cypress822

I would like to know who is having rough downshifts when stopping with their GLE 450. Mine is really getting annoying.

MBguy013

There's another thread that talks about this as there are a few on here who have said the same thing, me included. Mine isn't as bad as it was initially. No idea why the change but there are still rough, or more aggressive than necessary, downshifts along with a clunky drivetrain.

Sieveboy

I drive around wishing that I could hook up a TH400 to that nice MB I-6

HotRodW

Mine had been improving, but recently it's gotten worse again. At 4k miles, it's worse than it's ever been.

Meric

My 450 es very rough downshifting when braking to a stop. I started showing down earlier and breaking softer. This made the shifting a lot smoother although the potential is still there. Was thinking that mb could have done a better job in this respect.

mikapen

My experience seems to be that it's rougher in Comfort than Sport.
Maybe it's hoping to go into first gear, but remembers at the last moment that Comfort wants 2nd gear. Seems smoother if it can just go down where it makes more sense. (?)

If I've been racing around, training the transmission to be aggressive, that's the way it stops, too. Then if I want a gentle stop, it's counter to recent driving habits.

cupecoy

Mine has a very pronounced kick when it downshifts from 3rd into 2nd and 1st. It's least noticeable in Comfort and downright crazy in Sport+.

mikapen

So, your experience is the opposite of mine.
It sounds like people's experiences are different, and this thread is combining several symptoms that may not be related.

I wonder if everybody who's complained, reset their transmission programming, to see if the condition continues.
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Meric

Is doing a reprogram really a thing that can be done? Sounds interesting.

Frenetic

It clunked once during a downshift but hasn’t happened since.

TonyF61

Mine seem to be more pronounced when braking with the distronic cruise control activated, and more so with the stop and go feature.

Kadimaher

done reprogramming. Done driving softly so it learns. No improvement. People who say have had theirs resolved, said the only thing that worked was getting the “Valve Body” changed. And that is gear related. I am hoping the dealership is doing this for me as we speak and will see the results hopefully next week.

haibieb

No issues here with our 22 GLE 450 SUV since we got it in 11/21.

mikapen

Good troubleshooting. That gives the shop a head start, and also provides them with better documentation when they file the repair.
I'll bet that solves your problem.

I've only had one transmission problem in the several Mercedes I've owned, and it was in the 2010 ML diesel.
At about 300 miles, it started shifting really badly. It turned out to be contamination in the third gear valve body. Warrantied.
Never a hint of a problem after that, including some RV towing.

Dunga

I won’t vote because you specified 450 but I’ve noticed some harsh 3==>2 shifts when slowly coming to a stop. Can be quite jarring and this is in comfort mode. Maybe it’s the 48v system in my 63? I don’t know. Haven’t been able to reliably replicate it. Even my wife noticed it when driving.

BlueYonder

Seems to be a common complaint with Mercedes transmissions. My GLE 550e (7 speed) had the same problem. Almost violent at times. After multiple attempts at software fixes, Mercedes finally replaced the transmission valve body. I still have a very occasional clunk, both nothing like the original problem.

Kadimaher

ok just got the car back. They changed the Gear control Unit, not the gear valve body, and the car still does rough downshifting. Mercedes global are still playing a guessing game even though there are hundreds of complaints worldwide about the same thing that no other car on the planet does. And they still try to tell you it’s normal. It’s not. And i think the car is going back for another visit until they actually fix it.

randsny

I have experience rough down shifting 4>3 3>2. I recently went if for some service and complained to the service manager about the rough shifting. After a number of test drives with no real consistent shifting problems the tech noticed the transfer case was running older software. The tech upgraded the software, and the shifting problem seems to be fixed. I will need to put more miles on the car, however it is promising. If you are having rough shifting problems, I suggest you try upgrading the transfer case software.

TonyF61

Does anyone know if there is a way to check the version before scheduling service? I like to be prepared when they tell me there is "nothing wrong".

HotRodW

In nearly 50k miles our GLC's 9-speed has never exhibited such behavior. Not one time. We've experienced the occasional downshift clunk during sudden acceleration, but even that is rare.