Five problems related to front suspension have been reported for the 1996 Mercedes Benz E320. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Front spring perches must have been rusted at the welding seam. When I was driving at 35 mph I heard a big snap and the front of the car hit the ground at which point I lost steering control. The front perches must have dislodged and almost caused accident while I was driving. This is a vital part of the suspension/steering system and should be recalled. The dealership would not help out replacing this part. This is clearly a manufacturing issue and should be recalled. Luckily I was driving on a local road, or it could have caused an accident or death, at which point they would have had a lawsuit on their hands. I also had 2 additional passengers at the time of the occurrence. This event could have been prevented by a recall as I've also heard the same issues from other owners. The car is a Mercedes Benz 1996 E320 with 134,000 miles on it.
Mercedes have a front suspension problem. Consumer states that the front driver side dropped and wants to know why there is not a recall for this. The technicians found the problem to be the perch, which had to do with the front suspension letting go, which caused the frame to drop.
The left front upper spring perch failed causing the suspension to collapse. This occurred due to poor design of the perch attachment to the frame. The failure occurred in my driveway, luckily not at speed on the road where total loss of control would have occurred. The perch and spring was replaced.
The consumer was pulling out of the driveway and hit the brakes. The consumer got out of the vehicle and discovered that the suspension of the vehicle had dropped down to the ground. It was also discovered that 3 spot welds had failed. The consumer notified the manufacturer and was told that there was a repair kit for this problem. Provide further details.
Consumer states theatfront suspension is rusted, all suspension brackets collapsed. Dealer notified.