VentoGT

Wife calls me this afternoon to chat and while on the phone with me she starts freaking out telling me that the accelerator pedal isn't working. She has it to the floor and all the car is doing is coasting and slowing down.

Thankfully she has the brains to pull over, hit hazard lights and park car. When she put it in Park, every light on the speedo dial lit up like a christmas tree. She turned it off, restarted it, CEL on, made it home as she was only a few miles away. She could/probably would have been killed or seriously injured if she was on the freeway. I am seriously considering turning the car in for something else--it has 1800 miles on it and that is an inexcusable problem for any modern car, let alone a brand new MB to have. CEL has been on once randomly then shut itself off about a month ago.

Has this happened to anyone? Searched the forums and haven't seen anything but seriously I am looking to get another car. If she wasn't on a side street she would have been wrecked into at 80+mph on a freeway.

Ideas/thoughts?

VentoGT

Dropped off at dealer. Will update thread once I get the answer. I told them I want a firm solution and description of why that happened not just flipping off the engine light. This is a serious issue.

VentoGT

Word so far is the fuel pump/fuel pressure. They ordered a control unit and are dropping the tank tomorrow to check everything. More news as it comes in.

chrissk

Thanks please keep us updated. Now I'm thinking to avoid this 1st year production car.

VentoGT

Got a call back--car is ready. It was the "fuel pressure ECU" that they replaced, apparently it "had low voltage readings and likely was defective from the factory". Keep your eyes peeled...hopefully this is an anomaly but that's a major F up.

chrissk

Thanks for the info.
There are already a few other people on this forum having CEL issue at such low mileages and now I have to re-consider purchasing this car. Hopefully there are no more safety issues coming up.

VentoGT

CELs are usually emissions BS-related. I wouldn't worry about those. The car is driving normally and according to the service advisor ours is the first they have seen with this problem. Post to the thread if anybody has similar issues so people searching the board and the web can track. Will come back here with any news or issues. Hopefully it's solved.

VentoGT

Well, the car died in motion again less than 10 miles after getting it back. Almost hit by a bus this time. Case opened with MBUSA and the local dealer is taking good care of us. Bye Bye GLA--hope we got a bad one but my wife won't ever be setting foot in that car again.

kozak79

Better safe than sorry. Get something else. I'd ditch my GLA if that happened to me on more than one occasion. Good luck.

Boxster986S

Will you be taking a chance on another GLA or going to another model or another OEM?

The only flaky thing on my GLA has been the fuel gauge dropping to zero for no reason when the tank was half full then mysteriously fixing itself a few hours later. That seemed minor, BUT with your problem and some other electric/control system issues I've read on GLA boards, makes me wonder if there are some inherent problems.

MJ50

i'm guessing they replaced fuel pressure ecu with same part # as before...
that's the downside to 1st year models... sometimes u have to wait until updated part # is available...

kozak79

I'm not sure if there is an inherent problem with the GLAs. It's just a 5 door CLA and that's been going strong. Every car has problems. Even Consumer Reports best car (Tesla) has had fires and their latest test Tesla wouldn't release it's door handles. It's made by humans, and hence, human errors happen.

VentoGT

So, to close the issue here--second problem was with the fuel pump itself apparently. I don't know exactly what was replaced as I didn't take the car back but it was the fuel pump, sender and fuel tank as well.

As noted by Kozak, this is just a big rigged CLA, so they should have already had these issues if they were systematic...nonetheless, fueling issues that render a brand new vehicle inoperable and dangerous AT SPEED are a major unforgivable issue. Happy for everyone involved we were not on the highway and MB isn't dealing with deaths and dismemberment.

That said, I'm out of the GLA and into a GLK for a nominal difference. The dealership was very helpful [PRIME/MB of Hanover in Massachusetts] and did us right.

kowyzg0moo

We had the exact same issue with our 2014 CLA 250. It timed out while driving on the Freeway. We've had the battery and the fuel-value replaced and it happened again. Unacceptable.

wyboojer

Im thinking about getting my wife a 2018 GLA250 so she can drive a smaller SUV. I havent had an MB for more than 20 years and all i recall about them is how expensive maintenance and repairs were and i assume still are today. The independent reviews of this model are pretty good and the size and internal quality are perfect for what we need, but Im still hesitant. My wife takes trips to her home town periodically and I cant afford for her to drive a car that isnt totally dependable, 24 hour roadside service notwithstanding. I havent been able to find much anywhere about the dependability so looking for some help from experienced owners like you to help me decide. The GLA250 is a classy looking car for what it is but i am a little wary at this point. Thanks for any helpful advice.

TabbyTy

I had a GLA 250 (2018) with around 9000km, already had a few incidents where the car lost power with heavy vibrations on Highway. Pretty scary when it first happened because the car was slowly decelerating, lucky to pull over soon enough before the car came into a full stop. Brought it back once and they replaced a spark plug, good for a week or so, but the problem came back again. Currently waiting for the dealer to check if they found the root cause, that's the reason why I found this forum while looking for similar issues for other MB owners.

TabbyTy

Just post a note sharing the issue of my 2018 GLA 250. Nice car overall, fancy looking no doubt about it, but my problem is the car will suddenly lost power and must be restarted before you can drive it again. The worst is that when it happened on the highway, well, the car will start with a heavy vibration, then lost power, so technically, driver still have some time to react and pull over. I brought it back to the dealers to check (again), it fixed some spark plug when I first reported the issue, but issues still exist, that's why I have to bring it back again. Hope it is fixable. I don't see a lot of similar issues for GLA 250, so maybe you will be lucky enough to buy one with no defects (or try consider the GLA 45). Good luck.

ptkacik

My wife just called from the highway as the fuel gauge suddenly went dead. She pulled off the highway but could only add $5 so it isn't empty. Then it threw a CEL so she went to an autoparts store and they said the P2066 is fuel sender error and a second code is U1457 which I can't find. She decided to continue driving home as it still runs okay.

Peter

old guy

Google MB DTC U1457 for a definition.

(Mercedes Benz Diagnostic Trouble Code)

Doug12345

This happened to my daughter in our 2018 GLA. P2066 and U1457 codes. Hasn't cleared after top up and about 1 hr of driving. Will take to dealer next week.