Service Brakes Problems of Mercedes Benz ML320 - part 2

Suddenly I could not gain or get any more speed. I was just coasting along, I then arrived at my destination and got out and smelled burning smell from front wheels. I could not get out of the gear I was in.

See all problems of the 1998 Mercedes Benz ML320 🔎.

While driving on the highway at 60mph the vehicle started shaking violently. The brakes started engaging on their own pulling the car to the left and right and nearly bringing the car to a sudden stop. It took a lot of effort to keep the vehicle from pulling into the other lanes and causing an accident. The bas/esp light came on the dash and has stayed on now. This all lasted for about 10 seconds. I was in the 3rd lane of a 4 lane highway during moderate traffic. I was almost rear ended by two different vehicles. I have been researching this issue and found many other drivers with the same thing. This is a dangerous defect and needs to be addressed. It doesn't take much for a sudden change in direction and speed to cause a severe accident when driving on the highway, and knowing that this vehicle is capable and know for doing this makes it very dangerous. It makes me wonder how many fatal accidents have occurred due to this problem, but no one knew because it was just assumed the to be driver error.

See all problems of the 2002 Mercedes Benz ML320 🔎.

I was on the freeway, I was using my cruise control (luckily just after heavy traffic hours) just like any other day. A car slowed in front of me, so I went to apply my brakes. As soon as I hit the brake pedal the brakes not only did not disengage the cruise control but the brakes got stiff and would not work no matter how hard I pressed them. At the same time the accelerator was floored and the car was trying to go what seems like 130-140 mph. It took all my strength to try and keep it at an appropriate speed. Luckily my passenger told me to stay calm and tried to help me disengage the cruise control. I had to maneuver the car to the slowest lane and shift it into neutral. That was the only option I had besides crashing into the car in front of me. I am extremely shaken from this event, I have anxiety/panic attacks whenever I drive any vehicle now. I am currently looking for a physician to help me work out some kind of treatment/therapy.

See all problems of the 2000 Mercedes Benz ML320 🔎.

Driving on interstate 295 in jacksonville FL at approximately 70 mph in the middle lane and the brakes locked up for 5-10 seconds and the bas/esp light came on. I nearly lost control of the vehicle and accidentally cut off several cars in the lane to my right. Fortunately nobody was injured, but it could have been very dangerous! after stopping, and shutting the car off, at an exit for so I could see if I could spot anything I tried to make my way home (off the interstate). The bas/esp light was off, and everything seemed to be alright. However, after about 30 minutes, the brakes locked up again. I was only going about 30 mph, but I was forced to come to a complete stop. There was a car behind me, but they were able to get around me safely.

The vehicle brakes, within a five second period, violently engage at seeming random patterns and bring the vehicle to a complete stop. This is happened twice on two different days roughly a month apart, and only twice, in the same location at exactly the same driving conditions (vehicle speed, weather - sunny day no rain, straight road, light traffic, same 25-30 mph speed). I went to the mercedes dealer in tysons corner and they said they did not know of a recall for this issue. The interesting thing about the location is that it is in within 50m of high capacity power lines which go over the road, and within 300m of an extremely powerful radio antenna tructure tower. I believe the electronics of one or both of these are causing the car's electronic stablility control /brake assist computer to go haywire and cause a complete loss of vehicle control. The location is on route 29 lee highway, va right before the bridge that crosses over the beltway going westbound, just past where you cross under the power lines that go overhead. The radio tower is on the other side of this bridge. 95% of the time I drove this exact route over the past several years this problem does not happen, so it is an intermittent issue. Turning the engine off twice seems to reset the system and it seems to work fine. Also note that these powerlines, without fail, also cause the same car's alarm to go off 100% of the time when I park within 100m of them. The dealer did acknowledge that this make/model/year can have a spontaneous car alarm issue. Hopefully this will help solve the problem of electrical interference with the cars braking safety computer and prevent a serious accident in the future for someone else. It would useful for your staff to use a geographic information system to map the similar incidents. I suspect they are all near electrical or radio interference as well.

I have experienced multiple incidents of a situation where the abs, esp, and ets lights come on and a noise occurs when depressing the gas pedal at low speeds. The noise stops only when the brake pedal is depressed or at speeds over 40 mph. There is also a vibration that occurs that can be felt by depressing the brake pedal. The noise continues as soon as the brake pedal is released. The car becomes difficult to drive. Turning the car off and on again does not clear the problem. When the car is turned off, a noise can be heard coming from under the hood that sounds like a motor or a fan that is running. This continues for hours. The hood of the car becomes warm to hot to the touch. At some point the fan or motor stops running. If the car battery has not been drained, the car functions normally--until the next time that the problem occurs. After a quick internet search, I found many similar reports of these symptoms by other owners of this make and model vehicle of the same or similar year of manufacture. The vehicle owners have received diagnoses of a bad abs control module, a bad abs pump, bad solder joints on the abs pump assembly's circuit board, or bad relays in the fuse box. Repairs have cost in the thousands of dollars for what is apparently, a known defect. Drivers of these vehicles have been subjected to frightening incidents where their safety has been compromised by their vehicles. I realize that the law governs safety defects in cars manufactured within the last 10 years. However, people with older cars need recourse for known defects. A mercedes such as mine, that only has only a little over 100k miles and that has been well maintained, has a life expectancy of at least another 50k to 100k miles. However, they should be safe miles.

The braking system failed and worked again after some pumping and coasting to avoid collision. The car then caught on fire.

My dad was driving the car and we had just come to a stop at an intersection. When the light turned green, he accelerated and just as we crossed the intersection, the brakes locked up. I thought my dad had slammed on the brakes, but he had his foot on the gas pedal. It was as if the car had a mind of its own and started to brake on its own volition---even though we didn't want it to. There was a loud screeching sound and a few seconds later you can smell the stench of burning rubber. Thankfully, the car behind us was not tailgating or that person would have run straight into us! my father then let go of the gas pedal and stepped on the brake to decelerate until the car came to a complete stop. We then saw that two indicators were lit on the dashboard: a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark and a yellow square with the letters bas/esp in it. He then shifted to "park" and turned off the ignition. We waited for about five seconds before starting up the car again. Both of the indicators (yellow triangle and the bas/esp square) were no longer lit and my father slowly accelerated the car (about 10-15 mph). The brakes did not lock up and we cautiously drove home. We'll be taking this car to the mechanic today and hopefully we can find the root of this problem. Nonetheless, I feel the need to file this complaint because I sincerely do not believe that a car can brake on its own while someone is driving it. I would be more understanding if this was google's autonomous car, but unfortunately this is not the case. There is something inherently and flagrantly wrong with a car that can brake without the driver telling it to.

See all problems of the 2001 Mercedes Benz ML320 🔎.

Tl- the contact owns a 2001 mercedes Ml320. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the esp and bas warning light illuminated and then the abs and the traction light illuminated. The contact mentioned that the brakes engaged independently. The failure recurred numerous times. The contact stated he believed it is a faulty yaw rate sensor. The dealer was notified and a diagnosis was pending. The manufacturer was notified and an investigation was pending. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 114,970 and the current mileage was 115,000. Pmb.

The contact owns a 2001 Mercedes Benz Ml320. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the brakes unexpectedly engaged. The contact was able to successfully coast to a stop, when he smelled a burning odor. The vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop, but they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure had since recurred once more. The vehicle was not taken back to be examined. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 95,000. The VIN was unavailable.

The contact owns a 2003 Mercedes Benz Ml320. While driving approximately 40 mph, the brakes were engaged numerous times before there was a reduction in the speed. The contact smelled an unusual odor inside of the vehicle. In addition, on separate occasions a burning odor of brakes emitted throughout the vehicle while driving. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who was unable to detect a problem. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.

See all problems of the 2003 Mercedes Benz ML320 🔎.

Make-mercedes-benz year 2001 SUV Ml320 it brakes by it self while in motion: it has happened twice I took it to a local dealer he claimed that the brake control device had malfunctioned he put a new one and after driving for a week it again braked it self while I was driving very dangerous I was like I was driving very slowly coming out of the parking lot. Can you please let me know whether there has been any of this kind of report on this car?.

2000 Ml320 vehicle engages bas / esp system during left turn after which these warning lights remain on. Abs system activates brakes causing loss of speed. Occurs in wet or dry conditions.

The contact owns a 2000 Mercedes Benz Ml320. While driving approximately 45 mph, the brakes suddenly engaged although the contact that had not depressed the brake pedal. The brakes locked and then released within two to three minutes. There were no warning lights prior to the failure but the esp light illuminated when the vehicle stopped. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer but the dealer could not find the cause of failure. The failure occurred three times. After the second failure, the dealer stated that the esp pump voltage relay stuck had a shortage in some of the wires. The relay was replaced; however, after the third failure, the dealer could not pinpoint the cause of the failure. The contact did not call the manufacturer and the vehicle had not been repaired when the complaint was filed. The failure mileage was 93,648. Updated 05/18/10.

The contact owns a 2001 mercedes-benz Ml320. The contact stated that while driving at any speed, the brakes suddenly locked, the vehicle began vibrating and the esp/das light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who repaired the yaw sensor; however, the failure continued to occur. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The current mileage was approximately 114,000. The failure mileage was approximately 98,000.

The contact owns a 2001 Mercedes Benz Ml320. While driving 30 mph the brakes activated without intention, and then the vehicle began shaking. He then heard metal grinding from under the vehicle. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The current and failure mileages were 65000.

Safety system failure, including braking assist, seat belts, air bags and tel-aide due to computer chip failure. Caused two accidents after which customer paid to have vehicle reviewed bumper to bumper and the failing chip was replaced. During this time, the dash warning lights did not illuminate to warn of the failure which the vehicle computer documented 15 times in a six-month period (between the two accidents). Approximately eight months later, the warning light on the dash illuminated again. Do not know how many times system had failed since it was 'fixed. ' traded in vehicle for safety purposes.

The defect stated in recall 03 v 121 000 for the power steering hose clamp happened while the consumer was waiting to be notified. The consumer experienced the following: the entire instrument cluster lit up and flashed and beeped, lost the speedometer, tachometer, gas/gas temperature gauge, and the vehicle had gone into second gear and did come out for some time(discovered it was in limp-home mode). The service dealer advised the consumer that the problem was the gear selector. The instrument cluster lights had gone off, except for the bas/brake assist system light, the gauges, speedometer, and tachometer had resumed. There was an incident where half of instrument cluster display on the left lit up, although the vehicle continued to run. The service dealer thought the problem may have been the battery. During a rainstorm, the entire instrument panel lit up, the tachometer, speedometer, and the gas gauge stopped and the instrument panel kept beeping intermittently but did not go into limp mode. There was a crack in one of the d-pillars, and the rear hatch lock did not work. The ignition lock seemed loose since the gear shift assembly had been replaced, the windshield washer reservoir leaked. The bas/esp control module had been changed, but the problem persisted. The consumer was told the vehicle needed a new battery. The brake pad wear light displayed, the power steering had failed again. The consumer was advised the vehicle needed front and rear brakes then was told that it was a clamp problem. Also the driver's window switch hesitated. The safety recall notice that related to the failure of the hose clamp for the power steering fluid which apparently caused the complete loss of power steering in the vehicle as well as damage to the hydraulic fluid pump which resulted in repairs performed on the vehicle. The consumer requested full reimbursement for the charges related to the repairs. Recall# 03v121000.

2001 mercedes Ml320 brakes would activate themselves at all speeds. Esp/bas light would come on and triangle warning light would illuminate. This happened several times at 70+ mph locking both back wheels almost causing the vehicle to go out of control.

My concern is about safety. On two occasions I have sent my certified pre-owned 2002 mercedes-benz Ml320 to the dealer with spongy brakes. In fact, under certain conditions, the brake pedal goes to the floor. I'm told that this is normal. I believe it to be unsafe. What should I do?.