The seals on the front air shocks cracked causing the car to drop almost down on the tires. I see the 12 cyl.car has already had a recall to correct this was the s-500 with the 5.0 engine in this recall?
2002 Mercedes Benz S Class suspension complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
In april 2007 I noticed the car dropping and the hissing sound of air when the car was parked and turned off. On april 12, 2007 the car dropped extremely close to the tires and I was forced to it for repair since my car is my livelihood. I was told my rear suspension compressor and front suspension on one side needed replacing along with the r/f strut costing me a total of $2086.00. I hope that I will be reimbursed for something that could have been very tragic. To this date there still seems to be a problem with suspension as I had to take the car back to the shop in december 2007 and a hose was replaced.
2002 mercedes benz s500 sport. After vehicle was shut off a very load growl came from under the hood on the right side. It was apparently the air compressor and it wouldn't shut off. The grumble or growl shook the car and smelled of electrical. The height of the car did not change. The growl stopped after about 10 minutes. I have parked the car outdoors as to not tempt fate with the possibility of a car fire in the garage in the middle of the night. There is obviously a failure in the air ride system. While I realize everything mechanical has the chance to fail I am deeply concerned that this component was running and has a chance to start a fire with the ignition in the off position. If this component fails while driving and drops the vehicle ride height on the highway the results could be catastrophic.
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mercedes benz s430. On december 8, 2006, the contact stated that the front shock failed. The failure occurred at 10 MPH. The dealer diagnosed the failure as airmatic malfunction. On may 16, 2007, the rear shocks failed. The contact has not received a diagnosis for the failure, but the dealer confirmed that the rear shocks failed. The purchase date and engine size were unknown. The current mileage is 94,264 and failure mileage was 90,000.
I own a 2002 mercedes benz s-430 with 69,000 miles that I purchased new. On february 7th & 8th I had the dealer perform a scheduled servicing of my car which was an extensive checkup (cost over $1,000) despite having no problems. The following day my family took an automobile trip of 140 miles. On february 10th, while driving I experienced a failure of the airmatic suspension system. The car's warning system alerted me to stop the car and not drive it. After talking to mercedes on their emergency response system, I had the car towed to my dealer 140 miles away. This morning,2/12/2002, I went to the dealer and spoke to the service manager. He told me that it was probably a failure of a hydraulic strut/shock which suspends the car. Had I tried to turn the wheel before noticing the problem I would have been unable to negotiate a curve and would have had an accident. While at the dealer, I was shown 5 or 6 mercedes benzes, some much newer than mine, whose cars had collapsed over the front wheels. This seems to me to be a serious safety defect which could cause serious injury or death to others. The defect is not limited to the s class that I have since I was shown an e class with the same problem. I was told that a replacement part was not the original part but rather an improved part that mercedes engineers came up with after many reported problems. Since the part has not been recalled, the repair will probably cost me well over $1,000 despite mercedes being aware of the problem. More importantly, drivers, passengers and other vehicles are in serious danger if the mercedes becomes unmanagable. My car has not been repaired nor do I known exactly what failed, but given the seriousness of the potential problem I did not want to wait before reporting the problem. This is not an isolated incident since I observed many other vehicles at the dealership with similar problems.
Tl* - the driver noticed that vehicle became lower to the ground as he was driving at 20 MPH. The road conditions were dry. The contact was parked for approximately 2-3 hours, when he returned and noticed that the vehicle was even lower than before. Took the vehicle to a dealer, who diagnosed the problem as an airmatic system failure. The airmatic system was replaced. The contact did not remember any warning signs prior to the incident. *ak updated 1/31/2007 -
The airmatic system fails and the body of vehicle came down to touch all 4 wheels while driving high speed on an interstate I-66 highway. -the dashboard indication showed "airmatic-------stop, car too low" making scraping noise in the front wheel wells both sides.
Dt*: the contact stated, intermittently, while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stops and then collapses to the ground. The vehicle was towed to the dealership each time. The strut assembly was replaced, the axle calibrated, and the wheels aligned. These efforts have not repaired the vehicle. While the vehicle was in park, there was a loud bang, then smoke coming from the engine compartment. The dealership determined the suspension exploded, but are not aware how to repair the vehicle.
After driving and placing gear of 2002 mercedes benz s430 in park, my car collapsed so low that car could not be driven, leaving all occupants stranded. Airmatic compressor system, which is car's suspension system totally failed. Car towed on flat bed to dealership. Several parts replaced, including airmatic compessor, sensor, fuse, pump, and more. Car repair cost me $1000.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2002 Mercedes Benz S Class?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history