I was on the freeway, I was using my cruise control (luckily just after heavy traffic hours) just like any other day. A car slowed in front of me, so I went to apply my brakes. As soon as I hit the brake pedal the brakes not only did not disengage the cruise control but the brakes got stiff and would not work no matter how hard I pressed them. At the same time the accelerator was floored and the car was trying to go what seems like 130-140 MPH. It took all my strength to try and keep it at an appropriate speed. Luckily my passenger told me to stay calm and tried to help me disengage the cruise control. I had to maneuver the car to the slowest lane and shift it into neutral. That was the only option I had besides crashing into the car in front of me. I am extremely shaken from this event, I have anxiety/panic attacks whenever I drive any vehicle now. I am currently looking for a physician to help me work out some kind of treatment/therapy.
2000 Mercedes Benz ML320 brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 34 of 34, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Driving on interstate 295 in jacksonville fl at approximately 70 MPH in the middle lane and the brakes locked up for 5-10 seconds and the bas/esp light came on. I nearly lost control of the vehicle and accidentally cut off several cars in the lane to my right. Fortunately nobody was injured, but it could have been very dangerous! After stopping, and shutting the car off, at an exit for so I could see if I could spot anything I tried to make my way home (off the interstate). The bas/esp light was off, and everything seemed to be alright. However, after about 30 minutes, the brakes locked up again. I was only going about 30 MPH, but I was forced to come to a complete stop. There was a car behind me, but they were able to get around me safely.
The vehicle brakes, within a five second period, violently engage at seeming random patterns and bring the vehicle to a complete stop. This is happened twice on two different days roughly a month apart, and only twice, in the same location at exactly the same driving conditions (vehicle speed, weather - sunny day no rain, straight road, light traffic, same 25-30 MPH speed). I went to the mercedes dealer in tysons corner and they said they did not know of a recall for this issue. The interesting thing about the location is that it is in within 50m of high capacity power lines which go over the road, and within 300m of an extremely powerful radio antenna tructure tower. I believe the electronics of one or both of these are causing the car's electronic stablility control /brake assist computer to go haywire and cause a complete loss of vehicle control. The location is on route 29 lee highway, va right before the bridge that crosses over the beltway going westbound, just past where you cross under the power lines that go overhead. The radio tower is on the other side of this bridge. 95% of the time I drove this exact route over the past several years this problem does not happen, so it is an intermittent issue. Turning the engine off twice seems to reset the system and it seems to work fine. Also note that these powerlines, without fail, also cause the same car's alarm to go off 100% of the time when I park within 100m of them. The dealer did acknowledge that this make/model/year can have a spontaneous car alarm issue. Hopefully this will help solve the problem of electrical interference with the cars braking safety computer and prevent a serious accident in the future for someone else. It would useful for your staff to use a geographic information system to map the similar incidents. I suspect they are all near electrical or radio interference as well.
I was driving and abruptly the vehicle started to skid and it almost came to a complete stop although I was not pressing the brake pedal.
First incident in august 2012 driving 20-30 MPH just got on hwy and car suddenly slammed on brakes. Could not go over 1000rpm without brakes engaging but fortunately a policeman who witnessed this escorted us to safety on single lane hwy very dangerous. Replaced yaw rate sensor for $1000. Now it is doing the same thing again 2/27/13 and is undrivable. Most likely facing another replacement of yaw rate sensor for another $1000 that only lasted 6 months last time. There are hundreds of these same stories online and ridiculous that mercedes benz with its classy reputation would not recall such a potentially dangerous issue. How many people have to be injured to justify a recall?! I do not feel safe driving my 2 year old daughter anymore and still owe on this hunk of junk so I am stuck.
While driving on a highway at about 55-58 MPH for no reason brakes engaged and locked wheels. Smoke was coming out of the tires and esp light came on. My wife (she was driving) and two small kids as well as I were scared to death. We were lucky, nobody was right behind us and we avoided accident. After the esp light come on everything went to normal. We finished our trip with no more brake incidents. Next day after restarting the car light was off but brakes locked in the moment RPM went over 1000. Speed at that time was only 5-10 MPH. After complete stop esp light came on again and I was able to continue my trip. None of the mercedes benz mechanics wanted to tell me what this was caused by. I continued to drive like that for the next year. Every time I would drive without the esp light on the brakes will lock in and bring the car to complete stop. I also learn that if I start the car and wait five minutes light will come on and I can ride without brakes locking in. This worked for a while but then esp light stopped coming on before driving and I had to wait for the brakes to engage and cause the light to come on. At that time on april 2011 I had the car tested at the mercedes dealership and was told that has faulty yaw rate sensor and the part cost is about $550.00 not counting labor. I didn't have this replaced because the cost of it and because I believe this is a safety issue and mercedes benz should have a recall on this as soon as possible to avoid tragedy one day. Someday somebody will die in the car accident caused by this faulty yaw rate sensor and nobody will even know what LED to this crush. Please have this checked quickly before somebody will get hurt and who knows maybe somebody already did die already and we don't know about it. There were a lot of identical incidents reported. It is dangerous behavior on mercedes benz part. Regards, ml320 user
While driving around 50mph on the bqe road (ny), suddenly the bas/esp light came on, all the brakes engaged and car was coming to a stop. Warning light on a dashboard was flashing and at first I thought the engine died. *tr not realizing what is happening, I tried to add power/gas to the car, but the engine didn't want to go past 1000 RPM. Being in a fast lane and having hard time controlling the movement of the car, I??ve noticed overpowering smell of the brakes. I was absolutely shocked by the event as the traffic was heavy and I was just hoping no one will rear me. Stepping on the gas pedal had almost no result even though the motor was running. It then started to accelerate very slowly when my foot was pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor of the car. Some 5-10 minutes later, the car started to accelerate and behaving as nothing has happened. However, 15 minutes into the ride, the same thing happened and this time, I was driving in a slow lane - some 30-35 MPH. I pulled over and let the car rest for about 5 minutes and it stared fine and drove fine for the rest of the evening. Once I parked the car, the bas esp light was still on and stayed on. I took the car very next day to a car mechanic, but the computer reading didn??t give any errors, faults nor notifications. By that time, the esp light was off once again. The incident recurred 3 days later while coming to a stop due to a traffic lights - some 15-20 MPH. My mechanic (and my internet search) advised me to change the yaw sensor. I fully understand the sensor can become faulty, but fully engaging the brakes while traveling is extremely dangerous. I'm now waiting for the yaw sensor to be replaced.
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 mercedes benz ml320. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the caution and esp lights illuminated on the instrument panel and the brakes locked up without warning. The vehicle was pulled over to the side of the road and shut off for a few moments. Upon restart, the vehicle operated as normal and was taken to an authorized dealer where the yaw rate sensor was relaced. The contact was also informed that another sensor needed to be replaced, but the repair was not performed. The vehicle was still in the possession of the dealer. The failure mileage was 215,000.
I have been the owner of a 2000 mercedes ml320 for about 6 years. The car was purchased from the dealer with approx. 30,000 miles. Today it has approx 73,000 miles. Since owning it, I have had several problems which were all out of warranty and which I feel were unwarranted and were not seriously attended to by mb or the dealer: this complaint form was very difficult to complete according to the fields provided. The equipment information included is not correct and was included just to get to the form. I felt that the problems with the car should be reported specifically the esp light and the air bag problems at about 51,000 miles, the airbag became inoperative. I was told that it would cost about $2000 to repair and correct. Dealer offered a small adjustment. I chose not to make the investment. At about 65,000 miles, I began having very loud noises that seemed to come from the crankshaft and appeared to be a brake problem. Dealer did try to determine what it was, but couldn't isolate the problem unless "he had to take the whole car apart" there was a related problem because the esp light would come on intermittently that the dealer advised could not be isolated unless I did the work on the brake and the crankshaft:" at about 72,000 miles, the car developed oil leaks from the motor. Est. Cost of repair was $2000. We are watching and waiting. In may, I was advised that there is a recall notice on the cruise control of the car. No word on that issue since. Because of the cruise control notice I received, I was prompted to write you about these other issues and became further concerned about the esp light and the faulty air bag the care has had., car is driven an average of 150 miles a week in mostly city driving. Car is serviced but not by the dealer because of the high cost and relative dissatisfaction from the service provided. Updated 07/27/11
I own a 2000 ml320 mercedes benz. In 4 different events the car applies brakes on tires randomly and the car comes to a stop and pulls and jerks to that side the esp light blink on instrument cluster and bas/esp light comes on. My wife taking the kids to school from stockton to lathrop on I-5 had this problem too and it really scared them luckily the right lane was empty and they managed to somehow pull over. This is a major safety issue that can cause death or serious injury. The brakes and electronic stability applies on by itself randomly causing the car to jerk or stop and pushing on the accelerator does not make the car move due to the lack of power and car won't pass 1000rpm restarting the engine resets the problem until it occurs again. Took to the dealership and they say this is most likely due to a bad "yaw rate sensor" I have had this problem on 3 other occasions driving around 30-40 miles per hour and the car came to a stop in traffic and the driving conditions was clean on a straightaway road. Mercedes benz refuses to fix this dangerous problem as a major safety recall they want $300 to look at the car $500 for yaw sensor and $600 for labor and they will not guarantee if it will solve the problem. Please help I do not want my wife and kids get in to a car accident but this is our only car.
I purchase a my 2000 mercedes benz ml320 used with approx. 78k miles. The vehicle now has 105k miles, while driving the vehicle normal, and no off road activity the front brakes would activate causing the vehicle to pull suddenly to the left or right depending on which side had been activated with no input from the driver. The incident would last anywhere from three to five seconds in duration and loss of brake control to the rest of the vehicle. This has happened several different times 5 to be exact all at different speeds. The last episode I was traveling at 50 MPH when the front left wheel slammed on brakes and jerked the vehicle to the left, thank god, no on was coming at me at that time. The vehicle has been taken to a repair shop and a yaw sensor ordered. I have read previously that a similar complaint had been filed and closed back in 2007. All I can say is that this could have been a very serious issue, because it happens unexpectedly and at any speed!
2000 ml320 vehicle engages bas / esp system during left turn after which these warning lights remain on. Abs system activates brakes causing loss of speed. Occurs in wet or dry conditions.
2000 mercedes benz ml320 while driving 45mph the brakes came on suddenly without depressing the brake pedal. The brakes locked and then released itself. The bas esp light came on. Then the vehicle was able to drive fine. The dealer could not find the failure. This stated only a few sensor has gone bad once again. This failure occurred four to six times.
Tl*the contact owns a 2000 mercedes benz ml320. While driving approximately 45 MPH, the brakes suddenly engaged although the contact that had not depressed the brake pedal. The brakes locked and then released within two to three minutes. There were no warning lights prior to the failure but the esp light illuminated when the vehicle stopped. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer but the dealer could not find the cause of failure. The failure occurred three times. After the second failure, the dealer stated that the esp pump voltage relay stuck had a shortage in some of the wires. The relay was replaced; however, after the third failure, the dealer could not pinpoint the cause of the failure. The contact did not call the manufacturer and the vehicle had not been repaired when the complaint was filed. The failure mileage was 93,648. Updated 05/18/10.
Tl*the contact owns a 2000 mercedes benz ml320. While driving approximately 30 MPH with the accelerator pedal depressed, the ABS engaged and the vehicle skidded approximately 5 feet. The ABS then released on its own. The vehicle was driven to a mechanic and the failure was diagnosed as the esp yaw rate sensor. The sensor was replaced. The current mileage was 124,000 and failure mileage was 123,080. Updated 09/10/08 *bf the power steering hose lwaked. Updated 09/10/08.
Loss of brake fluid resulting in brake failure caused by rupture of corroded metal hydraulic brake line as confirmed by local mercedes dealer (hollaway motor cars-manchester-nh). Hollaway also confirmed same failure and cause on 2 other same model vehicles.
My 200 ml320 (with +75000 miles) has an intermittent bas/esp warning light come on for about 6 months now. The mechanic says its some yaw sensor that has failed and that it might pull to one side under braking. I have noticed that sometimes its is hard to brake at speeds above 60 MPH, if I need to make a quick stop.
My 2000 ml with 47k miles suddenly locked on the brakes. The esp light had been showing on very rare occasions for 2 months. I had three instances of sudden lock-up of one or more tires before the dealer found that the "yaw sensor" had failed. All instances were at low cruise 30-40 MPH with perfect conditions without the esp light showing. Some how I avoided accidents but this is very dangerous. The esp took control of the brakes and applied braking to one or more wheels in an attempt to bring the truck under control. The car was in perfect control traveling in a straight line but the erroneous sensor information caused it to apply the brakes without warning.
After warranty expired4 years ago within 2-6 months, and up to 40,539 miles the following repairs were necessary in a mercedes ml 320: brake stop lamp switch assembly, latching mechanism rt. Front door, oxygen sensor, -power steering rack and two tie rodsfrom 2/17/04 to 6/18/04.
Vehicle was always being serviced and the air bags failed to deploy in a severe accident. *ph the consumer was struck by another driver and caused damage on both sides of the vehicle. Both sides of the doors were smashed and there was extensive damage in the passenger's cabin. Other problems are as followed: the engine light was on, engine low level oil light had come on, when the right front and left rear windows were erratic when going down, the cigarette lighter was inoperative, the rear cargo accessory plug was inoperative, the trim on the left side of the left front seat cracked, there was a buldge on the right rear tire, lug bolts were missing on the right rear wheel and the rear pads needed to be replaced, there was a noise heard in the rear when going over bumps, the power supply plug in the rear cargo area was inoperative, the light behind the climate control panel was inoperative, the left front window was intermittent, the left front park light was inoperative, the left front door was not closing due to the latching, the rear electrical plug in the rear cargo area was inoperative, the material on the center console wrinkled, the sunroof would bind when opened, the rear tire had a knot on the sidewall, when the vehicle was filled with fuel the fuel gauge would go down, there was a noise in he right front wheel when driven at low speeds, there was a whining noise when turning the steering wheel and the steering was stiff.
Consumer took vehicle in for service and was advised that brakes were needed, mechanic advised consumer that it is normal to replace brakes on this type of vehicle every ten to fifteen thousand miles.
Consumer complained regarding brake system operating poorly. There was no pressure behind brake pedal. Consumer has taken vehicle to dealership, and has replaced booster once ,and the master cylinder twice. Please provide any additional information/attachments.
This vehicle freely rolls in reverse on any steep incline. I have had vehicles that might drift back on a incline, but this SUV freely rolls backwards. Any automobile that might be close behind, you stand the good chance of drifting back into it before you can accelerate to go forward. I find the danger of holding my vehicle with my left foot, keeping my right foot on the accelerator to simutaneously accelerate while releasing the brake. The mercedes dealership states this is normal for this vehicle, if it is then I would think it might also be a safety issue. I own a 1990 mercedes 300sel and I have never experienced this type of problem. I look forward to your analysis of this problem, meanwhile I will avoid as many inclines of possible.
While driving braking system malfunctioned, causing brakes to lock up, resulting in a crash. Please provide further information.
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