Charle

Hi
My 98' ML320 roll over and crash in an accident. All the parts in the engine room and the transmission are still good. Could someone tell me what should I do.

Charle

Goldeni245

What happened? What caused the roll over? Are you alright? Sorry if I'm bombarding you with questions but this is the first time that i have heard of an ML flipping/rolling over.

Maybe post-some pics and we'll be able to help you better, or describe what your car looks like now.

But in most cases, (I think a roll-over is pretty serious damage) just get a new car.

Charle

the car rolled over on Klondike Highway in Yukom, Canada.
It happened when driven on down slope loose gravel. the road condition is not good on that highway. The car slipped first then lost control and rollover. My wife got a broken shoulder. I got some cut and scrach on my right hand. the car was upside down finally.
here is the photo. http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=5414...2208/l=8937426

Charle

Goldeni245

Wow, that car looks pretty banged up although the engine does look fine, But I think your Chassis is behind repair unless you put tons of money into it.

Did ESP or 4-ETS kick in to prevent anything?

Charle

You asked the right question. I just had a query about it. I don't think the ETS kicked in at that moment.

pocholin

ETS might've kicked, but it probably couldn't find any grip on loose gravel, electronic stability controls are great but they can't do anything about physics laws. Glad you and your wife are "OK".

whatup?

The M-Class didn't get ESP until 1999...I don't think 4-ETS alone could have stopped a rollover. But at least you're OK...you're lucky the M-Class was designed to survive such an accident.

JimB

Charle,
You said the accident happened in Yukom Canada, Where is the vehicle now, IS you insurance decided to total it? Your insurance should taking care of everything why worrying what you have to do to your ML. My .02 cent.

Glad everyone are OK,

JimB

JimB

Charle,
One more question, I've noticed that non of the AIR Bag deployed. Have you complint that to MBUSI, why isn't deployed.

Charle

only air bag at the driver's side went off so I was ok. However my wife was not that lucky because the air bag did not come out to protect her so her shoulder got hurt. I wrote a complain letter to MB already. Anyway, thanks to you all.

amb9800

"The M-Class didn't get ESP until 1999..."

Didn't the ML always have ESP - I'm just asking because I don't remember seeing anything about ESP being added for '99 model year, just that it was there. Maybe I'm wrong (i'll go and check stuff out) but I thought even the '98's had ESP.

Anyway, ESP or any traction control can't disprove the laws of physics as stated before so it might not have helped anyway.

Very sorry to hear about the accident though - this is probably only the second or third ML I've ever seen rolled over like this.

wmquan

Charle,

First off, I'm glad that you and your wife are okay/are going to be okay. That had to be frightening.

How many times did the vehicle roll over? Was the surface it was rolling on gravel as well, or did you hit a different kind of surface (e.g. concrete)?

Again, glad that everything is going to be okay.

Charle

It's about 2 or 3 times. it was rolling on gravel as well. My wife was taken surgery last thursday. Hopefully her bone could heal sooner.

Darkmann

You'd probably be better off just letting the insurance take care of it. It's totalled (based on the pics) in insurance terms. You can buy it back from the insurance to sell as a parts car, but the amount to buy back + fees is usually less than the value of the car. And also, MB owners may not be so willing to buy parts from this car, then you have to deal with shipping, taxes and disposing of the emty carcass. Take the cash, put it down on a new '02 ML500 and you'll be walking fine. Glad you didn't get hurt. Pass side airbag didn't deploy cause it wasn't a frontal collision. I doubt that series ML had side curtain bags.

kenyee

I'm a bit surprised the A pillars collapsed so much, but if it rolled 2-3x at highway speeds, I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed.

I suspect your wife's broken shoulder was caused by her side of the roof collapsing more than your side unless you can tell me she hit the dash. The seatbelt pre-tensioners should have fired and pinned her against the seat during the roll.

Glad you're both alive and walking at least.

Accord

I have seen pictures of an ML that has rolled before, but nothing to the extent of this kind of damage. It must have been a VERY serious accident if the A pillar collapsed that much.

Good to hear that the injuries sustatained were not extremely serious.

In a lot of the more serious accidents, such as this one... MBUSA will usually send someone out to inspect the vehicle.

Charle

I told MBUSI about the un- deployed side airbag when my ml320 rolling over. She asked for my being patient. Two months have past, she did not even give me a word. GM recalled thousands of car when she found the same problem before anyone get injured. I don't understand why MB put this fatal probelm off? Warren Brown who currently work for Washingtonpost.com said "One of our chat clan recently loss a relative in a tragic ML320, single-vehicle rollover crash. The victim was belted, according to police reports." so what's wrong with ml320 and the customer service of MB..

Drew_ML

There may be nothing wrong. The side impact airbag system is not specifically designed to deploy in a rollover accident. You have to understand that airbags deploy when certain force limits (G-forces) are exceeded.

In your case, if the forces were obviously not high enough, as in a rollover, a lot of the energy is not at a single point such as with a side-impact collision, but rather spread out throughout the entire side of the vehicle.