Legendaia

Safety Recall #2004 050014
On 03-05 e-class, 03-04 sl-class vehicles equipped with Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC). DCAG has determined that in certain instances the pump motor may run out of permissible tolerances,therby triggering the hydraulic back up mode,the driver has braking power sufficient to stop the vehicle, although greater brake pedal pressure is required could lead to a vehicle crash.
A software upgrade that corrects the situation is available free of charge.

They say it takes about 2 hours.

SGEM

Yep....Got the letter also.

takeshi

I took my car in for Siruis reception problems and it's been there a week now and not back yet. Anyway, they did mention that they were going to have to bleed the brakes to perform the SBC software update and that it was a 1-2 day job. Also, they are doing a software update of the gatewey?

1. Campaign 2004050014 211/230 SBC RECODING
2. Campaign 211 FLASH CGW 200407019

was on the service list.

Oslo

On non-US cars, the recall took place in February. The operation takes 10-15 minutes. Never heard about bleeding.

michael10128

Got My letter yesterday too will post it..

Barry45RPM

What does the central gateway controll?

takeshi

I thought it was odd to have to bleed the brakes for a software update. Then, I have no idea why my car has now been in for a week. Trying to fix the Siriius reception problem can't be that hard...

Barry45RPM

Tell them to check and make sure the antenna is good. Mine failed after 3 weeks of use, and they were busy checking averything but the floormats 'till they found the antenna went bad.

BudC

Do you know what the reprogramming does? Could it be to change the criteria used to put the system into emergency mode?

Nevada Jack

I also received the letter yesterday. Seems like a computer thing from the sound of the letter.

BudC

MB-Jim just checked and was told it's only a software update to count the number of times the brake is activated. No brake bleeding is required.

jprescott

The actual recall letter states that "the time required is approximatly 2 hours"

takeshi

Finally got my car back! With regard to Sirius, they rerouted the airing for antenna as the original layout had too much interference. They insisted the T-Bone install was the cause but the rerouting did make the reception much better.

On the SBC recall, they did not bleed the brakes despite the fact that they told me they would.

W211 Ryda

Got mine today. Should be taking my car in next week.

jposhea3

I'm actually surprised, since the recall was announced midyear, that it took this long to get the letters out in the US. Just got mine tonight.

BudC

I don't see any reason to rush to have it installed. If all it does is count the number of times the brakes are applied, then I doubt any of us will ever reach the point where some sort of alert is displayed.

Just wait until the the next time you take your car to the dealer.

Viesel

Had mine done last week while in the shop and all it was is recoding of the brake module. They said it only takes a few mins to do.

lpolo

I got my letter from MB today. Will take my car next week to the dealer. Every morning I always hear the brake making some noise for like 30 seconds or so. I also hear the noise when I am parking my car in the garage. I am not sure what this is, it doesn't bother me much, but if I am going to the dealer, I would like this to be taken care as well.

Anyone experienced this issue? Will it cost me anything to get it fixed? I think E-Benz shouldn't do this noise.

BudC

This is absolutely normal. It's the brake pump running to fill the fluid reservoir. It may also run when you open a door or under some other conditions. It's simply making sure the brake system is fully charged before you drive away.

The recall doesn't fix anything because there is nothing broken. All it does is change a program to count the number of times you activate the brakes. This stems from problems some very high mileage cars in Europe had with bubbles in the fluid reservoir. This only happened on vehicles such as taxis which had hundreds of thousands of brake applications. You will not live long enough to apply your brakes 300,000 times.

I cannot see any hurry to have the program change installed unless you want to start the count as soon as possible

konigstiger

Actually the bulletin reads: Model 211 - Up to chassis end number A279911, X102857 bleed hydraulic braking system.