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Almost got into an accident! My E350 suddenly failed to respond to gas pedal!
Hi all,
I am a fairly new owner of a 2012 E350. I am quite shocked at what happened to me recently and wanted to get your opinions.
I was driving my car at about 75 mph on a freeway and changed lane (it was really not a very sudden shift - nothing unusual) when suddenly my car seems to not respond to my gas pedal anymore and would gradually slow down. On the dashboard, I started getting series of messages such as "Active Lane Keeping Assist Inoperative" "Active Blind Spot Assist Inoperative" "PRE-SAFE (something inoperative)"... and it just became very hard to control the speed of my car. I barely made out of the freeway and once I got to a safe stop, turned off the car, and turned it back on, the car started to work just fine.
This was so dangerous!!!! My car is at the dealer now but I am just losing faith in this car - I've been to the dealer three times in the past six months that I owned the vehicle due to various issues and the recent experience is something so dangerous that I cannot imagine anyone making a car like this!
Anyone have any insights or similar experience to share?
There's no info posted about the car - did you get any prior maintenance history? What's the mileage?What issues have you taken the car in for before this incident?
I agree that the situation was dangerous, sounds like the car went into a limp mode for some reason.
It's a used car. Just like any car purchased, there could have been issues with it before you bought it that are now coming to light.
I had a problem like this 4 months ago on my 2013 E350. it turned out to be a bad engine wiring harness covered under warranty. ask service adviser about it.
Thank you for your replies. I bought a pre-owned certified car (2012, now 30K miles on it) and so I took it to the dealer. They said it was my pedal accelerator module that needed to be replaced. I hope this solves the issue once and for all. However, I just don't think this kind of thing should happen to a car, period. Imagine there was an oncoming traffic that I was trying to avoid! Anyway, glad this issue is solved (or is supposed to be solved). I just hope it does not happen again. Thanks again!
Glad you got it taken care of. These cars are drive-by-wire, meaning that engine throttle is an electronic function, there is no throttle cable. Therefore if the pedal module/sensor messes up you aren't going to get too far. Hopefully that's the last of it
However, I just don't think this kind of thing should happen to a car, period.
I agree with you. This is going to cause fatalities. I hope people having safety issues with their cars reports to NHTSA. There's a link to do it on their front page, http://www.nhtsa.gov/
I love Honda cars but am glad they got slapped with the $70M fine for not reporting deaths.
kabomi, for what it's worth, I just had to replace the accelerator pedal on my '03 SL 500 at 40k miles.
Fortunately I wasn't in a dangerous situation when the pedal started acting up.
Surprisingly, the cost wasn't through the roof. Around $260.00 for the new unit.
Now when I punch it, it stays punched!
I had a problem like this 4 months ago on my 2013 E350. it turned out to be a bad engine wiring harness covered under warranty. ask service adviser about it.
This issue with the wire harness causing the car to enter some sort of "safe mode" is common on the W212, make sure when you take it in you bring this out and it should be corrected under your CPO
You've obviously not driven enough beater / high mileage cars over the years. Having a car stop working in traffic is part of the ownership adventure. I feel like Click & Clack of CarTalk saying this.
There are worse things... like an old-school throttle cable breaking, or the throttle tension springs breaking. Then you're either stuck on the side of the highway or stuck with the throttle still going. Or what my Infiniti used to do -- read about 50-80% throttle when I'm only telling it 10%. It only did it once or twice a year, but frightening each time it happened. Turning the Infiniti off then on would make the problem go away, which of course meant the dealership never found anything wrong. Infinitis don't have nice event logs like the Mercs do.
Seriously, do report it to NHTSA. Not that I think this is a widespread problem, but at least it's on file so that if a high # of complaints come in, NHTSA will pressure Mercedes to address it. I had to go this route for 3 separate design failures on my Infiniti when Nissan told me to get bent. The NHTSA route took about six months, but in the end NHTSA told Nissan to get bent and I got a nice refund check for repairs + some extra cash out of the deal.
OK Peeps mine did it yesterday and I am sure it will do it again I was able to drive it home and what I was doing was using the paddle to shift gear not sure if that was helping any. I have a 2013 GLK350 4Matic sounds like an EIS based on what I am reading here so the fix is to replace it can I just get another one and would I need to reprogram my key Fobs? Thanks
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
Originally Posted by Midwest Playa
OK Peeps mine did it yesterday and I am sure it will do it again I was able to drive it home and what I was doing was using the paddle to shift gear not sure if that was helping any. I have a 2013 GLK350 4Matic sounds like an EIS based on what I am reading here so the fix is to replace it can I just get another one and would I need to reprogram my key Fobs? Thanks
you posted this question on a 7+ year old thread in the forum section about W212 "E" class.... you probably should post in the appropriate GLK section, I believe those are known as model series X204. While the 212 and X204 share engines, there's enouugh differences that someone familiar with W212 won't know any specifics about the X204.
I'm assuming your car is 'drive by wire', eg, the acceleration pedal is an electronic 'sender' and the actual throttle on the engine iis electronically acutated. so, most likely, either the sender (pedal) is intermittent, or the throttle actuator is intermittent. It could be caused by something like rodent wiring damage.
Are there ANY Mercedes cars that are not drive-by-wire these days? Like since the early 2000's?
I used to be able to make my '05 E320 CDI drop into limp mode by punching the throttle with no warning. It would then give me about 40% of throttle response until I turned it off then back on. I knew this and how to avoid it and it wasn't a problem. Shouldn't treat a diesel that way anyway.
Thank you for the response I actually googled the symptoms and that's how I ended up over here I will take it to the dealer and get ready to bend over I guess.
2016 E350 4Matic wagon, 2019 Ford Expedition, 2019 Chevy Bolt EV
If it was my car, I'd take it to a good independent who specializes in Mercedes and has the dealer diagnostic equipment. Most actual dealers just charge way way too much around here and don't do enough diagnostics, just shotgun replace expensive parts at dealer list.
@S-Prihadi you sir are amazing at what you are doing, I look forward to reading your technical posts all the time
the level of help you, @CaliBenzDriver and many others give to the community is beyond words of commendable.
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Almost got into an accident! My E350 suddenly failed to respond to gas pedal!
