Anyone with a 7 speed auto? (other platforms)

[Chris Buffalo]

Hello all, this issue has serious safety concerns and is something that needs immediate attention and action taken. Please read on. I have a 2007 GL 450 that has begun the notorious 7 speed (722.9 NAG2 (7G-Tronic) Transmission) etc. electronics failure. It will get stuck in a random forward gear with no apparent driver/user solution but to power cycle the vehicle. (Shut it down, and restart.) If you shift to neutral, it will stay there and not engage any other gear (forward or reverse) until you shutdown and restart. This almost sounds like a bad personal computer operating system. Imagine being in the middle of a normally safe three-point-turn to find the vehicle won’t move unless you shut it off and restart! It happened to me today. This is a load of nonsense – this problem is not due to abuse, misuse, neglect, or even reasonable wear and tear. I have found others that have been told “the valve body is warped”, etc – so it follows restarting the car un-warped it? Do these people (the dealers) really know how to service these vehicles? This is clearly an electronics failure. This is an absolute design/manufacturing flaw of the "conductor plate and valve body assembly", and my research carries that the Benz 7 speed transmission is notorious across many models and platforms, and there are many TSB’s on it; recently (Date: April 8, 2011 Order No.: S-B-27.00/120 Group: 27 SUBJECT: All Models Equipped with 722.9 NAG2 (7G-Tronic) Transmission) and it is a well documented problem internally within MBUSA. Beyond warranty? Not a CPO vehicle? Okay - but - …. Try this - If my wife (or yours) gets off the freeway, comes to a stop, and then attempts to proceed normally with the vehicle now stuck in 5th (or whatever it chooses) gear, - there is a reasonable user presumption that the car would accelerate normally and be able to safely join traffic....instead it crawls forward at a few miles an hour into potential harms way with no way to accelerate the vehicle normally, thereby leaving the driver and our children in danger. I speak from personal experience. This is not just a defect, it is a safety issue, and MBUSA needs their feet held to the fire on this one. It is unreasonable for any manufacturer to tout "The best or nothing" and "Engineered like no other car in the world" and then expect the consumer to pay $2000+ to fix a known electronics design/manufacture flaw. There are even rumblings that VDO (speed sensor/electronics manufacturer) and MB are at odds over who is actually to blame, so clearly they both see costs are going to mount when the inevitable recall occurs. I plan to notify the NHTSA among others if I don't get some favorable answers immediately. To make it worse, Part # 220 270 27 06 88 is what I am told I need, costing $838.00. (wow!) If I wanted to buy this part outright and have my indy shop or myself install it, I STILL have to go to the dealer for "programming" that I nor most indy shops can carry out. So regardless of who is at fault, you are railroaded into going to the dealer, dealing with their dismissive “here’s the bill” attitude and paying their inflated rates regardless. You as a consumer are left with no other recourse. I wonder if there is a legal challenge with that in and of itself. To the OP, it sounds like they even robbed you on the part alone. In summary, they build a defective transmission that will certainly leave you in harm’s way, and then they (MBUSA) say “too bad, pay US to fix it or you have no other option.” I question not only the ethics but legality of this position MBUSA has taken. I am collecting names, vehicle types, and e mail addresses for any that are interested in signing on to force MBUSA into a recall based on safety (or lack thereof) alone. I do not seek anything more than an email address, name, and year/make/model affected. Your information will not be used for any other purpose but adding strength to my argument with MBUSA. Feel free to PM me, or email aplguys@aol.com. Understand absolutely clearly that I am not attempting to defame, discredit, or slander MBUSA in any fashion, but I will not have safety compromised in a premium vehicle and then be billed for it, nor will I be lead to believe it’s “normal wear and tear, abuse, misuse, or neglect”. This is a flaw that compromises safety, period. I bought my GL450 because I love my Mercedes Benz E55 AMG so much. I bought another Benz because of the quality previously displayed and that one would reasonably expect. Maybe I should have kept my Dodge Durango Limited. What’s right is right. If we stick together, maybe good will prevail. There is strength in numbers. I want to hear from all of you affected!

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[r1_2fast4u]

Originally Posted by Chris Buffalo

Hello all, this issue has serious safety concerns and is something that needs immediate attention and action taken. Please read on.

I have a 2007 GL 450 that has begun the notorious 7 speed (722.9 NAG2 (7G-Tronic) Transmission) etc. electronics failure. It will get stuck in a random forward gear with no apparent driver/user solution but to power cycle the vehicle. (Shut it down, and restart.) If you shift to neutral, it will stay there and not engage any other gear (forward or reverse) until you shutdown and restart. This almost sounds like a bad personal computer operating system. Imagine being in the middle of a normally safe three-point-turn to find the vehicle won’t move unless you shut it off and restart! It happened to me today.

This is a load of nonsense – this problem is not due to abuse, misuse, neglect, or even reasonable wear and tear. I have found others that have been told “the valve body is warped”, etc – so it follows restarting the car un-warped it? Do these people (the dealers) really know how to service these vehicles? This is clearly an electronics failure.

This is an absolute design/manufacturing flaw of the "conductor plate and valve body assembly", and my research carries that the Benz 7 speed transmission is notorious across many models and platforms, and there are many TSB’s on it; recently (Date: April 8, 2011 Order No.: S-B-27.00/120 Group: 27 SUBJECT: All Models Equipped with 722.9 NAG2 (7G-Tronic) Transmission) and it is a well documented problem internally within MBUSA.

Beyond warranty? Not a CPO vehicle? Okay - but - ….

Try this - If my wife (or yours) gets off the freeway, comes to a stop, and then attempts to proceed normally with the vehicle now stuck in 5th (or whatever it chooses) gear, - there is a reasonable user presumption that the car would accelerate normally and be able to safely join traffic....instead it crawls forward at a few miles an hour into potential harms way with no way to accelerate the vehicle normally, thereby leaving the driver and our children in danger. I speak from personal experience.

This is not just a defect, it is a safety issue, and MBUSA needs their feet held to the fire on this one.

It is unreasonable for any manufacturer to tout "The best or nothing" and "Engineered like no other car in the world" and then expect the consumer to pay $2000+ to fix a known electronics design/manufacture flaw. There are even rumblings that VDO (speed sensor/electronics manufacturer) and MB are at odds over who is actually to blame, so clearly they both see costs are going to mount when the inevitable recall occurs. I plan to notify the NHTSA among others if I don't get some favorable answers immediately.

To make it worse, Part # 220 270 27 06 88 is what I am told I need, costing $838.00. (wow!) If I wanted to buy this part outright and have my indy shop or myself install it, I STILL have to go to the dealer for "programming" that I nor most indy shops can carry out.
So regardless of who is at fault, you are railroaded into going to the dealer, dealing with their dismissive “here’s the bill” attitude and paying their inflated rates regardless. You as a consumer are left with no other recourse. I wonder if there is a legal challenge with that in and of itself. To the OP, it sounds like they even robbed you on the part alone.

In summary, they build a defective transmission that will certainly leave you in harm’s way, and then they (MBUSA) say “too bad, pay US to fix it or you have no other option.” I question not only the ethics but legality of this position MBUSA has taken.

I am collecting names, vehicle types, and e mail addresses for any that are interested in signing on to force MBUSA into a recall based on safety (or lack thereof) alone.

I do not seek anything more than an email address, name, and year/make/model affected. Your information will not be used for any other purpose but adding strength to my argument with MBUSA. Feel free to PM me, or email aplguys@aol.com.

Understand absolutely clearly that I am not attempting to defame, discredit, or slander MBUSA in any fashion, but I will not have safety compromised in a premium vehicle and then be billed for it, nor will I be lead to believe it’s “normal wear and tear, abuse, misuse, or neglect”. This is a flaw that compromises safety, period.

I bought my GL450 because I love my Mercedes Benz E55 AMG so much. I bought another Benz because of the quality previously displayed and that one would reasonably expect. Maybe I should have kept my Dodge Durango Limited. What’s right is right.

If we stick together, maybe good will prevail. There is strength in numbers.

I want to hear from all of you affected!

I believe mine is affected, its currently in the shop for the front suspension leaking air and having my transmission acting funky when i gave it full throttle when trying to merge into traffic. I am as well on my third mercedes and i love them but the GL is being the first MB i have had trouble with. Ive had my 2000 E320 for 5 years now and no major problems just basic wear and tear. Same thing with my old GLK that i had for 2 years, all i had a funky smell from the AC and it got fixed under warranty.

Name:Abraham Garcia
Vehicle: 2008 GL550
Email: r12fast4u@gmail.com

[Innocent_Stud]

Mine has nearly 70,000 miles and the transmission is perfectly fine. Maybe I'll give it full throttle later today and see but I'm unaffected really.

[r1_2fast4u]

Originally Posted by Innocent_Stud

Mine has nearly 70,000 miles and the transmission is perfectly fine. Maybe I'll give it full throttle later today and see but I'm unaffected really.

I just bought my GL550 and barely have 2 weeks with it and its been at the shop for 5 days now. Its a 2008 with 61,000 miles.

[r1_2fast4u]

Well just got a call back that they are waiting on parts for the suspension and that they have not been able to reproduce the transmission problem. To give it some time if it continues to take back.

[mdadgar]

This sounds like an irritating and potentially unsafe issue for sure, but did you really have to post it THREE times to this forum?

- Mark

[Chris Buffalo]

@ Abraham - thanks, and keep us posted!

[Chris Buffalo]

@ Mark, I posted it in multiple vehicle forums to get the most exposure, not to be redundant.

[mdadgar]

Originally Posted by Chris Buffalo

@ Mark, I posted it in multiple vehicle forums to get the most exposure, not to be redundant.

No, you posted it to three different threads in THIS GL forum!

This thread, this thread, and this thread.

Once would have been great!

- Mark

[Chris Buffalo]

Sorry Mark. I was adamant about getting the word out!

[Becks Imports]

Mark, it's like having an email initiated on a VisorPhone 1XRTT connection fail, and then fail again, again, again until you finally can move that 1K email across the wireless data connection. You need to do it multiple times to make sure it gets to its intended receipient.

[mdadgar]

Originally Posted by Becks Imports

Mark, it's like having an enail initiated on a VisorPhone 1XRTT connection fail, and then fail again, again, again until you finally can move that 1K email across the wireless data connection.

Dude, thanks for undoing all those years of therapy. You gonna make the next ex-Handspring group session?

- Mark

[Becks Imports]

Originally Posted by mdadgar

Dude, thanks for undoing all those years of therapy. You gonna make the next ex-Handspring group session?

- Mark

I'd love to, just need some advanced notice! I always seem to find out like 3 days before it takes place. Maybe that's by design?

Bruce

[mdadgar]

Originally Posted by Becks Imports

I'd love to, just need some advanced notice! I always seem to find out like 3 days before it takes place. Maybe that's by design?

LOL. Make sure you're part of the ex-Handspring group on Facebook. That seems to be the main channel of communication these days.

- Mark

[aggst1]

Nice to see folks are working hard on a Friday afternoon ... LOL

[MrPrometheus]

FYI, i work in the consumer products industry and there is a site where consumers can report vehicle safety issues here: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

There is also a similar one for consumer goods which is irrelevant in this case. What i do know is that complaints are collected on this website and that the businesses are required to respond to them in a timely manner. In this case the response is probably to the NHTSA. I suggest posting your safety concerns on this site to get MBZ to take some action. If enough complaints are received, and there is reason to believe a safety hazard exists, you can bet that the manufacturer will be forced to take action. FYI, you can even look up other complaints that people have posted. Its a pretty neat database that was recently enacted and gives the consumer a voice.

[Innocent_Stud]

Originally Posted by r1_2fast4u

Well just got a call back that they are waiting on parts for the suspension and that they have not been able to reproduce the transmission problem. To give it some time if it continues to take back.

This may sound stupid but did the previous owner maintain his vehicle properly?

My vehicle's previous owner maintained it properly and I drove 20,000 miles so far on it and still going strong. Tranmission properly downshifts and accelerates when 3/4s WOT or WOT.

[Becks Imports]

Originally Posted by Innocent_Stud

This may sound stupid but did the previous owner maintain his vehicle properly?

My vehicle's previous owner maintained it properly and I drove 20,000 miles so far on it and still going strong. Tranmission properly downshifts and accelerates when 3/4s WOT or WOT.

It's not stupid, but this is a design issue, not a maintenance issue. Just like ABC suspension. Some people abuse it and it's fine, some maintain it and it breaks, and vice versa.

Bruce

[r1_2fast4u]

Originally Posted by Innocent_Stud

This may sound stupid but did the previous owner maintain his vehicle properly?

My vehicle's previous owner maintained it properly and I drove 20,000 miles so far on it and still going strong. Tranmission properly downshifts and accelerates when 3/4s WOT or WOT.

I wish i can get service records but none were available. Good thing i got the extended warranty so i dont have to really worry much until its gone.

[Chris Buffalo]

There is also a similar one for consumer goods which is irrelevant in this case. What i do know is that complaints are collected on this website and that the businesses are required to respond to them in a timely manner. In this case the response is probably to the NHTSA. I suggest posting your safety concerns on this site to get MBZ to take some action. If enough complaints are received, and there is reason to believe a safety hazard exists, you can bet that the manufacturer will be forced to take action. FYI, you can even look up other complaints that people have posted. Its a pretty neat database that was recently enacted and gives the consumer a voice.

That's my point!

Thanks guys!

All I ask is a quick e mail to be added to the complaint list.

aplguys@aol.com

year/make/model/symptoms and an e mail address are all I ask, additional details as you like.

[alx]

I have had for few years now two Mercedeses with the 7g tranny and both have been good to me.

The tranny fluid needs to be flushed at 40k miles. This is essential.

You are correct that the tranny comp needs to be flashed when new valve body and conductor plate are installed.

[jp13]

I am in the UK and have a 2007 clk with the 7 speed (722.9 NAG2 (7G-Tronic) gearbox and 30k fsh miles (MB and inde). Had same problem as you described. Was told the turbine speed sensor needed replacing. Once that was done the car started jumping when upshifting from 2nd - 3rd gear. Took it into Merc who claimed inde had used wrong oil in gearbox and i'd need to replace complete gearbox at cost of £6k!.......rubbish cos the oil and all other parts were bought directly from Merc! Now they won't reply to my emails.

Have you guys seen this? ;


http://classactionlawsuitsinthenews....-m273-engines/

[Chris Buffalo]

Make sure you do all required services - the prior owner apparently never did the 39k mile oil change, leaving me little recourse. I am confident the lack of fluid change is not the issue, but the Siemens/VDO referenced earlier in this post.

But if it wasn't properly maintained, I have no way to hold their feet to the fire.

There are wayyy too many of these going bad, for sure.

[RCorney17]

Mine has been maintained properly but still having this issue as described by the OP. I've talked to my SA and they offer to run a scan but without a CEL on can't guarantee the computer will produce any issues to be fixed.

This is a random and infrequent issue. If there's a relatively inexpensive part or computer programming process that fixes the problem, I'd much rather do that than replace a tranny!