W205C43PFL

Glad to hear they finally "found it" , keep us posted

2019CLS450

Hello, just joined. I have a 2019 CLS 450 with 11K miles. Was doing well until this weekend when started displaying the 48V Battery Malfunction intermittently. Today, while pulling out of a stop that car displayed the message, turned off the AC, had an overheating warning and went to limp mode. After turning it off for a few minutes went back to normal. Called MB roadside assistance but it was a futile effort. Made it back home and will take it tomorrow to dealership. Next appointment was on 9/21 I will show up tomorrow morning early and will politely request assistance

W205C43PFL

Good to hear that you returned home safe. The overheating is probably because the 48V battery wasn't functioning properly so the electric water pump wasn't able to run properly, normally if the 48V battery is malfunctioning, the car won't start. Your case is rather special as the car was able to start shortly after the malfunction like nothing happened, maybe the battery suddenly started working again. Keep us posted.

chassis

Sorry to hear of the situation and glad you made it home safely. Interesting to note the 2019 model year, pre-pandemic.

Longroof45

Yes. Plus, the vast majority of 48v battery problems reported here have occurred while there is still very low mileage on the car. The 11,000 miles here would definitely put this vehicle near the top in terms of mileage. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but it's definitely different.

W205C43PFL

Certainly special, since thinking negatively doesn't help let's just say it is a good thing and hopefully that way, everything goes smooth for his 2019 CLS.

GCameron

Posting here as a data point - our GLS450 died again this weekend for the second time. The first time was at 5000 miles, and the dealer said they replaced the 48 volt and 12 volt batteries. Now we have the exact same symptoms at just shy of 10,000. (won’t start - See Owners manual.). It is currently sitting in the dealers lot waiting for them to get around to looking at it.

We will unfortunately be discussing lemon laws with MBUSA. As a life long MB owner (we currently also have a CLK Cabriolet and a E550) I find this incredibly discouraging. But what is the point of a large SUV if you can’t trust it enough to take it on road trips?

Longroof45

Sorry to hear this. I've had the same problem twice myself but both occasions were during the first 750 miles that I owned the car. The car is at 2,400 miles now and so far so good, to the extent that I've begun to get some of my trust back. It's indeed discouraging to hear that you're having these problems at 5,000 and 10,000 miles, as it makes me wonder what I have to (not) look forward to. Mine is a 2021 E450 wagon, by the way. With all these reported battery issues, it was a little surprising to read that MB is accelerating its timeline on electrifying its product lines.

chassis

Sorry to hear of the experience. It's sadly the norm for MB in the past few years. Poor delivered quality and atrocious medium term reliability.

What month/year was your GLS built?

GCameron

I actually don’t know, since I didn’t order it, and never checked the jamb plaque. But we took possession in December 2020 shortly after it had arrived at the dealer, so my guess is somewhere in that fatal time frame of last quarter of 2020.

We really have been enjoying the car - other than having it bricked in the driveway. I was so hoping that we’d solved the issue after having the batteries replaced in June, but maybe the dealer used one from the bad batch? Part of the frustration is getting clear information from the dealer on the problem.

e55phil

I have to add my name to the list of people suffering from the 48V battery problem. Fortunately my car died in the driveway. The dealer advised me to jump my car but no luck, it would not start. I have 8500 miles on my 2021 All Terrain. Let's see what happens. I'm 2.5 hours from the dealer at my home in the country. I will report. I started my own thread. I will start posting here.

Longroof45

Thanks for posting. I just responded to your other post on this issue. I'm sure you know that this isn't an All Terrain issue, but rather one that runs across multiple lines employing EQ Boost.

e55phil

Thank you Longroof, Roadside is going to move my car, I will report here going forward. thanks phil

2019CLS450

Just to follow up on my prior post. Per report, the car was showing a B183387 fault and they found dozens of PTSS causes for exact same codes. They said it was due to painted body grounds. Cleaned the pain off and so far okay. Now the trunk wont open fully!. Wow this car is starting to fall apart. I has 12K miles, MRSP 82K that's 6K per mile. Ha ha!

ColeBlooded

I had the same painted body grounds problem with my S580 a few weeks ago. Everything has been fine ever since.

slk55er

There are a lot of posts on this thread from Newbies and Junior members who have not included their location.

So members -- 2017CLS450, ColeBlooded, Igor 911, heady.yurinata, kainedogg, Calvin Parker, Kevin Gerard, Kayiveh, tink, Smair Sikka, jaykorean, 9157, Neapolis, etc. -- please click on "User CP" (Control Panel) and then "Your Profile" an include at least your country and region or state. This will help in identifying if any problems are limited to isolated regions.

Thanks much.

e55phil

Very interesting. Roadside sent a company and they found a way to put the car in natural despite the non working 48 v battery.

It was late and I think I remember correctly:

They attached a battery charger under the hood, opened the drivers door, put on the emergency brake, put the car in neutral, disconnected the batter charger, closed the door, released the emergency brake and the car remained in neutral while the driver was seated. One person stayed in the car and the other operated the roll back.

I will post this on the thread I started as well in case someone searches for the error code. and I will report later on what happens.

jkendp

We got our GLS450 about a month ago. 3 weeks and 1300 miles later we got the dreaded red error message regarding the battery. It was towed straight to the dealership. The battery had to be replaced. Once installed, they noticed that there was a coolant/radiator leak, which was suspected to have caused the battery issue. They replaced it as well. I have attached their summary for your reference as I am not well versed enough to articulate their findings in detail. I wonder if this is what has been causing issues for others.

Longroof45

Sorry to hear about your problem but glad they got you back on the road. Thanks for the input. I've been monitoring the 48v battery issue for awhile now, and I don't think anyone else has mentioned a coolant leak. Perhaps your situation is a one-off, or perhaps it's just a coincidence. Either way, thanks for the information. I hope it's smooth sailing from this point on.

GolfSchool

Good morning! New member due to the 48V issue in my 2021 GLS450. Purchased in June a 2021 certified preowned, due to supply issues for brand new ones. Had 1500 miles on it when I got it and got the 7 year - unlimited mile warranty. Last night while driving home from work the error pop’d up yellow then red, followed by a loss of power. By the time I got pulled over the right display also had the 12v warning and the driver display had the coolant overheat red warning. Vehicle was towed to the dealer and am awaiting a loaner vehicle today. Was unaware of these issues until I encountered it, hopeful that it gets resolved properly and can be a reliable vehicle going forward. Was hesitant of certified preowned at first, but with 7 year unlimited we decided it would make a great travel vehicle to see family, especially with airline cancellations we keep running into. My wife has a 2021 GLE350 w/ zero issues (bought brand new in January). Thankfully we only have one 450 engine in the family and not two!

Recap:
2021 GLS450
First issue: 48V
Date: 11/2/21
Location: US - Oklahoma
Mileage: 11,186
Certified Pre-owned 1,500 miles early summer
Previously a loaner 03/21-5/21

​​​​​​​

Longroof45

Sorry to hear about your problem. What was your mileage when the problem occurred? For what it's worth, I don't think the "pre-owned" is the issue because this problem has been occurring in many brand new vehicles, including mine at only 200 miles.

wien0305

Hello everyone. I will just be pile on to the list of 48v battery issues. My car (2021 E450 All Terrian I orderd in February) was deliverd on Friday (10/29). I drove it home from the dealer and once to go to dinner. Had about 35 miles on it. Died on (11/2). I got the red warning light for the 12v. Tried a trickle charge and got nothing. So I had it towed to the dealer. They said the 48v battery had to be replaced. They estimated about a week for the battery to arrive. I truly hope I get the new batch of batteries and this is the last of it. This is supposed to be our road trip car and, after reading all of this, I am terrified to go anywhere far from Denver with two young kids. Damn shame that an 80+k car dies like this. It's making me think I should've kept my '17 E400 wagon. I hope you all get a good resolution and I'm crossing my fingers that I do as well. Cheers.

Longroof45

Oh no, this is deja vu all over again. Sadly, your situation is nearly identical to mine (195 miles, 2 weeks), except mine first occurred back in April. Mine is also a 2021 All Terrain but, of course, this problem is hardly unique to the All Terrain (it runs across all the models with the same power train). What's particularly troubling is that this is still happening, given all the reports of 48 volt battery deaths going back to the first of the year, maybe earlier. I would have hoped that by now MB would fully have its arms around this problem, but apparently not. I know at some point MB introduced a new part number for the battery, but the old part number is still be used on replacement batteries in some situations. The real kicker is that I think my All Terrain is a great car, save for this little problem of it dying without warning. Like you, I had planned to take some long road trips but I still haven't regained confidence in the car, even with 3,000 miles under the belt of this new battery. While many of the reports are just like yours and mine (car barely off the boat), there are other reports of 48 volt battery failures at 5,000 miles and higher. It sure would be nice if MB would come out publicly, acknowledge the problem, and say this is the fix, you can ride with confidence again.

e55phil

My service Manager told me it is a software issue. I have a long history with this person and I trust him. I do not know why they would deliver the car without changing the software but I hope that is the issue for both of our sakes. ( I believe it is)

wien0305

My service advisor says they've replaced ~60 batteries and had very few come back after the replacement. He mentioned he only knows of 1 out of the dozen plus he has managed. My hope is that the battery they give me resolves the issue. If it is, in fact, also a software issue one would hope they could update that pretty quickly. But I fear, if it was that easy, we wouldn't have this thread going. Regardless, this is surely not an experience MB should be delivering. I'd rather have had the car not delivered for another month to work out the bugs than deal with this.

The Urgently service provider for roadside assistance assigned me a tow driver than ended up scraping the bottom rear of my car getting it on the truck after I advised a different approach. So now I am also dealing with MBUSA to get that fixed.

Only updside is driving around the ID4 they gave me as a loaner. It's a pretty slick car that VW has put together despite a few Doug Demuro-esque quirks and features. Fun to drive and easy to live with while they sort this out.