Today I headed down to Irvine to my friend's shop to drop off a wheel. I was cruising at 80 on the 5 and out of no where the car jolts and all I hear is beeps!~! I look down and all I see is RED....STOP CAR BREAK FAILURE. Thankfully there wasn't too much traffic so I turn my hazards on and somehow safely got onto the side of the freeway. I didn't panic too much but somehow got myself together to get to the side of the freeway. I remembered reading about this on the forums so I turned off the car and turned it back on and everything was fine. I told myself that the first thing I would do is to go the the dealers on the way back.

So I go to my friend's house after dropping off the wheels and I go out to dinner with my friend's and have a good night out. I had left my car at their house. Now everything was fine on the way home until about 10-15 miles out I was again cruising about 80 ish and same thing. The car jolts and then beeps everywhere. This time I get really scared. Traffic again wasn't bad so I turned on my hazards and pressed the brakes as hard as I could to stop while slowing the car down with the revs. I somehow had the ***** to turn the car off turn it back on and drive home. Now that I'm home I don't want to drive it and I'm scared out of my mind.

Now I have read up on this problem and I have read that some people have had the SBC brake so and so replaced and that it still happens. What are my options? As much as I love this car, I am not afraid to let it go if this is going to be a habitual problem...I shouldn't have to pay $85k for a car and have to worry about my brakes failing out of no where.

FYI I did not race or push the car at all this whole day. Just normal driving and cruisin at 80.

 

Get the SBC problems fixed and you will be fine. More than likely I think you will need a new SBC pump as it looks like it has failed or just needs some new software. Call Tele-Aid and just have them tow the car to your dealer.

 

BenzoBoi - keep us up to date on what happens here ... I can see a total recal of SBC systems coming one day ... its not in the new S or E class BTW.

DC is letting a ticking time bomb lose on the road - if u were scared - imagine how your wife would have coped with the kids.

How much braking power did you have when it went awol ?? If there was some braking power then it is not too bad I suppose but ....

Hope you get it sorted though.

Rgds Steve.

 

wth.... sounds freaky Sun. get it checked out at the dealer!!

 

Dealer can fix could be SBC pump many updates have occured since its inception but also recommend having the BCM (battery Control Module) checked as well for the SBC depends upon battery voltage and if either or both items are at fault it can be scary has happened to me and if not aware of the increased brake pedal pressure needed to stop it can be life threatening ,perhaps this is why MB is rethinking this feature

 

yea keep us posted... good luck~

 

Glad you are ok!!

That is the only thing that scares the heck out of me about my car. I've considered selling it several times just because of those SBC brakes. I do alot of high speed driving and I am always nervous about this particular situation happening.

I had the SBC recall done the day I received the notice.. Mine has been fine so far.

GET THE SBC RECALL DONE IMMEDIATELY!!

 

Hey Benzo,

Trying to get a feel from each failure as to what it felt like.

So when brakes went to the floor and swtiched to backup.....did they help at all???

We keep being told that they work, but just really poorly on backup system.

Man, it's just a matter of time before this happens to someone approaching a flatbed truck at about 65. Wow, just can't say enough how scared that makes me. What would I feel like if my kids or wife were severely injured due to this *****ty brake system. I guess it would be just wayyyy too much $$$, but I wish Benz would replace these systems with the new brakes coming out.

HOW COME IT'S ONLY ON THE E CLASS....anyone heard of this happening on other models. Is E the only brake by wire??

Just not sure what I am going to do. LOVE my baby, but this is really creeping me out.

Keep us updated.

 

Going into the dealer in about an hour after work.

To answer the question about what I felt. As soon as the lights started blinkin and the beeps went crazy, I tried to slow the car down with no luck with the brakes. I pushed it all the way and next to nothing at all. Also for some reason, the car just automatically went to a lower gear to slow the car down. I tried to take it to a higher gear to keep the motor from over revving but it kept wanting to go to the lower gear. eventually i had my foot off the pedal and the car came to a stop.

I so thankful that no one was in the car with me. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I got into an accident with others in the car. Hopefully I can get these parts replaced and it never happens again...cause if it ever does, I am going to be a pain in mercedes' *** for this...

 

Geez. That is scary!! After reading this, I am now starting to see things differently about our cars. I love the car to death (edit:bad choice of words, lol), but now that my wife is driving it, this might push me towards trading it for the Range Rover she really wants.

 

Sun,

Good thing you are safe. Although that was a pretty scary situation. You're still under warranty right? So you shouldn't have to pay for any dealer service on that. Let me know how it goes mang. Hope the problem gets resolved soon. Which dealer you going to? HOI?

 

That day has already come my friend and sadly it is old news:

http://www.testdriven.co.uk/news.cfm...c_brake_recall

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...30/151265.html

Welcome to MB!! Thank God you were not coming into a traffic light

 

I'd **** in my pants if that ever happened to me. Get it checked ASAP. I would not even drive it to the dealer, call roadside and have it towed. Not worth risking your life.

 

What I meant by total recall is have the stuid system ripped out and replaced with a conventional brake system...

MB have obviously done the math and figured that the cost of doing that is more than the cost of any liability action relating to the system. Good thing they value their customers' lives right ??

"In this mode, the driver will be warned by visual and acoustic signals and the travel of the braking pedal will be increased. Braking force available, however, remains well within legal requirements."

Whats also annoying is they claim there is a back up system - but that does not work either as we have heard many times.

I read on some forum there is a class action suit being filed relating to this problem. I need to find it.

I specifically asked MB for a letter when i ordered my car to warrant that the brake system is 100% failure proof. I am still waiting for the letter....

Rgds Steve.

 

I know. Kind of like what happened on the CLK. Window didn't go up and it was raining... But that one was actually worth risking your life. Right Neal!? lol :p

 

I seriously doubt ANY manufacturer would give you such a letter, even with the most conventional and proven brake system.

 

Same thing happened to my '03 SL 500 with 260 miles on the clock. Fortunately I was in a convenience store parking lot. The brakes did work but the pedal went almost to the floor and it felt as though only the front brakes were working and not that well either. If I had to make a panic stop in that mode it would have been dangerous to say the least. Sounds like this is not a random occurence. How many others have had the same experience? Let's collect some information from the members.
jeff

 

UPDATE:

Just got my car back from the dealers and they said it was indeed the SBC pump. It has been replaced and the "new" software has been put in. Let's all hope that this kind of thing doesn't happen again to myself or anyone for that matter!~!

 

God bless you for retaining the trust in that car. I know I wouldn't. Just think (God forbid) going 40 mph in a busy street can be lethal

 

I still haven't regained all of my trust in the car. I still wonder what I would do if people were in the car while something like that happened again (knock on wood) Ever since the very first time it has happened, it always lingers in the back of my head....Hopefully it'll never happen again...

 

How many miles did you have on your ride when this happened?

 

first time it happened was back a long, long time back. The 2 recent ones were at 45,5xx and 45,6xx...

 

Benzo,

Glad you're OK. I know first hand how scary that is. I have about 4000 mi on mine since the SBC replacement. No issues.

 

I absolutely loved my E55 and I absolutely love my CLS55, and I drive them hard and fast and I never think about a brake failure .... but these documented experiences on this AMG E55 forum (a very tiny percentage of W211 owners in the real world) does make you take notice, doesnt it? And the the C219 uses the same SBC afaik....

And this issue does raise an interesting point if you rear end someone. I suspect that as long as they (MB) are able to determine that there wasnt a brake failure then they could deny it, but in the event that someone has a real bad crash into something or someone, destroying the electronic data/evidence, then I am sure that there will be attorneys all over it faster than you can say lawsuit, especially with all these SBC failures already documented........ curious as to everyones thoughts on this.

 

Is the irony of that stupid error message lost on everyone....

"Stop Car".... "Break Failure"....