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2020 GLE 450 stopped running at stop sign after multiple warning notices!
UPDATE: After multiple conversations with several ppl getting nowhere, my SA called to say it had to be user error (questionable, though not impossible). He thinks a knee could bump the "A" button by the ignition and cause all of these problems. Not sure if that's true, but I parked and left car for a bit in garage and when I tried it again, everything was back to normal as if it never happened. I'll be recording any future mishaps to document. I'm not servicing it where I bought it due to the poor service and lack of interest or concern I received there.
EDIT: This happened in clear weather conditions on dry roads, though it did start to sprinkle when I was almost home, long after this started.
Had the car less than 3 weeks and was taking my son to work today close to home on back roads. While stopped at a stop sign, car issued multiple warnings suddenly one after the other (it freaked out!) about none of the driver's assist and safety features working, then shut down and would not respond to gas. Turned on, off and back on (after putting on hazards and having 10 people in nice, new, working luxury SUVs - other brands - drive around me) and check engine light was on but engine ran. Drove him to work anyway and came home but the whole time check engine light was on and strangely the consumption gauge was reading 999 mpg. A few warnings popped up during this time as well and a teal arrow with an "A" came on under check engine light.
Called dealership and they refused to bring me a loaner even though I am an insanely booked/busy single mom with my 85 year old sick mother who lives an hour the other direction. They wanted me to do roadside assistance or drive car 45 minutes (1.5 hours in traffic) the other direction. My down payment check doesn't even clear until next week!
Anyone else having gremlins with their system? This was my worst, unspoken fear. I'm anxious that this is just the beginning of a hellish nightmare with this car where I'm paying top dollar but always put out when the car suddenly needs unexpected service. Been there, done that, do not wish to revisit. I moved to Mercedes to avoid this. My last MB (ML350) never had a single mechanical issue in 5 years.
I had a solitary event where the engine was having serious misfires and shaking violently, a few lights were flashing on the dash as well. I shut the engine, restarted, and the issue persisted. I called roadside assistance and they were only good to get a tow truck for me. By the time the truck arrived 30-40 minutes later, the car started up no problem, and all lights were back to normal. This was a month ago, and the issue never came back.
I had a solitary event where the engine was having serious misfires and shaking violently, a few lights were flashing on the dash as well. I shut the engine, restarted, and the issue persisted. I called roadside assistance and they were only good to get a tow truck for me. By the time the truck arrived 30-40 minutes later, the car started up no problem, and all lights were back to normal. This was a month ago, and the issue never came back.
How frustrating. Is it too much to expect top notch service and expression of concern from the dealer in these situations? I love the car. But I do hope it does not continue to have strange glitches. Had it shut down mid freeway, we may have been in precarious, if not outright life threatening, situatons. I expect more concern from MB. I think we all should.
Roadside assistance is a service contracted out to a 3rd party call centre that most likely services multiple labels (brands/manufacturers); it has nothing to do with the dealer.
Right, but in my case, the dealer did not handle the situation well at all. And I am referring to concern from MB that their vehicle is performing like this before the ink is dry on the contract.
UPDATE: After multiple conversations with several ppl getting nowhere, my SA called to say it had to be user error (questionable, though not impossible). He thinks a knee could bump the "A" button by the ignition and cause all of these problems. Not sure if that's true, but I parked and left car for a bit in garage and when I tried it again, everything was back to normal as if it never happened. I'll be recording any future mishaps to document. I'm not servicing it where I bought it due to the poor service and lack of interest or concern I received there.
EDIT: This happened in clear weather conditions on dry roads, though it did start to sprinkle when I was almost home, long after this started.
Had the car less than 3 weeks and was taking my son to work today close to home on back roads. While stopped at a stop sign, car issued multiple warnings suddenly one after the other (it freaked out!) about none of the driver's assist and safety features working, then shut down and would not respond to gas. Turned on, off and back on (after putting on hazards and having 10 people in nice, new, working luxury SUVs - other brands - drive around me) and check engine light was on but engine ran. Drove him to work anyway and came home but the whole time check engine light was on and strangely the consumption gauge was reading 999 mpg. A few warnings popped up during this time as well and a teal arrow with an "A" came on under check engine light.
Called dealership and they refused to bring me a loaner even though I am an insanely booked/busy single mom with my 85 year old sick mother who lives an hour the other direction. They wanted me to do roadside assistance or drive car 45 minutes (1.5 hours in traffic) the other direction. My down payment check doesn't even clear until next week!
Anyone else having gremlins with their system? This was my worst, unspoken fear. I'm anxious that this is just the beginning of a hellish nightmare with this car where I'm paying top dollar but always put out when the car suddenly needs unexpected service. Been there, done that, do not wish to revisit. I moved to Mercedes to avoid this. My last MB (ML350) never had a single mechanical issue in 5 years.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Those are symptoms similar to those resulting from the AC Drain Recall. Have your AC Drain lines been checked yet?
I had an issue with my 2020 GLE 450, where the check engine light came on and the 48 V battery malfunction light come on, next the coolant light, check engine light. Had the vehicle tow back to the dealer. I forgot to mention this was October 1, 2020, and now its October 28, 2019 and they still cant solve the problem. Keep hearing consulting with the engineers in Germany. The have changed the 48V battery, changed the coolant, DCU, and still no fix. I purchased the car in September and been back twice, one for recall, and the current issue. Slowly getting the feeling I purchase a lemon. I don't think they have a clue on a fix!!!!!!
I had an issue with my 2020 GLE 450, where the check engine light came on and the 48 V battery malfunction light come on, next the coolant light, check engine light. Had the vehicle tow back to the dealer. I forgot to mention this was October 1, 2020, and now its October 28, 2019 and they still cant solve the problem. Keep hearing consulting with the engineers in Germany. The have changed the 48V battery, changed the coolant, DCU, and still no fix. I purchased the car in September and been back twice, one for recall, and the current issue. Slowly getting the feeling I purchase a lemon. I don't think they have a clue on a fix!!!!!!
Crap deal....Larger or Smaller Dealer? Location? This 48 Volt system is new so fixing issues may be a learning curve. That story from the Dealer almost sounds like an excuse. Germany can’t work miracles from a remote location and you have to wonder what they did before. Let’s hope they get it fixed soon.
Crap deal....Larger or Smaller Dealer? Location? This 48 Volt system is new so fixing issues may be a learning curve. That story from the Dealer almost sounds like an excuse. Germany can’t work miracles from a remote location and you have to wonder what they did before. Let’s hope they get it fixed soon.
Very large Dealer with location in Fort Worth, Arlington, and Grapevine, TX.
I had a similar incident in a 2017 GLE43 Coupe a week after picking up the new vehicle. I slowed down approaching a speed bump and the vehicle switch off. The dash board lights turned on like a Christmas tree. Everybody behind me drove past me looking at me as if I was an idiot who had borrowed the vehicle. Switched it off and everything was back to normal. Reported the incident to the dealer and got the popular feedback that I must have done something to the vehicle or didn't know how to operate the start stop system. Knew the system well as it is operates the same way as the one in my wife's 2015 C-class. Dashboards lights don't come on during normal operation of start stop system so something was definitely wrong. Fortunately, its now two and half years later and never had a problem. I assume it was some sort of a software glitch.
I had an issue with my 2020 GLE 450, where the check engine light came on and the 48 V battery malfunction light come on, next the coolant light, check engine light. Had the vehicle tow back to the dealer. I forgot to mention this was October 1, 2020, and now its October 28, 2019 and they still cant solve the problem. Keep hearing consulting with the engineers in Germany. The have changed the 48V battery, changed the coolant, DCU, and still no fix. I purchased the car in September and been back twice, one for recall, and the current issue. Slowly getting the feeling I purchase a lemon. I don't think they have a clue on a fix!!!!!!
November update: Mercedes agreed to buy back still no fix as to cause or possible fix. Looking forward to getting a list of the maintenance done. Hope everyone have better luck, and hope a fix is found. As for me, I did not want a brand new car that has been used as a test bed.
Last edited by Roadhog56; 12-05-2019 at 08:56 PM.
Reason: spelling
I had a solitary event where the engine was having serious misfires and shaking violently, a few lights were flashing on the dash as well. I shut the engine, restarted, and the issue persisted. I called roadside assistance and they were only good to get a tow truck for me. By the time the truck arrived 30-40 minutes later, the car started up no problem, and all lights were back to normal. This was a month ago, and the issue never came back.
I had this issue 2 months back on my 350 (Though this thread is about 450). We were driving to SFO from Bakersfield and the car stalled at 70mph on I-5. Somehow managed to pull over the shoulder and averted any collision (pure luck!). The RPM was basically bouncing off between 500-1500 rpm and car felt like a tractor. The car was shaking sideways and for a moment I believe airmatic system has gone nuts. Switched off the engine and restarted couple of times without any luck. After an hour, the car recovered and next day I left it at Fletcher Jones Mercedes (Fremont, CA). It took 4 weeks to diagnose the issue and the Throttle Valve Actuator was replaced under warranty. Thanks to my extensive documentation, they were able to locate freezeframes of all errors and finally zeroed on this issue. Mercedes must issue a recall if I was not the only one facing this issue. This was life threatening because the car loses power without any warning.
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Stranded on i-5. Mercedes SOS/Roadside assistance connectivity issues from car to add to our woes.
I had this issue 2 months back. We were driving to SFO from Bakersfield and the car stalled at 70mph on I-5. Somehow managed to pull over the shoulder and averted any collision (pure luck!). The RPM was basically bouncing off between 500-1500 rpm and car felt like a tractor. The car was shaking sideways and for a moment I believe airmatic system has gone nuts. Switched off the engine and restarted couple of times without any luck. After an hour, the car recovered and next day I left it at Fletcher Jones Mercedes (Fremont, CA). It took 4 weeks to diagnose the issue and the Throttle Valve Actuator was replaced under warranty. Thanks to my extensive documentation, they were able to locate freezeframes of all errors and finally zeroed on this issue. Mercedes must issue a recall if I was not the only one facing this issue. This was life threatening because the car loses power without any warning.
My ordeal explained in an email to my service advisor :
Hi <service advisor>,
Appreciate the opportunity for reaching out to you. I would like to document the entire experience while it is being attended to at Fletcher Jones.
Complete case details (In case it helps technicians):
On Sunday, Oct/6, I was driving back to my home (XXXXXXX, Santa Clara CA 95050) from Bakersfield on Freeway I-5 northbound. At approximately 4:12 PM PST near Lost Hills area (35.7923945, -119.7833200), the car had an emergency life threatening situation.
The car was on Adaptive cruise (Distronic on), Lane keep assist enabled, stop-and-go enabled, Blind spot monitoring enabled at the time of driving. We moved to faster lane after overtaking a truck. As designed, the car started slowing down to 65mph while following a car ahead of us due to Distronic feature. Auto-start stop feature was turned off during this whole trip. The car did display 70mph speed limit icon on HUD/digital dashboard (So I assume speed limit recognition must have been working.
Suddenly the car started displaying following warnings on Digital display:
1. ABS inoperative
2. Active brake assist functions limited (See Operator's manual)
3. Active blind spot assist inoperative
4. Active lane keeping assist inoperative
5. Traffic sign assist inoperative - Traffic sign assist malfunctioning - Consult workshop (Displayed on MBUX)
While all these errors started showing up, the car ahead of us started accelerating. This is where the situation got worse. Our car stopped accelerating. We hit accelerator and there was no response. On close inspection we saw that RPM was fluctuating between 500-1500 rpm and losing power. Please make a note that we were still on the highway when this happened and constantly decelerating from 65mph. This was a panic situation. The car was jerking due to loss of power and as it decelerated, it was gracefully dropping gears from D9 as the speed was reducing. We managed to get to slower lane and eventually pull over to the shoulder by luckily averting high speed hazards. This was a dramatic feat and a miracle in itself that we avoided a serious accident. After we pulled over, we switched on the hazard lights. We noticed that the whole car was shaking as the RPM was fluctuating between 500-1500rpm. We switched off the engine and gave it a minute to settle down. We were able to see those warnings, check engine lights and engine fluctuations again. We have video recorded the evidence of this in case you may need it for further debugging. We switched off the engine after realizing that vibrations will not recover. At this point, I had a persistent check engine light. Scared and losing hope I pressed the SOS button to reach Mercedes roadside assistance. After few attempts, I finally was able to place call and they were able to locate me. After assessing the situation they transferred the car to roadside assistance. The transfer did not complete. We tried reaching via "mercedes me" button but there was no network for that. Using our cellphones, I reached out to roadside assistance, and they recommended that car be towed. After spending one hour, and not hearing from them, I decided to callback. They said that they were still figuring out with the towing agency. This was so disappointing. We were expecting to get towed and have ETA's but the roadside assistance was not up-to-the mark in keep us informed. They said they could not locate me, despite me connecting to Emergency Assistance who could ironically locate me. The system is so fragmented. Nevertheless, I decided that we cannot stand stranded for so long and decided to give one final try. I took my chances with old school method of fully pressing accelerator pedal and crank the car (This was after 1.5 hours), and the car started !. What a relief! I called up roadside assistance and informed them that I could drive the car now and if car breaks down again, I will notify them. Before hitting the road, I checked the windshield, and camera areas looked clear. I wiped all camera even though they looked clear. I disabled all assist features and drove normally for another 100 miles, before topping off for gas. Meanwhile after 2 hours of reporting incident, I heard back from towing company and I asked them to cancel since car was drivable. Finally, we make a halt after some 100 miles to refuel. Till here, the "Check Engine Light" was on. At gas station, I filled 91 grade fuel, I cleaned the windshields just to be really sure that nothing is on the camera. I verified the gas cap so that fuel line is properly sealed. After this stop, the check engine line cleared, and I drive normally back to my home (80 miles) with all features working normally and no errors.
I have following major concerns (and seeking answers from Mercedes USA if needed):
1. Why did engine start stalling if sensors were not functioning properly ?
2. What was the check engine light for and why did it disappear again ?
3. Will the car be reliable predictably after the issue is resolved ?
4. Is there any transmission damage due to engine stalling ?
I expect Mercedes USA to fully extend support to your Fletcher Jones dealership and fully keep me in loop with the findings since this was a safety concern.
At the time we pulled over, engine was at 50% heat, half tank of gas left. The last gas was 91 grade fuel from CHEVRON 0378245 BAKER CA.
Request attention from Mercedes into this matter very seriously. I have been driving cars for last 12 years, but never had a car fail on me. This was life threatening situation, but I'm only discussing the technical aspects here so that any software issues can be resolved with utmost care. Please advice if I should be reporting this at https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/
I have a small video on errors that showed up and images from I-5 that captures the ordeal. I can provide at your request.
My ordeal explained in an email to my service advisor :
Hi <service advisor>,
Appreciate the opportunity for reaching out to you. I would like to document the entire experience while it is being attended to at Fletcher Jones.
Complete case details (In case it helps technicians):
On Sunday, Oct/6, I was driving back to my home (XXXXXXX, Santa Clara CA 95050) from Bakersfield on Freeway I-5 northbound. At approximately 4:12 PM PST near Lost Hills area (35.7923945, -119.7833200), the car had an emergency life threatening situation
Kiss of death to my GLE450 happened last night. 23 degrees out, 5 inches of slush on the ground. We get in the car and screen pops up with PARK Parking Brake see operators manual. Then ABS Inoperative with every warning light comes on. Would not start and would not go into gear. Mercedes service took 2 1/2 hours to arrive and had to skate it out of the parking space with the tow hook (never knew I had one).
No matter what I did I could not get the headlights off. Switch would not work, double click lock or time out did nothing. I now know they will stay on for two hours before the battery gives out.
Off to the dealer and after 6 hours of scanning the exact cause was determined. It was officially a software glitch! Yup, could happen again, no idea why...............16,000 miles early April delivery.
Kiss of death to my GLE450 happened last night. 23 degrees out, 5 inches of slush on the ground. We get in the car and screen pops up with PARK Parking Brake see operators manual. Then ABS Inoperative with every warning light comes on. Would not start and would not go into gear. Mercedes service took 2 1/2 hours to arrive and had to skate it out of the parking space with the tow hook (never knew I had one).
No matter what I did I could not get the headlights off. Switch would not work, double click lock or time out did nothing. I now know they will stay on for two hours before the battery gives out.
Off to the dealer and after 6 hours of scanning the exact cause was determined. It was officially a software glitch! Yup, could happen again, no idea why...............16,000 miles early April delivery.
Has not happened to me yet. I’m an April delivery and mine seems to build up software conflicts. Too many different software contractors. I wonder if unhooking the battery ground would have cleared things up. I carry a 10mm wrench with me. My dealer did that at MB Tech suggestion a few months ago.
That's very annoying. I am planning a trip to Toronto in January, might bring that wrench with me. @DaveD9 did they reboot it by disconnecting the battery under passenger's seat?
I'm not sure what they did but because the lights would not go off the battery died. So I assume that could have been a reboot. The other thing I don't understand is that all of my settings were intact. I was expecting that I was going to have to reset everything.
Kiss of death to my GLE450 happened last night. 23 degrees out, 5 inches of slush on the ground. We get in the car and screen pops up with PARK Parking Brake see operators manual. Then ABS Inoperative with every warning light comes on. Would not start and would not go into gear. Mercedes service took 2 1/2 hours to arrive and had to skate it out of the parking space with the tow hook (never knew I had one).
No matter what I did I could not get the headlights off. Switch would not work, double click lock or time out did nothing. I now know they will stay on for two hours before the battery gives out.
Off to the dealer and after 6 hours of scanning the exact cause was determined. It was officially a software glitch! Yup, could happen again, no idea why...............16,000 miles early April delivery.
16,000 miles is a lot considering we have a 4yr. 15K a year lease. Our mountain home is a 360 mile round trip that we do most weekends May-November. Combine that with my refusal to drive the wife's Jag XJ and we certainly drove the GLE a lot. She has a 450 Cabriolet now so we will even things out a little. Thankfully the grandkids fit well in the wife's car and love the top down (think arms in the air like a roller coaster)
Buying our daughter a car for Christmas and after this tow incident the wife will not consider a Mercedes. Looking like a Volvo now
Kiss of death to my GLE450 happened last night. 23 degrees out, 5 inches of slush on the ground. We get in the car and screen pops up with PARK Parking Brake see operators manual. Then ABS Inoperative with every warning light comes on. Would not start and would not go into gear. Mercedes service took 2 1/2 hours to arrive and had to skate it out of the parking space with the tow hook (never knew I had one).
No matter what I did I could not get the headlights off. Switch would not work, double click lock or time out did nothing. I now know they will stay on for two hours before the battery gives out.
Off to the dealer and after 6 hours of scanning the exact cause was determined. It was officially a software glitch! Yup, could happen again, no idea why...............16,000 miles early April delivery.
This has been happening to me a few times lately.
What I do is depress the starter button and hold it a few seconds. If the engine does not turn, I let go, and open the driver side door. Usually this turns everything off.
Igf it doesn't, I just cycle through the usual power on, engine on, engine off, open door, close door.
If that doesn't work, I'll get out and lock the car too, and after waiting 20 seconds or so, unlock the car and start over. By this time, I'm good to go, however, my 360° cameras don't always work. Everything is back to normal after having driven 10-15 minutes. when I get out of the car for a few minutes and return back.
Same here - exact problem - except mine would start on the 3rd attempt (complete cycle) - reached the point where it was happening every morning but fortunately repeatedly pressing the start button at about 5s intervals would see the messages clear on the 2nd cycle and normal operation on the 3rd.
It went back to the dealer about a week ago - got it back same day - they said it was a software issue - haven't seen it since.
09-27-2019, 10:02 AM
