E320 Mercedes Brake Failure WTF
 

The brakes failed completely while my mother was driving.
Unbelievable.
Car is a 2003. Nobody in my family is planning on ever getting in the driver's seat of this POS again. How will mercedes handle this? 31K miles, 2nd owner.

SBC? did you do the recall?

eitherway, everyone I've heard of that had it, they bought the car back..

Spartan (a cdi owner and member) had this happen, PM him.

BTW, it's a little know fact that when they fail, you still have the front brakes with out assist, so if you step on it hard, it will stop, but just will more time.. This is a bit late for your poor mom, but I hope MB starts to stress this to the future buyers of their SBC cars..

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Sorry to hear that... but MB will probably ask you to bring it in... then give you some BS story and tell you it's all fixed. If at any time my car becomes a greater risk to my life, i would demand an exchange or refund. We all the know the 03' w211 has more problems than we can imagine.

If you bought it used, did you check the maintenance records on the car and/or check it's history?

Have you recently had service on the brakes? By whom? Did they bleed the brakes?

There aren't any recalls on the brakes that directly address a problem like this except that a worn pump would have been discovered as a byproduct of the recalls.

All the recalls were done right when I found out about them. Nobody has touched the car since the begining of the summer when it left me stranded for 6 hours bcs of a failed starter. I bought the car used over two years ago from a very reputable dealership and checked every possible thing out on it.
Wondering what other people who had their brakes failed did...

I know of only one on this forum.. Spartan (he now has an '06 CDI).

Whatever goes wrong with the brakes, the car keeps a record of it. They will be able to tell when it happened and what failed.

When it happened to my car, they replaced it....BUT.....the car was under a year old and I am a looooong time customer. They did NOT give me a hard time. I did not take a fit at Mercedes reps although I was upset about the entire affair. The other thing was that I did NOT demand my money back or DISS the car. I told them that I really love the car (which I do) and trust Mercedes engineering (a bit less then before) but I simply did not trust THAT car anymore. Lastly, I have the resources to fight them in a protracted legal battle (and my long time salesman probably told them that) but neither they nor I ever approached if from that point. I simply asked them to do the right thing and they did it. I thanked them for it and I am still a loyal customer. However, if it happens again, it will be the end of doing business with Mercedes.

Having said all this, an MB insider that I know told me that they normally do NOT do that. They just fix it and send you on your way. As you can understand, if they are replacing cars, they would not want it to be made public.

In my opinion, what they probably do with your car is offer to fix it for free but I seriously doubt that they will replace it because it's 3 years old AND it was bought used. Then it's up to you to keep the car or sell it to someone else. On the other hand, if you sell it and someone else has the same brake failure, chances are they will sue you.

These are only my opinions and nothing more. Good luck.

Rtfm
 

If you are saying you had a complete brake failure, primary and backup, then I agree there is reason for concern.

<soapbox>
Otherwise I have to take issue with the rant because guess what, things break. :nix: I have heard the same complaint from people about a standard brake system when the engine dies and they have no power assist (and no power steering).

I have had that happen in a 4500lb car before and I agree it is no fun (trust me, the system was nothing compared to what is available in just the fron brakes of the E ....drums in the rear, 10" front rotors, single pot calipers).

I understand your frustration, and I would likely give my service manager hell unless he could tell me exactly why it failed but the reality is the system is designed and built by humans and still a $.05 component can take it out.

Sorry you caught me on a bad morning, if you are still concerned, I seriously suggest you chill, go buy an Acura or Lexus for a false sense of security and let the rest of us continue to enjoy a car with personality.

Again, sorry for my own rant.
</soapbox>

Thanks. I doubt they will buy the car back either. By your rationale, I can sue the dealership I bought the car from, which I am not doing.
The car is at the dealer now, but I have yet to speak to the service advisor or mbusa about this.

moa4r, file a complaint with NHTSA. If there is a systemic problem, enough complaints will come in to warrant an action by NHTSA.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
William
2003 E 320

The brakes werent designed by Mercedes solely. Bosch was the key player in SBC. I am sure its a simple fix that your dealer will be able to perform, I hope the tech who did the recall did it correctly and replaced the brake fluid if needed by the Recall.

It is not the same as having to push harder on the pedal. When the SBC goes down, you get NOTHING from almost 95% of the pedal travel. Only when you reach the last quarter inch, the manual brakes take hold. If you are travelling fast enough, they feel like they don't exist. The fact that you are pushing thin air is what sets in the panick.

Lastly, MB if FULLY aware of the problem that is why they are changing them back to a conventional system for the new E.

IF the car had a previous brake failure then you have a slam dunk case against the dealer. Do you have the cars service history? Fighting Mercedes would be a bit more difficult. They can easily claim that the car could have been serviced by outside parties.

In my case, the car was bought from them and it was serviced at HALF the recommended service intervals. It's was hard for them to argue on any basis.

Hold your cool, don't take a 'no' for an answer and good luck.

I think that Bosch is paying for SBC failures.

2003 E320 mercedes brake failure!!
 

I bought this car in 07 with 65,000 miles A good deal. Fine car! HOWEVER...Today while driving to work a red brake failure warning...flashes across the screen and my car would not stop!!! I am rolling across a small country rd bridge and thankfully am at the bottom of a steep hill. The brake pedal just flopped..NOTHING.. I managed to get it into park and get out with the car still running!!!

Ive had it towed two hours away...While waiting on my husband to get home to go the dealership with me, I located about 3 recalls on this model..

QUESTION... What responsibility does this used import car dealer have to me as a customer? They are consulting the mercedes dealership to see if it is indeed an issue with a brake/hydraulics recall..I dont want to deive this car again..I owe some money on it. What could I insist they do???

I've heard that it isn't so much the SBC pump failing, but actually a internal cycle counter that sets off the red sirens. After 300,000 pump cycles the SBC unit stops working. It doesn't mean it's broken, its just met its end of service life. I've heard different stories about dealers replacing them, or inspecting them and resetting the counter again.

None.

Mercedes has extended the warranty to 10 years for the SBC pump.

You really want no one but a Mercedes dealer working on this.

Stuff happens and there are a million extenuating circumstances possible. It's yet another example of why you CANNOT live without your make car's dealer and why you should have them do regular work for you--when you do, they'll treat you right.

I once had complete brake failure on a new 1983 BMW 5 series. It happens. You can be as mad a Mercedes as you want but your next car won't be as good unless it's another one.

geez, hope no one was injured.........hope you're well

My car has been dealer serviced and maintained. I also had total SBC failure and did file on the dot website to provide information that may be used in
further recall/safety issues.

If you feel you had a safety issue file the report that is what the DOT needs to make decisions.

2003 SBC Issue uncovered!
 

I just bought a 2003 E320 and now have a "brake light visit shop light on my dash" i brought it to my local MB dealership, where i learned of this SBC issue and the recall, they told me that may car is 6 months out of the extended warranty to cover the fix, and that it will cost me $1998.46 to have the repair!!! can anyone help me with an avenue I might be able to take with the factory? or factory district service manager? anyone else find themselves in this situation? Im in the greater Los Angeles Ca. area. the local dealer is a Penske owned dealership

Yep take it back to the BS Billy dealership you bought the car from-----next time you buy a MB you will be smart enough to take the car to a fellow who has DAS Xentry for a scan---then you can tell BS Billy, I think I will pass on this car!!

Yes, you are outside the 10 year warranty, however....
 

Did the MB dealer actually state that they diagnosed the problem and what the problem is? Yes, the SBC unit is notorious. That is not the same as saying yours is broken. Ask them to tell you exactly what is wrong with it. The light on the dash is not quite the same as "it's toast". That message can come up or several reasons, some of them resolved by a software fix. (It is of course entirely possible that the system does need the repair they say it needs.)

As for your question about whether MB USA will help, you are one of the first for whom the vehicle has now hit 10 years of age. I anticipate MB USA will hold their ground and say no to your request. So, if the work really needs to be done, try to get the seller of the car to pay some of it.

Expect nothing from MB but a $4000 bill. I had the same problem with total failure. This is a common failure and for those saying you still have brakes they haven't had to stop a car with the failure.

Do as moa4r said file a complaint with NTSB for your own safety. These SBC brakes can fail any time with no warning. This is much worse than engine dying. You are out of warranty so don't expect any $$ from MB. FWIW.. I sold my MB and won't buy another after all the issues I had with my E500 2003

Mercedes E320 brake failure
 

Brakes on my 2003 E320 completely failed yesterday 2 Jan. Life threatening event. Lucky to escape with our lives. Mercedes quotes £1500 to replace pump. They refuse to take any responsibility. A complete recall is necessary. Wonder how many killed or seriously injured.

And this is the exact reason I got rid of my MB and brought another with another company. This system should have never been used on a car for quality and safety issues. This one system cost me as a repeat customer.