Table 1 shows three common vehicle speed control related problems of the 2001 Mercedes Benz S430.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Speed Control Springs problems | |
| Vehicle Speed Control problems | |
| Accelerator Pedal Sensor problems |
Consumer of a 2001 S430 v faulty sunroof, led side mirrors, and turn signals. Customer states the vehicle has cost him a lot of money to repair and would like it to be fixed and be repaid in someway. ** the consumer stated the vehicle has had numerous problems such as persistent tail light and head light assembly failures, engine, fuel, accelerator pedal assembly, alternator, battery, instrument cluster, vacuum door pump, electrical, front suspension failures such as the airmatic shocks, the thrust arms, ball joints and the airmatic pump/relay. The transmission seals leaked, the washer fluid hose had to be replaced, the blower motor harness, fan belt, dimmer switch, trunk springs were all replaced. The plastic trim on the front seat was replaced due to cracking. The front door sill strip cover was replaced. The threshold bellows were coming apart, the side marker light was replaced.
The instrument panel (speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauges, etc) light went completely out. I cannot see how fast I'm going, how hot my engine is running, how much fuel I have left, etc. My make and model of car was known to have defective instrument panel lighting (under mercedes recall campaign 2006080004) but mercedes refuses to honor the recall campaign and wants $2000 to fix this defective instrument panel.
I was in cruise control on I-95 at 70mph. Had been driving for 1 hour when car suddenly started accelerating. I disengaged cruise and took foot off accelerator with no effect. Rpm/speed continued to accelerate and I slammed on brakes with trivial deceleration. I started to downshift on transmission to bleed speed. In order to avoid colliding with vehicle in front of me at 90mph, I shifted into neutral, slammed on brakes, and swerved off road. The engine redlined (rpm) and I turned off car. Mercedes of ft. Lauderdale later found that the accelerator pedal sensor had failed while driving and defaulted to full throttle mode. Pedal assembly was replaced and car is now operating properly again.