Two problems related to brakes failed have been reported for the 2003 Mercedes Benz 500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I was driving my 2003 mercedes e500 down a hill when the brakes completely failed. This occurred suddenly and simultaneously by dashboard lit up with warnings and admonishing to pull over and not drive. I was amazed to find out that mercedes has a 'program' for this failure but does not tell car owners about it until it occurs. I was able to stop the car with the emergency brake but I had no other braking capability.
While approaching a stop light, the consumer applied the brakes and they failed, which caused the vehicle to slowly continue into the center of the intersection. The owner later took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that this occurred with all brands of cars not just mercedes and that a certain percentage of brake failures is acceptable in the auto industry so long as that percentage does not get too high. Consumer stated that the info was hard to accept when he could have been killed by cross traffic at the intersection where he coasted through a redlight.