Hi! I have a 2024 E450, and a few months ago I started to hear a loud cracking sound, once, after the car started moving, then nothing more. It's as if there was an expansion or torsion between two parts that suddenly released. I wondered if it was the fact that the temperature was warming up and two parts had different expansion rates, or if there was some kind of torsion on the body of the car. Yesterday then we noticed that the rear right window was not operating, though the motor seems to be running. Will take it in to get fixed since it's under warranty. Wondering though if folks think these two things might be related, that the cracking sound was the window somehow in the guides.

 

Can you describe the sound a bit more? When you heard it, how long did it last? Did the car seem to need some extra gas to start moving? There is a known issue with several Mercedes models of the electronic parking brake sticking and making a loud bang when you press on the gas to move. Some have described it in other ways. The car will not move with a light press on the gas and require a bit more force from the engine to overcome the stuck brake. This happens if the breaks are wet when you park it and the electronic parking brake engages. Some have reported some additional noise for a short while of driving before it disappeared. There are several discussions on this with the below being one of later ones.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...-car-wash.html

 

That is an altogether more plausible explanation for the cracking sound than mine. I’ll wash it and leave it and see if it happens again.

 

I hear that sound every month when mercedes money is removed from my checking account. 😆

 

nah that is cha-ching.

 

E53 Sedan: Is this a design or material flaw?
If the car is wet when I park (rain or car wash) the rear parking brake will stick hard when I shift from P into D about 12 or more hours later. You will hear a "crack" as the pads unstick from the rotors - in other words the parking brake seems to be stuck even after the car has automatically disengaged it, so when the car tries to move forward it has to break the adhesion. Now, leave the car 4+ days and you'll be in for a real shock. Knowing I had parked it after a rain storm days before I expected the sticking, but WOW. The car flexed like it was a brake stand (because it was, unintentionally) and I chickened out twice because I thought the rear brakes would explode. On the third try, telling myself it was just a thin layer of corrosion/adhesion, it broke free. And by "broke" I mean it sounded like the rear end fell off. On inspection the rear brakes left a clear "pad-shaped" area on the rotors with dusty marks. Now, having said all that, here was no noise while driving slowly underground with the windows down - which is how I listen to see if the car if making weird, new noises. It drove and braked fine afterwards, just like all the other times I have done this. Should this happen at all though?

 

Do some digging on this forum. Common issue with a simple fix as long as you are able to park without the parking brake and not risk the car rolling away. When shutting off the car pull and hold the parking break button. It will not engage when the engine stops. Others have found that pulling the parking brake button before trying to drive will release them if they are stuck, but I've not tried that.

Edited to reflect that you pull, not push the parking brake button to keep it from engaging.

 

After I wash my car, will drive it back and forward on my driveway before parking it to dry the brakes and this generally prevents the lock up. I do this both for my W214 and my W238. It only takes about 2 or 3 time going forward and backwards. I don't bother if it is raining and then park the car since the brakes tend to be dry from the heat of using the brakes.

 

I tried "pressing" the parking brake button while shutting off the car and the parking brake was still engaged. I tried again by "pulling" the parking brake button while shutting down the car and that worked. The "Park" light was off when I restarted the car. I tried a second time with the car in neutral while I held the park brake button out and shut down the car. Even in my almost level garage, the car started to roll. Of course, this is not an issue when the transmission is in Park.

In the past I tried pulling the parking brake before backing out of the garage and the rear brake pads were still stuck. @L1Wolf , thank you for posting this tip. When parking in the garage I will keep the parking brake disengaged. When away from home I rarely park long enough for the rear brake pads to seize up against the rotors.

 

Yep, I had it backwards. Pull and hold to keep the break from engaging when you shut off the engine.

 

From my personal observations and opinions on them regarding this issue stated by the OP, is that this sound seems to originate from the upper A pillar/sunroof/roof of the frontal section of the vehicle.


Pretty sure it is just tight tolerances and/or fasteners that were torqued to their maximum and specified torque when the joining panels/braces/parts were not at their complete resting state, compared to the current resting state and/or its ambient temperature.


as for the rear right window not working, I’ve had a similar issue and I learned to fix it. It was to press and hold down the front windows until all the way down, and once down, continue to hold the downward direction window switches for at least 2-3 seconds ——— and then do the same for the rear windows using the window switches from the same position (the front drivers seat). Make sure your car is and the engine is running and the engine is not at zero RPM, and make sure your seatbelt is connected (and any other seatbelts are connected if there is a human passenger in it’s respective location). Also make sure the car is in “park,” so make sure the car is not automatically turning off the cars engine when shifting to park (cancelling the auto start stop shouldn’t be an issue or interfere with this fix, however I cannot confirm this as I didn’t turn off my auto start stop feature when I did procedure.)



at the very end, since all your windows are down, you should be able to “initiate the auto-window up via pulling of the window switches.” I personally auto pulled them up in the same sequence as how I put them down. This solved my issues regarding my non working rear passenger window and also solved a related issue that made it impossible to fully close and seal the rear window (the app would constantly state how it was in ventilation mode, when I actually attempted and thought I closed the window completely).


also, if you haven’t already, please update your mbux software and system firmware/software on your w214. It should have featured substantial updates to the Dolby atmos spatial music abilities and Apple CarPlay replay functionality, among other very important and useful feature updates to the menus and random upgrades. The update took me over 2 hours of my own time to complete, however I was in an area with subpar 5g cellular data connectivity measured from the Mercedes Benz mbux onboard hardware.
*Fwiw, I have a 2024 e450 sedan with the more advanced drivers assist package, and burmester sound system, although don’t have the pinnacle package.*

hope this helps someone/everyone