hpilot

I have had the car for 6 days and 200 miles, and it just stranded my wife. She called and said it would not start, so I drove out to help her. When I tried to start it, it just showed all sorts of error messages on the Multifunction Display. I tried another key - no help. The brake would not depress. The media, however, did play. I have keyless go, but I tried to use both keys manually - nothing. Not a good start for this new car. I was expecting trouble with it, but not in the first 200 miles. I called MB., and they sent the dealer out to help me. It took him about 45 minutes to get there, and about 10 minutes before he came, I opened the door and the alarm went off (it was not locked). When he got there, I tried to start the car again, and I knew as soon as I sat down that it would work because no warning lights were on, and the brake pedal felt normal. Of course everything was now good. I was planning on taking a 6,000 mile x-country trip, but the thought of getting stranded on a highway in the middle of the desert with 115 degree heat is not appealing. I have an appointment on Monday with the dealer. I doubt they will fix it. Not happy...

jolt8631

Oh no.... That cannot be a good start.

Did the dealer that came out to you check for any stored Error Codes? If not, I would be unhappy - sure, so the car started OK, but he could see (hear) something was wrong and it might only have gone half a mile and stopped again.

Anyway, let's hope there are clear fault codes stored, when you take it in. Bloody disappointing start.

hpilot

No, he didn't check. He was a nice guy, but he just treated it as a glitch - those damn computers...If they can't definitively find the problem and fix it, I don't know how I can trust taking it out of town. Not what I had hoped...

bwoodbmw

so painful.... sorry to hear.

BlackjackM

Sucks man, sorry to hear it- but it doesn't make it a lemon. My 2010 W204 had the Transmission Module go out on me at 400 miles. I had to drive about 5 miles with the trans not shifting out of second gear to get back to work- on a 40 MPH road with a line of traffic behind me! Anyhow, it was flat bedded and never had another issue. Hope yours works out as well.

hpilot

I guess I am just terrified, waiting for all the problems I have read about on this forum to happen to me. To be honest, I would never have bought this car, except that my wife had to have a Mercedes (my third). Lets hope this is the end of it. However, it will be a long time before I can "trust" it...

ManiacGT

I wouldn't be terrified as you're seeing a concentration of complaints here.

Have it checked and fixed and then give it some time.

StanNH

If you take out complaints about MB-Tex, wind noise, speakers, bumper fit, and assorted smartphone issues, there really aren't that many other complaints. There are very few complaints about anything serious enough to affect the drivability of the car. Your issue, while very serious and upsetting, is anything but typical. Get it fixed ... it should have thrown a code.

ShortDesertGuy

Knock on wood, but my 2 1/2 month old car has had zero problems. No misaligned panels, no paint issues, some very minor wind noise at 80 mph, no tex issues.

hpilot

The panels are the first thing I checked when I picked up the car, and they are a joke. I was hoping they fixed this in my March 31 production date, but not so. My dealer refuses to do anything about them without a recall. I guess at this point I would just be happy if the car doesn't strand me...

Boudicca

Hi hpilot, sorry to hear about this, I imagine it would have been distressing for your wife getting stranded like that and then getting there yourself and being unable to rectify it and then the whole waiting for someone to come and the car in the meantime fixing itself.
It sounds like you first off, have a crappy dealer who should be doing everything to make sure that the car is satisfactory and that the car can be driven with confidence. They should be bending over backwards to offer a service commensurate with with what MB States in their promotional material- my dealer has done this and any issues I have had have been attended to including the misaligned panels and fuel fill door. ( the wind noise is another matter- it is minimal in my car compared to that described by others on this forum and I can live with it) additionally any issues I initially had with with an interaction with the service manager I dealt with assertively with the aim of establishing myself as an educated owner who knew their car- this makes a world of difference as a woman dealing with service people who sometimes have a bit of an attitude toward women owners.

Secondly, does your wife have any interest in the workings of the car? Would she come on this forum to learn about the car? As one of the few women on this forum I have found it incredibly helpful. For many years I was a "my car is to get me from A to B" kind of driver until I bought myself a BMW e39 and started to visit the bummer forums to learn about my car. From this I educated myself about my car and was able to feel confident in discussing issues with my car- and as a result dodgy mechanics were unable to baffle me with BS.
I hope you are able to get some satisfaction around the issue with the car, it really is a great car and you and your wife deserve to be able to fully enjoy it.
Apologies for the wall of text

That should say Bimmer forum, not bummer ha ha

hpilot

I thoroughly enjoyed your post. I would guess you are one of the few woman on this forum. I salute you for trying to educate yourself (as we all are here) about your car. Unfortunately, English is not my wife's fist language, so it would be hard for her to get much befit from reading this forum. However, this is "her" car, so I want to make it safe and reliable. When I go in Monday, I plan to bring up all the issues in addition to the starting problem - panel alignments, and wiper chatter. This dealer could be better, but in the end, they didn't build the car. I will start the clock, and keep very good records for the possible Lemon Law claims down the road.

floridadriver

Sorry to hear Harry. I'd be upset too but would try best to hold judgement until dealer gives a printout of the codes. There's a code readers available online that I'd reccomend, at least you go in armed with information. Hopefully a software or other fix and you're on the way. Only unacceptable answer is shrugged shoulders from the dealer without definitive fix. Ask them If they'd like to take a flight with you in an aircraft with those "glitches....ces la vie...right"? It's "just a light flashing and one engine was temporarily disabled...but seems ok now. No problem"

No machine perfect. But you've worked hard to get what you pay for And hopefully they'll have something for you to make you feel the car has been fixed to be roadworthy.

CO2010

From one Floridian to another, I'm sorry to hear. Hopefully it was one of those issues that just can't be explained and will never show its ugly face again! I had my check engine light flash on and off two days after buying the car. Never happened again. Hang in there!

hpilot

Thanks Eric. I hope it is a clear problem that can be fixed by a hardware change or software update. This reminds you how dependent the car is on computers. I think I saw a failure message for about every system on the car. When I get this sorted out, I will be leaving on a long planned driving vacation across the country. The last time I did that, I was struck by how few Mercedes you see on the open road between the big cities. The thought of getting stranded in the middle of Nebraska, 300 miles from the nearest MB Dealer is troubling...

Latinnftl

I've had mine for a week now and no problems. No wind noise. No other items that have been noted. Just as I haven't had any demonstrates that one car may have something and another may not. Incidentally I had a bimmer whose fuel pump died after less thank 5 miles and stranded me. The BMW roadside took 2 hours and towed it to the dealer who then had the car for days. The car never had another issue until i turned it in for the Benz. The same may be true for you.

miketc

The reason is that there is no spare in the back. I personally would not use my C on trips over 100 miles due to no spare.

ManiacGT

We don't have that issue here in the UK. There's nowhere near 100 miles between anywhere so run flats are a reasonable option.

StanNH

The last car I owned that had a spare tire was in 2009. Since then it's been run flats or repair kits. The spare tire is disappearing, even in "donut" form. Roadside assistance, which is standard on most new cars, plus cell phones, really reduce the need for the spare. Add to that the weight savings and cost reduction, and I don't see it making a comeback.

rieger

I don't know about you but I always have a can of puncture sealant and a portable air compressor if I don't have a spare because if you ever get a flat in a winter storm you will wait forever for assistance. In my opinion the no spare tire is putting people in danger for some saved money by the companies.

hpilot

I just picked up my car from the dealer. They kept it for three days, but in the end they couldn't find anything wrong. There were no fault codes, and they said MB did not have any info on this in the databases. I pretty much thought that would happen. At least now I have it on record. If this happens again, I will take a video of the cascading failure messages on the MFD. I guess this should start the clock on the Lemon Law. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before I can trust this car...

floridadriver

Frustrating.

alkam2

I have the same issue. When the car does not start - the brakes feel funny, heavy, would not depress. Both the PARK and BRAKE warning light on the right panel comes on. I cannot reproduce it. Most of the time to resolve this - have to open door, close door, arm the car with the key fob, then disarm. It's happen multiple times for me already, not sure what causes it. It is very frustrating.

hpilot

That sounds a lot like what happened to me. That was about four months ago, and it did not happen again until the other day. Unfortunately my wife was driving again, and all she can tell me is that it did not start. By the time I got to the car, it started normally. So I don't know if it was the same problem, or maybe the key fob was not close enough. Yes, frustrating...

StanNH

Did she try starting the car manually with the key?

There is a new Keyless Go software update available now which supposedly addresses many of the intermittent issues that have been reported. I had it done a couple of weeks ago and so far all is working well.