't get car back the same day,and service center is like 30 miles away and there is nobody to drop me back home. So I decided to take it home and cancel towing truck call. Car moved fine from then on. Today I came to office in car fearing when it would stop again. I called the dealership and what they said was "oh don't worry, that must be some software glitch on pre safe condition, if it happens again bring it to dealership!!" . So literally I need to put my life and other drivers life at risk to wait and see if it happens again. I like my car, but definitely I don't want to die in it, neither I want to hurt someone else due to this so called software glitch

Filed Feb 2, 2017 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 20,000 miles · CA · crash · 1 injury

Purchased a mercedes cla 250c, and have had it became inoperative while driving on the beltway in washington d.c. Traffic, and more recently on the I-5 in san diego on 1/21/2017 during rain at speeds of 60+ MPH in heavy traffic. The vehicle decelerated quickly and lost speed. The console popped up flashing message 'pre-safe functions limited' on the console. The vehicle did not respond to accelerator. After coasting to the right shoulder I was hit, by a passing car, and the motorist kept on going.this had happened about 10 time, and I bought the vehicle new. Mercedes aware, yet they would not do anything because they said if the engine light is not on we cant diagnose it.

Filed Jan 6, 2017 · Acceleration · 39,000 miles · CA

With distronic cruise control on at highway speeds when passing a large truck the distronic cruise control takes over and applies brakes hard almost causing and accident. We have had it in a numerous of time but has not been fixed. The car is not safe this has happen a number of times. We have filed a complaint with mercedes but has denied to a buy back. Want it on record that the system is faulty and is not safe. I have attached pictures of the warning that shows on the dash.

Filed Sep 2, 2016 · Acceleration, Electrical · 21,700 miles · NJ

Vehicle became inoperative while driving on a highway. Happened twice today on speeds of 60+ MPH in heavy traffic. Vehicle decelerated quickly and lost speed, I was lucky to avoid collisions. The console popped up flashing message 'pre-safe functions limited' on the console. The vehicle did not respond to accelerator. After switching the ignition off and on again, the problem temporary disappeared, but then happened again. The vehicle is duly serviced and is still on warranty, there was no accidents or mechanical faults prior to date. Scary and very dangerous. Could have easily injured myself or someone else who would have hit the vehicle which suddenly becomes inoperative.