One problem related to automatic transmission has been reported for the 2003 Mercedes Benz M Class. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The transmission of the SUV "jammed" while driving on the freeway, and my wife who was driving the vehicle almost got into a accident. The SUV was previously making sudden jumps while automatically shifting the gears. The problem was reported to the dealer, but dealer did not diagnose the transmission problem correctly. Now the vehicle is with the dealer and the service manager tells me that there was metal debris in the trasmission which, according to the service manager, could be due to failure of the clutch.