We are experiencing an issue with our 2019 mercedes sprinters freely rolling in park after 10 minutes of idle time. We have 20 sprinters and out of the 20 we were able to duplicate this issue on 4 so far. One unit spent about two months at the dealer and they replaced the transmission on it. That seemed to have fix the issue. This unit has been at the dealer for about a month now, and they have not done any work to it as of this writing. They have advised us that mercedes is investigating and working on a solution. We feel that this could be potentially an extremely dangerous situation with trucks that keep rolling away. In our opinion mercedes hasn't put enough emphasis on helping the dealer deal with this issue. We also feel that the duration that these trucks are out of service is unacceptable to the customer that uses the vehicle as a tool to operate their business. Here is a link to a video showing the issue in question. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztdgxokp-n8 and https://youtu.be/y7cy8cmfmcc
2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 14 of 14, newest first, as owners wrote them.
ROLLAWAY FROM PARK. IMPACT AT RIGHT REAR OF VEHICLE.*DT Consumer stated delivery driver had the vehicle on park and left the vehicle to deliver a package. While outside the vehicle, he heard a noise and vehicle began rolling downhill. As it rolled he heard a clicking noise (believed to be the parking pawl attempting to engage). We performed a joint inspection of the vehicle (VIN XXXXXX) with Mercedes. During the inspection, download of the ACM showed the engine was running at idle the whole time to the point of impact; operation of the transmission software to continuously shift to park when the driver’s door is opened was visually verified at the transmission inner manual lever; and the transmission was removed and disassembled to view the park pawl and ring gear. The ring gear had wear on the leading edge of the teeth consistent with contact with the parking pawl as it was attempting to engage. There was no injury or damage to the vehicle. It was taken to local dealer, who could find no reason for the roll away that had occurred. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).”
We run a fleet of mercedes sprinters and we have encountered an issue that under certain circumstances the vehicle in question may roll freely after being placed into park. The indicator on the dashboard shows that the vehicle is in park, but after 10 minutes of idle time some vehicles will release from the parking position and roll freely. We have multiplied this issue on 4 units so far. Mercedes has replaced a transmission on this unit under warranty and it seems to remedy the problem at this time. The sequence that is required to duplicate the issue is as follow- the vehicle comes to a complete stop and is placed into park on a slight incline. The driver has to remain in the driver's seat with the seat belt on for a period of 10 minutes. After the 10-minute timeout the brake hold will release and slowly roll the truck past the parking pawl (as it appears that is what is happening) when this occurs, the vehicle may freely roll anywhere between 2ft and continuously if not stopped by pressing the brake. The issue is not 100% reproducible every single time so it may take 2 to 8 attempts to get the said outcome. We are not sure if this symptom can be duplicated in any other way as of the time of writing this. Mercedes was not able to provide us with an answer to why something like this can happen. We also have multiple video evidence showing the issue in question. We went as far as to record the live data on a mercedes diagnostic tool to show that the vehicles values show that it thinks it's in park. We have 20 vehicles in this category and we seem to have narrowed it down to the vins associated to dusseldorf, germany plant with vehicle production dates of april -2019. Out of the 20 trucks in our fleet 11 of those meet the criteria and we were able to duplicate the problem on 4 of those units so far.
It is brand new vehicle and while driving a strange sound is coming from the vehicle, I went back to dealer and I was told it is an manufacturing defect on driver shaft and bearings. No parts available so far and they refuse to give another new vehicle, they are not able to provide loan vehicle either. I am stuck and can do nothing instead making monthly payments for no vehicle!
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history