I am starting this thread to give informative document and a head-up warning for MB EV owners. thebigkat82 has 1 post, however, that thead has been derailed so bad with noises.
A few days ago, out of the blue moon without warning, my EQS poped these warnings (see pics): RED "Malfunction" & "Towing Not Permitted" and nothing I could do to start my SUV... DEAD on my driveway. I contacted my dealer/service department, of course, Service Adviser to call MB Roadside Assistant. Got the SUV to the dealer and so far we are waiting for Germany engineers who will look at the SUV's historical data to determine the root cause of this malfunction. At the mean time, I am driving a GLC350e PHEV loaner.

Yikes but you never know, might just be a software issue. hopefully that was it.

Thanks and that's what I hope too or just 12-volt battery or just reprogramming to get it back and keep on going. From other thread, the OP has to replace the whole new HV battery. Cross my fingers. So far, I really love to drive my EQS-SUV even drove a few road trips with no gliches until this Wed... the day before Thanksgivings; Yikes is right. Anyway, I have been experiencing the PHEV loaner for a few days and so far so good for the PHEV's purposes. Nothing in comparison to the BEV; the only good thing about the PHEV is no range anxiety after the battery dropped to 0%.

I see, hopefully you get it back soon. The weight of the PHEV plus the not as smooth drive when the ICE kicks in will be annoying coming from pure EV.

Update: SA just update status of EQS and it will get a new pack of battery shipping from Germany ETA of 2 weeks. At the mean time, I am keeping the PHEV GLC350e to drive. Just FYI, So far, I like it for the purpose of PHEV and driving around local mostly EL mode; Hybrid on hwy switching between Gas and Battery automatically as power demanded. Confirming the sound of the engine is not pleasant but it's smooth operation gas/battery seamlessly though. For gas savings purposes, it's definitely saving some gas if it's plugged in overnight at home and at work. The 1st 20-30 miles it may consume 10%-20% of gas, mostly on EL... and battery level drops almost empty 0%... then It's a gas only vehicle and the gas meter going down really quick. I will update with the new battery once it's installed.

Yikes, so the battery failed? : ( Sorry to hear that, here is another thread on this: https://mbworld.org/forums/eqs-suv/9...e-battery.html

Update: Xmas gift to me a New battery pack installed. Everything is back. Wish me luck on the new battery.
Closing this chapter.

Thanks for updating us. Glad it is resolved now : ) Enjoy the gift.

Hi Guys: Same thing happened to me this morning. Car is at dealership, waiting to hear what the issue is. BTW, just got the car in December. I"m on a road trip! Stranded, no loaner car available. They sent me an uber to the satellite office I'm working from today...

What is the warranty on that replacement battery? Is it the same as the original warranty or reduced?

Seems the vehicle does not alert you that updates are available until there is a fault. So, long story shore,, the vehicle which I purchased certified pre owned in December 2024 was about 15 updates behind. Took vehicle in, they kept overnight, and everything was installed by ten the next morning. They also replaced the 12v under warranty.

Answer: Unknown and unknown. This is a lease SUV... I don't intend to keep it after lease end, therefore, it will not effect my future ownership. I assume the new battery is covered by the same original purchased date warranty. This is an interested discussion with MBUSA later. Any one has some ideas, please share.

Hi Frankie, So your SUV is fixed by updates and replaced 12V battery? or the root cause is the dead 12v battery? Not the transmission? may be a concern of 12v battery. Strength that all the updates not updating by over air wifi!!! So far, my SUV has been updated automatically by air, except the recall update that I had to bring it in to get it updated by the dealer. I love driving this EQS every day, hopefully, that keeping12v battery fully charged.

The 12v system controls all of the electronics in the car, similar to an ICE 12v battery. The high voltage battery is only for propulsion, and for keeping the 12v charged (assuming it's functioning properly). If the 12v system has a fault, it can cause the electronics to go crazy, and produce false positive errors.

So, the saga continues. I left Miami for the return road trip to Texas on Saturday morning. I made it as far as Vicksburg, where I overnighted. At 7am, I got in the car to hit the road for the final leg home, and got the malfunction messages below. I tried rebooting, locking the car with the key fob three times, and walking away for 5 minutes. Didn’t work. Had to schedule a tow to Shreveport, and MB gave me a Lyft to Longview. Car is at dealership again, twice in a week. I still love driving the car, and the user experience is usually top notch. I hope this gets all sorted. It’s my 2nd EV, first was ‘22 Mach e GTPE… never had to have it towed…

Fault message.

fault message

Oh NO!!! not again. Sorry to see the problem came back. Hope you get it fixed soon and please post what really a root cause. It's really cold here in MN now, -6 is high today & -18 tonight. Let's see if EQS is handling this extreme temperature yet. So far, charging is so slow even with DC fast charge at EA. Yesterday morning, -12, driver-sise door handle refused to pop out while 3 others popped and I had to get in from other doors and able to open the driver door from the inside. Driving errant for about 30 minutes and stopped by EA charging for 30 minutes. Still inoperation for driver door until later at noon I came out the shopping mall and got in my suv without paying attention that every doors were working normally. I will keep track this door-open issue if it's back again. Any idea or how to open the doors when the handles not popping out?

I've read a number of posts in various fora about EQS and even EQE handles not popping out. While I am sure cold weather can contribute, I've read where some people needed to have their problem handles replaced under warranty.
To open a stuck handle, slide a credit card (or similar) plastic item along the top edge of the handle to force it out enough so you can get your fingers in to pull it out even further. While holding it out, you will be able to insert the emergency metal key from you fob into the key slot, which will open the door.

Good advice definitely have to do if can't unlock the normal way and also enjoy the alarm going off : )

Yet another warning due to extreme COLD weather here; -21 temp and -40s Wind-chill last night. This morning another RED warning due to battery operative temperature. Luckily, it was driveable to bring the battery temp up within about 10 minutes and the warning went off. Another heart-attack episole!!! Yes, I'm still tolerable yet with EQS, it's a learning curve of owning an EV.

The silent propulsion might still be worth it and make up for all of it. For those who don't like the gasoline smell, that too.

My wife's 2023 EQS 450 got a 'May Not Start" warning the other day after being parked out for about 2 hours. I did not see the warning or how it was configured. The car did start after a short time so trying to start must have activated the system and warmed the battery enough to start. When she got home the car indicated it needed to charge when it had an indicated charge of about 32%. She hooked up the EVSE and the battery charged and has been fine since. We are in Saskatoon SK and it was about -25C to -27C at the time with wind chill in the mid -30C range. The car is stored in a garage heated to 10C (50F) at home. This was the first warning we have received about starting or not and our second winter with similar conditions. She is at the local civic center most week days for 2 to 3 hours and usually is able to hook up to one of two free L2 EVSEs but they are getting busier and often blocked by non EV vehicles. We will see how she makes out as we have frequent cold conditions here.

Here is the red warning pic:

Red warning... Reduced drive.
This warning kept stay on till 10 minutes driving gently to warm up the battery; There were a message screen about the battery's temperature is outside of operative performance (TOO COLD) prior to this warning. I couldn't take pic of that message. I didn't read the operator's manual as instructed, luckly it's resolved by itself after 10 minutes of driving. I assumed the software system automatically reduced the performance, therefore, I used the side street with the speed limits of 30-35 mph and upto 45-60 mph hwy after the warning disappeared. Not so smart assumption, but I was in a hurry to go to work and I didn't want to start my S550 to warm up for another 10-minute sequence; Just want to see how smart of MB's AI.

@FrankieTG Did it get resolved? I am going through same transmission error and car getting locked on the Park Gear position.

Hi, yes was resolved. Tried remotely to reboot the system. But didn’t work. Had to call for a tow. The dealership had to install software updates. My car, before I bought it, had not been driven or updated for over a year I imagine and was way behind on updates. I’ll upload description of updates done in a couple of days. Good luck! I still love the car.