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Roadside attached the front tow hook and the car went easily into Neural and he was able to load it up the truck without problems.
Called the Front Service desk said no loaners till Nov 2nd, however my sales guy was able to arrange one.
Drove in the pickup to the dealership and have a GLB now.
While talking to the service advisor, he said they have seen a few of these and if it is 48V, then it will take a day to order it as there is some special order process to get a new battery.
Will update once I know more.
It's fortunate that you weren't a 48 volt battery victim earlier in the year (e.g., January/February). Members were posting then that there weren't any available replacement batteries and they had to wait for weeks (some even longer) for them to be shipped from Germany. At least now, from what I've been reading, dealers seem to be ready for the problem, and wait times have been relatively minimal. Still, it real sucks to see so many pictures of new beautiful Mercs up on the flatbeds.
So received an update today that it is the 48V battery.
There is some new requisition process and they are hoping to have the battery by Friday/Monday and the car ready in a day or two after that.
2021 GLS450 48v issue allegedly caused by defective radiator
We got our GLS450 about a month ago. 3 weeks and 1300 miles later we got the dreaded red error message regarding the battery. It was towed straight to the dealership. The battery had to be replaced. Once installed, they noticed that there was a coolant/radiator leak, which was suspected to have caused the battery issue. They replaced it as well. I have attached their summary for your reference as I am not well versed enough to articulate their findings in detail. I wonder if this is what has been causing issues for others.
Just had the "48V Malfunctioning" warning message last week. I came back to the car with the headlights all on and the warning on the dash (I locked the car before I left). No engine lights and I'm at around 16k Miles. My car started okay and the light went away. I went and brought it to the dealership this Monday and they updated my software, but MBUSA wouldn't approve a battery change. Feeling kind of uneasy with the old battery still. Was anybody able to convince them to change the battery out? I'm going to be making some long road trips soon and really don't want to get stranded in the mountains in winter. I did contact MBUSA and filed a claim to get the battery changed, but I'm sure they won't budge on this until the car needs to get towed.
Just had the "48V Malfunctioning" warning message last week. I came back to the car with the headlights all on and the warning on the dash (I locked the car before I left). No engine lights and I'm at around 16k Miles. My car started okay and the light went away. I went and brought it to the dealership this Monday and they updated my software, but MBUSA wouldn't approve a battery change. Feeling kind of uneasy with the old battery still. Was anybody able to convince them to change the battery out? I'm going to be making some long road trips soon and really don't want to get stranded in the mountains in winter. I did contact MBUSA and filed a claim to get the battery changed, but I'm sure they won't budge on this until the car needs to get towed.
I completely relate to your anxiety about a long trip. I actually changed my plans to drive from Ohio to Florida this winter for that exact reason -- lack of confidence in the battery/EQ Boost system. The good news is that your situation doesn't really sound like most of the "bad batch of batteries" stories that have been reported here. For one, in most of the reported cases the car just wouldn't start and needed to be put on a flatbed, and the typical instrument panel message was "Stop Vehicle - See Owner's Manual". Your 16k mileage also seems to be way higher than any of the other bad battery reports. Typically, the breakdowns have occurred in relatively low mileage situations -- in my case, at less then 200 miles and then again at less than 800 miles. I think I've seen some reports as high as the 5 to 10k range, but that hasn't been typical. If I'm wrong about that, I'm sure someone will correct me here. I would add that in my cases anyway, MBUSA didn't hesitate to replace the batteries based on the diagnostics, so hopefully your problem really is resolved by the software update. That said, it's hard to get your confidence back once this is happened. I get that. Here's hoping you have no more problems.
Thanks, I do agree that my situation seems to be better than what I've seen on here. If they don't approve the change, I hope the software update is enough.
Ironically, the GLE 350 they gave me as a longer car just now had the exact same warning but says "12V Battery" instead. The exact scene came back to the headlights and taillights all on with the warning on the dash. That's strange because the car doesnt have any 48V system. I'm 100% sure its nothing caused from me.. I swear!
Thanks, I do agree that my situation seems to be better than what I've seen on here. If they don't approve the change, I hope the software update is enough.
Ironically, the GLE 350 they gave me as a longer car just now had the exact same warning but says "12V Battery" instead. The exact scene came back to the headlights and taillights all on with the warning on the dash. That's strange because the car doesnt have any 48V system. I'm 100% sure its nothing caused from me.. I swear!
For what it's worth, I never received a 48 volt battery warning. I did receive a "12 volt battery critical" message on MercedesMe, even though the problems were in fact the 48 volt battery.
Had the 48V issue happen to me last night on my 2021 GLS450. Towed to the dealer, waiting on a loaner today. Hoping the issue is resolved so the vehicle can be dependable long term for road trips and commute.
also had the 12v warning on right display and had the coolant/overheating warning in red on driver display.
Thanks. That seems to be on the high side compared to most of the people who have reported a dead battery issue. However, another poster (SEPicks) recently reported a set of facts similar to yours at I think around 16k miles. In his case, MBUSA did not replace the battery and just updated some software. At this point, I don't know whether that did the trick, but MBUSA seemed to think that was all that was needed. Maybe that will be the case with you as well. Good luck!
Thanks. That seems to be on the high side compared to most of the people who have reported a dead battery issue. However, another poster (SEPicks) recently reported a set of facts similar to yours at I think around 16k miles. In his case, MBUSA did not replace the battery and just updated some software. At this point, I don't know whether that did the trick, but MBUSA seemed to think that was all that was needed. Maybe that will be the case with you as well. Good luck!
I had my first service visit the day before (Monday 11/1/21), they might have disconnected something and messed up putting it back or done something to the software. I called and scheduled it w/ ~300 miles to 10,000 but they couldn’t get me in for a few weeks due to the staffing shortages seen across the country in all industries.
Thanks. That seems to be on the high side compared to most of the people who have reported a dead battery issue. However, another poster (SEPicks) recently reported a set of facts similar to yours at I think around 16k miles. In his case, MBUSA did not replace the battery and just updated some software. At this point, I don't know whether that did the trick, but MBUSA seemed to think that was all that was needed. Maybe that will be the case with you as well. Good luck!
I got my car back yesterday after MBUSA wouldn't budge with the replacement battery. Hopefully this software update fixes everything, crossing fingers.
As much, as I am enamored by the M256/I-6 cylinder engine that 48v system seems like a future achilles heel. The dealer told me the battery is $2,600 bucks in the box then it looks like half the interior has to be removed to get to it.....
I will have to be happy with my lowly 21 model GLE350.
I got my car back yesterday after MBUSA wouldn't budge with the replacement battery. Hopefully this software update fixes everything, crossing fingers.
I think a lot of people are hoping the same. Please keep us posted.
Do we know if the 48V battery problem carries over to 2022 models? I just got a 2022 GLS450 and this battery issue made me worried.
We don't know. We do know that at some point there was a new (or at least different) part number for the 48 volt battery, but some people who've recently had their batteries replaced are still getting the old part number. Others have gotten the new part number. It's still a mystery.
It would be nice if MB would come out and acknowledge the problem, tell us it's been fixed and how they fixed it, so we could all take a breath and have confidence in our vehicles again.
Last edited by Longroof45; 11-04-2021 at 05:14 PM.
Reason: additional thought
Hi all. I just reported this issue (48v battery malfunction) that happened with my 2020 GLS 450. It has almost 14k miles on it. Have had it for 14 months purchased new. My dealer told me they’ve had 3 cars come in with this same issue, the dealer that took my car in (in a different state because the issue occurred while traveling), that they just had one other car come in for the same issue.
spoke to MBUSA today. That person told me she is not aware of this issue (which is curious because I have knowledge of 4 other incidents). So I reported my incident to NHTSA.gov where these types of issues really need to be reported to protect the public at large.
My post is not really for discussion but rather to encourage others to report to the site above next this does seem to be a very serious malfunction.
We are all in this together!
thanks.
I Purchased my 2021 GLS450 in July 2021, currently it had less than 3,000km. Vehicle stopped in the middle of the highway although I was able to restart the vehicle immediately - a very scary experience. Vehicle was with the dealership for almost 3 weeks to fix the problem. I just experienced a malfunction of the 48V battery and the car was just towed away to the dealership. I am told it will take few weeks to get a replacement battery. Unbelievable and I am extremely disappointed with the performance of the vehicle so far. Vehicle on the flat bed
Last edited by Anthony_Canada; 11-05-2021 at 07:39 AM.