RevengeTO

I had difficulty starting my car yesterday. I think I accidentally hit the shifter when pressing the start button and that placed it into neutral. Anyway - I pressed the start button and nothing happened. I put the car in Park, and tried again - no go. I noticed that break pedal had firmed significantly - so much so that the car wasn't able to detect that I was depressing it and would turn over when I hit the start button. I tried several more times and attempting to apply more pressure to the brake pedal. I even got out, locked the car and started from square one - still no go. I pressed the Mercedes Me button for assistance, they were going to immediately dispatch a tow truck. Since I didn't feel like wasting hours of my life waiting for a tow and then the hassle of a dealership, I tried one more time and I guess enough time had passed to allow just enough travel in the brake pedal for the car to detect that I was depressing it. Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and if this is just user error, a one off or the beginning of something worse.

jonathan358

Fully depress the brakes and press-hold start button. The starter is kinda finnicky, it rolls over but stops sometimes after 2-3 chugs. Happens more often when parked on an incline and when hot in my experience..

As for the brake lock-up, that just means you pumped out all the air from the brake booster. You can still use the brakes but it will be much harder to depress. It will return to normal once the engine turns on which will create a vaccuum for the brake booster to operate.

I think your car is fine, try pressing hard on the brakes all the way down. It won't damage your car.