One problem related to manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe has been reported for the 2001 Mercedes Benz S500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
When backing up in reverse the car begins to smoke from tail pipe. Once in drive it begins to shake and moves slowly in traffic then slowly picks up speed after an unusually long duration. Dashboard is almost totally blacked out cannot read gauges (gas level,speed odometer, engine temperature, mileage). Finally, the air conditioning suddenly stopped blowing.