Can't figure out what the hell happened. Maybe someone here can shed some light. I was driving on the highway getting ready to pass some slow cars in the left lane. I had to wait for some faster moving cars passing in the middle lane. So instead of waiting for the automatic to downshift on its own, I decided to downshift to a lower gear first using the autostick and just punched it when I had an opening. I did that and I think I was in 4th at the time when I gunned it. I upshifted but I guess I only put into 5th. I was going about 85mph when I noticed that my rpms were still high and that I didn't shift back to full auto. All of a sudden I get a flashing symbol on the speedo screen (not the MMI, don't have that) showing the back of a car and wiggly lines as if the car was losing control and it saying check the manual. At the same time, the car basically didn't let me accelerate at all. I was flooring the gas but there was no response. I was lucky enough to make it to the shoulder and stop the car. I put the car in park but couldn't even rev the engine. The all the engine was doing when it was in park was pulsating. I had to actually shut the car off and turn it on again for it to reset I guess. I have a 4matic with the ESP on. I didn't hit any bumps or lose control at all. I checked the manual but could not find the symbol. I assume it was some type of protection but I was no where near redline when it happened. Anyone experience this before or know what happened? Thanks.

 

So I found the owners manual online. It's much easier to search an electronic copy than flipping through the pages of the physical manual. Below is the symbol I saw but the associated Possible causes/consequences are not what I experienced.

 

I noticed if you can make the car fishtail on ice (not so easy to do with stability control, but with enough effort you can do it!) you loose all throttle control untill you get the car back under control. Remember this is fly by wire, the ECU is controlling the throttle for you. You probably over reved it or it just realized that there was something abnormal with the way you were driving and backed you down.
RP

 

tHAT COULD POTENTIALLY CREATE A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR THE DRIVER

 

Your car just quietly telling you to go easy !!

 

your car was trying to tell you that you were too rude. I believe that if you could simply let the automatic handle the shift itself, you wouldnt have this problem at all. Just take it easy when you are passing people next time. You are not showing any driving skills other than your impulse by doing the stuff you described in your post. And bring the car to the dealers and have this recorded on documents while under warranty.

 

I hear you guys on the taking it easy part but in no way was the car out of control or was I doing anything out of the norm. I am very disappointed that an MB would react that way. All I did was downshift, press the gas to accelerate and left it in 5th gear. The RPMs were only in the 3K range when this happened. I could understand if I was redlining it but I was nowhere near that. This was very dangerous. I was in the left lane when I lost throttle and had no left shoulder. I had to get all the way over to the right shoulder without throttle and everyone else going about 75mph. WTF!

 

Not really sure what the car may have been "thinking" but I would drop by the dealer and ask them to check the codes. Just let them know you were manually shifting and using full, or close to full, throttle when this occured.
I am curious to hear MB's explanation.

Is everything runny smoothly now?

 

Car runs like nothing happened. I'll have to drop by MB one of these to see if they can pick anything up. I'll let you guys know what they say.

 

Read here about it:Onboard Computer and Displays
http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/manual...10e36946.shtml