Transmission Not Engage Problems of Mercedes Benz E350

Vehicle stops accelerating while driving. This has happened 4 times. At all other times, vehicle drives normally. Problem has occurred when re-accelerating after vehicle brakes have been applied to slow down. This is an automatic transmission and it seems that the car is not downshifting or the auto clutch is not engaging to allow downshift while accelerating. It drives like it's in 4th gear when it should be in 1st or 2nd gear if it were a manual transmission. There is a grinding sound as if the clutch was not pushed in fully while shifting if it were a manual transmission. At this point the car will only go about 10-15 mph until engine is turned off. When car is restarted, it runs normally. No check engine light comes on. Dealership states no fault codes were stored and they can not fix it unless they have a fault code or see it happen. They did road test it, but it didn't happen while they had the car. They did update the software to the transmission and hope that might fix the problem. I think this is a safety issue, because it happens without warning intermittently. I asked that they call the car engineers and ask what 3 -5 parts or sensors could be causing the problem and check to see if they are working properly, but they said no. They want me to try to drive to the dealership when it happens (not possible, no acceleration) or call for service and leave the car running until someone can get there to identify the problem. If a car or truck were coming up behind me or I was trying to merge onto a highway and this problem happened, I would not be able to accelerate and get out of the way.

See all problems of the 2012 Mercedes Benz E350 🔎.