BOTUS

Merc did it with SBC on the e class, they do on the 221 park brake and I'm guessing on the ISM - once a counter hits a certain value the software introduces the glitch - they pretend its for safety but the reality is its stealing money - on SBC brakes they just added another 400,000 brake presses in software after half germany's taxi drivers hit the limit inside the original warranty

then - a class action suit in USA got a 10 year warranty extension on the SBC brakes to tell merc off for being crooks

kevm14

Wait, the ISM has a shift counter like SBC does for brake applications??? First I've heard this. This must mean there is a way to check the actuation counts (like with SBC) and have some clue about remaining life.

BOTUS

I couldn't believe my fathers car - my autel kit allows me to reset the SBC counter.- which may well mean I can hunt down the park brake one - but I never bothered looking (plugging diagnostics in a car is some of the most depressing activities you can do in life)

as for the ISM - I'm guessing they did the same - they don't reinvent the wheel, just use any opportunity to steal money - as far as I know nothing actually breaks on the ISM its just full of lies on a circuit board

kevm14

I don't fully buy into the idea that it's a complete money grab. There is clearly a safety aspect to the car being able to stop (SBC), as well as being able to stay stopped once parked (park brake and ISM which applies park pawl). We can argue that they were needlessly conservative with the counters but these are all clearly related to safety (and thus liability). I do enjoy the SBC warranty thing and would love to see something similar for the park brake (I never use) or ISM (use frequently).