Had my car for a week now and quite often it brakes cos it thinks there's a car in front, when in fact it's either a parked car, or an oncoming car.
Seems to mainly happen when there's a (slight) curve in the road.

My previous E-class never did this .

anybody else had/has the same problem?

 

Maybe recalibrate the radar antenna. Have codes pulled to see if there's anything stored.

 

I haven't had this occur, but it should be easily rectified by a Distronic recalibration. This allows the system to translate steering input angle to what the RADAR sees. This is usually done after an alignment. It's a quick procedure and should help get your car back to normal. After getting my new set of tires, I had an alignment done, which was then followed by Distronic recalibration. While it may be a placebo effect, I noticed the car did better at preventing jerky stops during stop-and-go traffic, though I could be wrong about that. Definitely get it recalibrated though, it should help. There is also a camera calibration that can be done, but it may not be necessary.

 

cheers .
making an appointment and will revert here once it's done

 

My wife had a case of severe "phantom braking" last month. She was driving fairly slowly anticipating a turn into a retail store. There was a median with a tree planted and the car abruptly came to a full stop. The car behind her did not stop quickly enough and hit her. Fortunately she and the other car were not moving quickly, the damage was minor to both cars and my wife and daughter were not injured.

I changed the setting from the most sensitive to moderate and it has not recurred.

I owned two Tesla Model S's over a period of seven years, the first with radar, the second strictly with cameras. The first car never had an issue, the camera only car had frequent phantom braking.

 

You mean the sensitivity of active brake assist?

 

Yes. I changed it from "Early" to "Medium". I'm not sure what it says in France.

 

That actually affects the time the acoustic warning appears not when the system and braking engages.https://mbworld.org/forums/gls-class...ml#post9204829

 

Really?

Is it possible to change the sensitivity of Braking Assistance?

 

Maybe only through XENTRY.

 

Thank you.

That confirms my experience with the rest of the EQE, MB is 5-10 yrs behind the competition. Great mechanical engineering and build quality, horrible s/w.

This is my fifth and likely last MB. Time to dig into the BMW and Porsche EVs.

 

You're welcome, the aforementioned brands lets you adjust the sensitivity?

 

I'd say that when it comes to safety equipment, MB has always been near or at the top. They have a very long history working with RADAR-based systems, and a rich history working with the OE vendors that make the parts to MB specifications. All car manufacturers have phantom braking concerns, but I have found that MBs are among the best in this regard, with a great sensor fusion stack. Might be worth to see if RADAR calibration was done for steering angle input.

 

We had a second phantom braking incident yesterday. The car senses a problem and autonomous braking slammed on the brakes. The first one caused my wife to hit by a car following her. The second incident was yesterday. The road curved to the right while another road intersected to the left. The car again slammed on the brakes, but fortunately the car following was able to stop without hitting me.

The car is a year old with 13,000 miles. The brake assistance is more likely to cause an accident than protect the occupants so I have disabled it entirely.

 

Does it not turn back on automatically next ignition cycle?

 

This doesn't seem normal at all. I'd get the system recalibrated.

 

From a Dutch newspaper

‘Fantoomremmen’ bestaat volgens rechter, maar fabrikanten ontkennen dit fenomeen | Auto | AD.nl

Here’s the English translation of the article:

‘Phantom Braking’ Exists According to Judge, but Manufacturers Deny the Phenomenon

Drivers of modern cars complain about vehicles that suddenly brake hard for no reason. Many manufacturers dismiss this as nonsense, but last year a German court officially confirmed the existence of ‘phantom braking.’

By Erik Kouwenhoven – 30-08-25, 06:15 (last update: 08:09)

Earlier this year, a French woman was rear-ended when her Peugeot 208 suddenly braked hard on the A40 in France without any cause. The car behind her could not stop in time and slammed into her vehicle. This phenomenon, called phantom braking, occurs when the car’s emergency braking system takes control without any demonstrable reason.

Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. But that was not the end of it for her. She felt abandoned, writes the French magazine L’Automobile. There was no investigation, no apology from the manufacturer, and the insurance company closed the case quickly. That is why she turned to the local press.

French Government Steps In
Her call in the media had an effect. Several other drivers—often with a Peugeot, but also other brands—came forward with similar stories: cars that suddenly braked for no reason. In some cases, this even led to accidents. And then something unexpected happened: the Ministry of Transport contacted her. Joanna was invited for a meeting with the French government agency that oversees vehicles and motorcycles.

According to the authorities, this is a standard procedure to collect reports and determine whether an in-depth investigation is needed. Still, for Joanna this is an important step: at last her story seems to be taken seriously.

Whether this will actually lead to an investigation or even a recall is not yet clear. In the meantime, the woman continues to collect new reports. She hopes for joint action against the manufacturer—similar to what happened earlier with the Takata airbag problems and Dieselgate.

Active Emergency Braking Now Mandatory
There may even be a larger investigation into these kinds of ‘phantom braking actions,’ which have also been reported with brands such as Tesla and Audi. On the website Reddit, dozens of drivers claim they were nearly killed when their own car suddenly braked hard out of nowhere.

According to the website Gocar.be, there are no official statistics on this phenomenon, but the site fears that the number of reports will rise, since active emergency braking has been mandatory in the EU on new models for the past three years. As the number of self-braking cars grows, so too—logically—will the number of errors.

A German court is also convinced that the phenomenon actually exists. Last year, the regional court of Traunstein officially recognized the existence of phantom braking. Following a lawsuit by a Tesla owner, an independent expert documented several unexpected and dangerous braking incidents during a 600-kilometer test drive with a Tesla Model 3.

Lawsuits in Preparation
One particular incident on an unrestricted highway, where the car suddenly slowed from 140 to 94 km/h without cause, created dangerous situations for following traffic. The test was stopped for safety reasons.

During the lawsuit, the Tesla owner demanded a replacement vehicle due to problems with the driver-assistance system.

The court accepted the report as evidence, but Tesla and other manufacturers continue to deny the phenomenon exists. According to them, it is the drivers’ fault. Meanwhile, several lawsuits are being prepared against Tesla over this phenomenon, not only in the U.S. but also in Australia.

 

Yes, it turns out that it does turn back on automatically.

 

I've asked the MB service department what they recommend and if recalibration is an option.

 

Time to code it off somehow.

 

it happened to me the other day, suddenly the car slowed down for no reason, the front car still far,
but i was on automatic mode, (distronic on, active steering assist on)

 

The only times I've noticed this is right next to semis with an an aero underside skirt, and in some very constrained tunnels with lots of RADAR reflections. Otherwise, it's been pretty flawless for me.

 

My service advisor told me it's a known problem, "the system is not 100% accurate". He said he'd had a few complaints in other MB's with the same system, but it clearly is not a big deal are far as he's concerned. His response to my wife getting rear ended is that the driver was following too close. How many of us would not hit the car in front of us in city traffic if the car in front slammed on its brakes when there was no threat? The same service rep has told me that MB is "10yrs behind on software". He's resigned to it, caveat emptor.

He was ignorant of whether it could be turned off or not. I advised him it could be turned off for the current trip, but automatically resets at the next start up. That was news to him. I'll take the car in and they'll check the s/w updates, tell me everything is fine and that will be that.

In nine years of driving two Tesla's, there were phantom braking incidents, but never the full brake experience like the MB. I wouldn't buy another Tesla for a variety of reasons, but they remain a datapoint.

Is BMW, Porsche, Audi any better? I don't know, but I'll spend next year finding out before ordering my next car. My wife will not agree to another MB without a total UI redesign. The steering wheel touch pad controls should never have been shipped, let alone kept for multiple model years. The Germans set the global standard for mechanical engineering, but this is the 21st century and mechanical engineering is the table stakes, not the game winner.

MB is behind and not helping themselves. I wrote to the head of sales at the local dealer and received no response. Not a polite push back, just crickets. The dealer network adds very little value and a lot of expense.

The Germans are dying in China. They are artificially supported by tariffs in the EU, US and Canada. Canada is considering lifting the EV tariffs since the U.S. is hammering their auto business and China is now hammering their canola oil exports (a big thing in Alberta). I would not be surprised to see Canada swap tariffs for a BYD plant in Ontario. Protectionism buys a little time, but the Germans have to use the time to get better and I don't see it happening. They still have a "model year" mentality and won't use OTAs to improve the ownership experience.

I've owned three Porsche's, two Audi's, three BMW's, and six MB's. I hope they can get their act together.

 

@Boatguy
What don't you like about the steering wheel touchpads? They are convenient because one doesn't have to their off the wheel to control items.

 

Your service adviser, unfortunately, is an ignoramus. MB does not write its own software for these systems, perhaps with some exception to new cars running MB.OS, which the current EQ crop does not (though CLA does). Instead, MB contracts OEMs to provide ADAS, suspension, infotainment, motor, inverter, and other technology to specification. But, it does NOT write the software for it. These OEMs include top-notch providers like Continental, Valeo, Bosch, and others, and yes, they do have up-to-date software stacks and hardware. The components are required to adhere to some basic standards over FlexRay so that they all talk to each other, but the equipment and their software stacks are generally state-of-the-art.

I have many of the same RADAR equipment components as testbeds sitting right here on my desk. They are *very* sensitive to proper alignment and calibration. They can do miracles in many ways, but of course they are not perfect, and never will be, no matter whose badge is on the grille. The factor you can control here is your vehicles Distronic calibration. It provides a reference angle to steering input, and lets the RADAR (and cameras) know what you will and will not be hitting any time soon. If that is not very precisely calibrated (it auto-calibrates through a procedure that takes about 10 minutes), it will incorrectly guess what you're going at.

My advice? Next time you need to swap tires, get a full alignment and Distronic calibration done. Will it 100% remove any chance of this happening again, probably not, as mentioned before, there are unique circumstances that can provide unusual reflections back to the RADAR and will fool it. Same for any other auto manufacturer. But at a minimum, I'd consider doing this to reduce the likelihood that it's something related to a calibration error, and that is something you can definitely do something about.