Five problems related to suspension have been reported for the 2000 Mercedes Benz S Class. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The airmatic system on my Mercedes Benz s-500 has failed for a second time. The car-body dropped and is resting on the tires, making it impossible to operate the vehicle.
As I was driving my 2001 Mercedes Benz s500. My airmatic suspension fail and my car front went down as I was driving on the freeway. My tires start rubbing into my wheel well and started smoking. The problem left the front end damage. I had the problem fix by a mercedes dealership. Six month later the problem arise again. I don't drive the car for fear that I might get into an accident.
Failure of "airmatic" suspension allows front of car to drop down to the point that the tires rub on the fenders. Apparently there is no failsafe to prevent a dangerous highway situation.
The contact owns a 2000 Mercedes Benz s500. The contact stated that the vehicle would ride very low on a constant basis. The air suspension indicator was illuminated on the instrument panel. He noticed that the indicator would illuminate and remain lit immediately after the vehicle was started. The vehicle would lift up and the contact noticed a leak in the air suspension system, which caused the vehicle to decrease in height. The dealer and manufacturer stated that there were no recalls for the issue and offered no assistance. The current mileage was approximately 60,000 and failure mileage was approximately 56,000.
My major concern is the failure of my accelerator to respond. This could have easily been a fatal accident. I was beginning to enter the interstate and the accelarator simply failed to respond. Immediately got it to the shop and they replaced the pedal valve sender, pedal housing assembly,and input new codes for the pedal valve sensor. I was charged $361. 03. Apparently many of the S Class cars have computer problems and I believe this model should be recalled to check pedal valve sensors and to install a saftey back up of some type. Many people could have already been killed because of this potentially serious problem. The suspension problem centered around the airmatic system. 1st in the shop on sept. 6,2002 mileage 46,521. Second malfunction March 21st. Mileage 53,846. This is when they charged me. Next occurrence April 3, 2003. Mileage 54,150. The dealership eventually refunded $585. 89 of those charges with no explanation how they arrived at that number. Accelerator failed on January 6, 2003 mileage 51,934. I had to take my car to daytona beach, 30 miles away, 10 times in just over 10,000 miles. Daytona beach has been very helpful but my attempts to deal with their corporate office have been meet with a condescending and uncooperative attitude. It is clear that their once terrific image of quality and customer satisfaction is a thing of the past. As information I have shared this information with the USA president of mercedes paul halata. I wrote him on April 3 and again on may 14 since I received no reply. He had a customer service rep. Who answers the phone write me a terrible letter that had the wrong car and wrong VIN. He was the same guy I called when the problems first began who did not return my calls. Nevertheless, the accelerator issue is a serious issue, everything else is just the new way of doing business in America.