Four problems related to brake light on have been reported for the 2005 Mercedes Benz E500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I was driving on the highway at about 55mph, and all of a sudden the brake lights came on saying reduce braking power. Car was very difficult to stop. I almost hit a guard rail.
Tl-the contact owns a 2005 Mercedes Benz E500. The contact stated that while driving any speed, the brakes would hesitate to respond and the visit workshop brake warning light illuminated. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the sbe needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was not included in the NHTSA campaign number: 05v133000 (service brake hydraulic). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 123,000. Djr.
Driver applied brakes going downhill in preparation to stop at an intersection. Red brake light appeared on dash and brake pedal went completely to the floor without slowing down. Driver veered off road to avoid accident and fully applied parking brake. Car was parked and turned off. When car was turned back on again, red light in dash was gone, no warnings existed, and brakes worked perfectly. Was taken to a shop and no problem was found. Same situation occurred again November 2013 with 115,000 miles (approximately). Slowly drove vehicle to repair shop. Reputable mercedes specialty mechanic found codes that said sbc had issues, but codes were cleared in order to do other diagnostics. Since mechanic was not a dealer, he suggested car be taken to dealer for "extended warranty repair" since this known issue was never established as a recall. Skyland automotive in asheville, nc stated nothing was wrong with the car and would not provide documentation stating brake are ok, but did charge $89 to look for codes which did not exists. We asked to be contacted by a mercedes rep to review our case, but were denied and told this would not be a problem if we had maintenance done at skyland. At this time, the brakes are working again as they have done before. If the brakes go out again and the car and occupants are not damaged, the theory is there will be a fault code such that the dealer knows what to replace. The extended warranty is set to expire in 3 months. After that time, the cost to repair will be approximately $1800. Loss of brakes at random, in my opinion, deserves to be repaired before someone gets killed. Dealership was clearly informed that the backup hydraulic brake system did not work in either of these cases and to stop the car required the use of the parking brake!.
The contact owns a 2005 Mercedes Benz E500. While driving approximately 15 mph when the contact attempted to slow down; the brakes failed to stop the vehicle. The brake light illuminated after the failure occurred. He was able to shift into neutral gear in order to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who performed a diagnostic test that located the failure to the brake hydraulic system. The vehicle was repaired. The dealer replaced the service brake system hydraulic unit. Nhtsa campaign id number 05v133000, service brakes hydraulic was performed in 2006; yet, the repair did not correct the failure. The failure mileage was 68,056 and the current mileage was 69,000.