keman58

Hi Everyone,

We received our new 2022 GLE450 in October 2022. We've put less than 1800km on the vehicle since driving it off the lot. Last week the brakes started high pitch squealing and also a couple days later, the engine light went on. Should we be concerned that this car is a lemon or is this normal for a new car? Thank you for your responses in advance.

chassis

Sorry to hear of the experience. Fortunately your vehicle is covered by manufacturer's warranty. This means there should be no cost to you, other than your time and aggravation which should not be underestimated. Especially at this price point.

If you read this section of the site, you will find myriad long standing and yet-unsolved problems with this platform, sadly. MB really goofed on this model.

Hopefully your dealer is able to rectify the situation. In the US, lemon laws are relatively protective. Not sure how this works up north.

E55Greasemonkey

mikapen

​​​​​Your two issues are probably unrelated.

You will have to be more specific about your check engine light, for us to be able to offer an opinion. What did the pop-up warning say?
Also check your service menu for alerts and see if there's anything in the messages there.
You might also find that clicking the message will take you to more info.

Regarding the brakes, you probably need to spend some time with some aggressive stops, to bed in the brakes.
It's Not unusual for new cars, when people are driving carefully during break in, to develop a glaze on the brake pads that squeal or squeak.
Find an isolated place where nobody is around and you can accelerate and brake without traffic.

Drive 60 or 70 miles an hour, then do an aggressive stop, down to 10 miles an hour, re accelerate to 60, stop hard to 10, and repeat four or five times. That'll probably fix your squealing problem.
If it doesn't, you haven't been aggressive now in your stopping.
​​​​​​ You might do a search for bedding in brakes to get some insight what's going on.

Give us more information on your warning light, try bedding your brakes, and let us know what happens.

HotRodW

Two unrelated problems certainly don't make it a lemon. In fact, by definition, a lemon is typically a single defect or series of related defects that continue unresolved. Your problems could become that, but you're nowhere near that at this point. If you're lucky, you'll get them resolved quickly, and you'll go on to have a long a wonderful relationship with your Benz. Don't hold your breath though ... additional problems are possible - some would say probable. It's the nature of the beast.

It's too bad the Europeans can't build a vehicle as reliable as a Lexus. Conversely, it's a shame Lexus doesn't offer anything as remotely as satisfying to drive as the Europeans. A Range Rover Sport with a Lexus ownership experience? Where do I sign? Maybe Mazda will finally be the one. Watching the CX-70 very, very closely ...

EL-34

German cars are typically the first to use new, unproven engine tech where Japanese cars, until recently, use proven 30+ year old tech.

German quality is not something that most can appreciate until one has owned one for many, many years and experiences. The intangibles such as weight. The roof strength. Door weight and closing sound. Plastic part quality. I drove my old German car through a nasty hailstorm on the highway with thousands of others. Despite the dents to the sheetmetal I kept driving by Lexus and other cars with blown out windows and broken plastic.

There's the real deal then there are fake luxury cars with hollow, styrofoam bumpers.

After owning a Benz (finally) everything else pales in comparison. A friend just bought a new Mazda CX 50. It's not even the same league in every way.

It boils down to compromises for the Japanese cars.

shotgun_banjo

I would actually find it weird not to see anything wrong with the first year of ownership of a brand new MB. I had a check engine light too when I got the vehicle with almost the same mileage as you had. It went away after a day or two and never showed up again. The brakes might just need some bedding in. Here is a tip since you have a 450, push the dynamic select to SPORT and don't be shy to push the gas pedal (don't do a kick down). Let the 5 ton brick rocket for a few traffic lights then hit the brake pedal.

BlueYonder

Brake squealing is a common problem (feature?) on BMW's too. Braking hard fixes it. A car that is allowed to sit for extended periods in a wet or humid environment will pick up rust on the rotors that can cause this problem.

HotRodW

There's some truth to what you're saying. Some. German cars are absolutely at the forefront of technology, making them susceptible to bugs and growing pains. It seems my car tests my patience on a daily basis with CarPlay issues, false sensor alerts and other such nonsense. They're also engineered to be dynamically superior, generally speaking (which is the reason I continue to live with the growing number compromises). But structurally better? That might have been true at one time, but you'll have to show me some sort of evidence supporting the argument that it's true today. I would think if it were so, it would be reflected in crash-test ratings and insurance costs. They'd also last notably longer, and the forum wouldn't be full of complaints about squeaks and rattles.

HotRodW

My brakes have never squealed, but if I park the car wet, the brakes will seize. It takes a pretty heavy push on the accelerator to brake them free if it has sat for a couple days, and the clunk it makes is unreal. It feels like I backed over a curb when they finally let loose. I'll be in trouble if it ever happens in a tight parallel parking situation.

E55Greasemonkey

You can avoid this problem by releasing the parking brake (if safe to do so) before you exit the car.

HotRodW

I was actually wondering that as I was typing that response earlier. Now I'm wondering why I should have to consciously override a feature that was put there for a reason? Also wondering if others have this problem?

E55Greasemonkey

It's very common across many of their models... ever since MB introduced the electric parking brakes and decided to automatically engage it every time you turn the engine off or open the door. I wonder if their lawyers got involved, or they don't have faith in their ISM's (electronic shifter for the transmission). Also, any disturbance in the drivetrain CAN network could render the ISM useless thus not engaging PARK and the vehicle rolling away. There's no longer any mechanical link to the transmission in many models.

10 years ago when the ISM was introduced on the 212 E-class. Later models they fixed by auto-engaging PARK when a door was opened, this model had manual parking brakes:

Aggie57

Miata…..just saying

TonyF61

Are you able to pull the code for CEL? I had my '22 for about two months before it came on as well. For me, the code was P0456. Dealer was able to take care, as they should have. Took 2 days - needed to order a part.

hutch300

I'll do this in the future after I wash the car.

mikapen

Good idea.
I couldn't find any way to do that until THIS POST (click link) in early February by @superswiss .

It was more than aggravating on my Cayenne, too, since when 4wheeling, you couldn't open the door to look directly at your rear wheel. You know, the one on the big rock.
There may be some kind of Fed regulation that requires parking brake application - I wouldn't be surprised.

Even doing a lot of braking to heat up the discs after a carwash didn't work, so I'm following this sequence:

Come to a stop, open door, disengage parking brake, shut off engine.
Then you can either close the door and stay in the car, or get out.

Thanks @superswiss !

shotgun_banjo

what was replaced?

TonyF61

I will have to pull the service record if I still have it.

W205C43PFL

I think Mazda had came a long way, they also been going upmarket and the price sort of reflects that too, in one way they are trying to be the old Mercedes with the buttons and stuff, totally not a coincidence that their brand also starts with a letter "M"... as if does it work? Well, maybe while at the same time they are known for fun vehicles like the MX-5 so they also focus on the handling part, in one way you could think they are trying to be like BMW as well for bringing inline-6 to the lineup.

At the same time, Mercedes decided to go down market (through the A-Class in North America, I am aware the A-Class was in Europe long before it came to North America). That said though, Mercedes is again going back up market by eliminating some entry level offerings so there is that.

I am genuinely curious though, when you said it is not the same league in every way, what are some examples? Was the vehicle the loaded GT trim? (I think that is the top trim for that model, not sure though as I am not familiar with their brand). What are the main concerns and issues you have with that vehicle? Could it be refinement, build quality, features, comfort, NVH, etc. or was it entirely something else?

EL-34

Did you know that there has never been a car accident fatality in the GLE? How you underestimate the integrity of MB is naive.

Mine has no squeaks and rattles either.

EL-34

You're right that the only similarity is the M. That's all.

Yes, it was the loaded GT trim.

As much as you'd like to be more enlightened about this discrepancy between the two makes I have other things I can do with my time more wisely for me.

W205C43PFL

It is not that though, I was curious what you didn't like about it and which part you meant MB did better (or in your words: not even in the same league), like genuine curiosity, I understand you might not want to talk about it because your time is used for something else that is perfectly fine and I understand. I appreciate your reply either way.

HotRodW

You can show me your source for that right after you show me your source for the structure claim.

HotRodW

You're correct - Mazda has come a long way. I think their decision to use a torsion beam rear on the CX-50 was a mistake, but I understand why they did it. And for the most part it works fine. From a value perspective the CX-50 is hard to beat. The powertrain lacks a bit of refinement, but the interior quality punches way above its class. Ultimately it'll be the new CX-90 and upcoming CX-70 that will determine if Mazda can legitimately be considered alongside Lexus, Acura, Genesis or even the Germans. I'm anxious to sample the straight six. It won't have the pull of the Benz or BMW straight sixes, but the EPA ratings of 23 city/28 highway/25 combined are very impressive, and it should still outperform even the best mainstream competitors.