vrus

Well boys.. The inevitable happened to me yesterday...

SBC Brake Failure. ESP Malfunction.. Stop car now and visit workshop.

Thank everyone in heaven that no one was in front of me when this happened.. I managed to pull my car over to the side of the road without incident. I was travelling at 120km/h when it happened so I am counting my blessings.

Once I stopped the car (by downshifting and stomping on that brake pedal like my life depended on it -- which it damn well did), I turned it off and waited a minute. .Then, I started it back up and everything was back to normal.. Was able to drive and use brakes..

The minute I tried to run hard and the ESP light flickered once, the brakes failed again.. I was able to repeat this twice and immediately dropped it off at the dealer.

By the way... Forget about stopping the car if those brakes fail.. You better have legs of steel and be able to leg press 400lbs because that's what it feels like when you press on it.

I didnt post about it until now because I wanted to hear back from the dealer to see what it was.

They just called me and told me that the SBC pump was faulty and completely failed. New pump on the way and will be here tomorrow.. Dont want to scare any of you, but, want you to know what is what..

My car just turned 79,000km... Maybe we should all make it a habbit of having the SBC system checked once a year regardless of issues or not.

Everyone be safe!! So glad these new cars dont have SBC anymore..

P.S-> I've been running around in a 300C and it is a big slug!! Beast should be back tomorrow night hopefully!

Jakpro1

At my dealer, an E55 was right next to me with the tech really looking pi$$ed. I asked what has he been doing for the past hour or so I've been there. My guy leans over and says in a real bummed out voice, "s b c".

Glad you're okay Victor.

I am serious! I gotta work on the emergency brake stopping. Tried it once and it worked pretty well. Guess it's hard to remember under split second decisions.

jangy

Jeez, Victor. So glad you are ok. It may just be a matter of time? Can you ask you service people if there is any special thing to look for when we do try to do our periodic checks? Any signs that things are going array? Did you feel anything at all prior to complete failure or is it just an all of a sudden thing? I feel like Ayrton Senna now.

vrus

Yeah.. It's a scary thing if it happens to you.

I asked for details and the tech just said that it wasnt an electrical fault, it was a mechanical fault.. The pump just wasn't pumping.... Maybe it couldnt provide enough pressure??

I will ask them if there is any symptoms to look out for when I pick up the car.

Jrocket

So this brings up a question,how many accidents have been caused due to this failure? Any idea?

jangy

I have not heard of any. I have also not heard of any failing during cornering. Almost all accounts that I recall have been on open road (freeway) driving. I doubt MB would be publishing such info and I believe the norm is to treat the "victim" right AND get them to sign a non disclosure agreement. the only real way for us to stay protected is to monitor the NHTSA, but i have no clue what their threshold level is before they release an alert. Anyone else know? I drive mine hard into corners and definitely rely on the brakes. If something were to happen, I can see strong grounds for a liable issue. Based on that, I have tried to keep good faith with MB, but I do wonder from time to time.

P.S. I'm one of the SBC fans, so fwiw.

dragonAMG

This thread got me all paranoid... driving home today I thought about the brakes failing a couple times while weaving in and out of traffic, so I backed off and "muled" it the whole way home.

vrus

I was really contemplating selling my car.... Yup.. I said it...

I drive pretty fast and I need to have faith in the brakes. I'll admit I am a little paranoid now and have no idea how I will feel when I pick up my car and drive it home.. I know I was driving 40km/h most of the way to the dealer and everytime I went to press on the brake pedal I was saying in my head "Oh please work.".

If the feeling goes away and I chalk it up to a rare incident it'll stay with me and everything will continue... If I don't feel comfortable anymore, it will have to go...

I do have a line on a nicely equipped SL600.. So it will either be a stablemate or a replacement.

Didn't want to scare anyone, but, it is good that everyone knows that it can happen... I am also going to be talking to the dealer about what can be done to check the system everytime I take it in for service.

AmenMercedesGo

Remember me. My brakes worked by themselves upon stomping the gas in a curve. We are all in danger.

vrus

Sorry.. I dont remember that story. Can you please elaborate a bit.. What is the current status of you & your car?

Jrocket

Never heard of that.I have had the traction control monitor wheel spin in a corner before though.

Jrocket

I'll admit it does have me thinking as well.For me I MIGHT be able to quick think with an E-brake pull,but my wife on the other hand will no doubt stack this thing up if the brakes were too fail.

DoctorXylophone

deleted

jangy

Here we go. Straight from a serious thread to......

AmenMercedesGo

My three prior posts:

1)The first time I mistakenly blamed myself; that I might have been pushing it too hard and the ESP (though off) intervened to stabilize the car.


2)ESP/ABS Malfunction Flat Spots 2nd Front PS2

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG? FOR THE 2ND TIME SINCE THE BRAKE UPDATES I HAVE HAD THE RIGHT FRONT LOCK UP WHILE THE GAS IS TO THE FLOOR (NO FOOT ON THE BRAKE!!!!) IT HAPPENS ONLY IN A LEFT HAND TURN IF THE ESP IS OFF. AFTER PUSHING THE FRONT RIGHT FOR 20 TO 30FT THE DAMN TIRE IS RUINED. MERCEDES IS BUYING THIS 2ND TIRE. I ALSO GET A SIMULTANEOUS ABS/ESP MALFUNCTION MESSAGE AFTERWARDS. ANYBODY HAD THIS ISSUE? DEREK? HAS YOURS DONE IT ON THE ROAD COURSE?

3)I will photograph the mark it left on the roadway on each occassion as I plan to show my dealer anyway, then I'll post it. No brake was applied. The brake comes own on its own! It appears that the ESP kicks own to settle the car down and when "IT" applies the brakes the caliper locks instead of pulsating

What did they do to fix it? I do not know they said they replaced the ECM and redownloaded the brake software.

stevebez

MB Claim there is sufficient backup braking effect if this system fails ... I think this backup needs to be ramped up a bit...??? or proven ???

This SBC issue being left "alone" by MB to "go away" is simply ludicrous. They obviously done the math of recall all SBC vs payouts due to accidents from this (god forbid!) ... its mad for a company like MB who is supposedly are so super saftey conscious to do this. They do not have safety at the forefront but their bottom line...

Just how much braking effect did you have when it failed? Would a lady be able to exert sufficient pressure to get sufficient braking effect to stop the car?

Finny

Mmmm.... I had the same kind of feeling lately... Do you think mine should be checked at as well?

rflow306

Now you guys got me wondering about the brakes too. I'm going to disconnect the sbc pump harness and see for myself how hard this thing is to stop. I know of a perfect location to try this.

vader

Please do RFlow...that would be an excellent bit of knowledge for us.

stevebez

While you at it try pumpin the brakes too and not only one a hard stomp ...

vrus

How much braking effect??? Well.... LOL.. About 2% braking..

I am a big guy... 200lbs, 5'10" tall.. I was mashing on that pedal and the car was barely slowing down. I used the downshifting & engine braking to slow it down most of the way.

Let's put it this way.. If you are travelling at highway speeds and your brakes go, you are going to need quite a bit of road to slow that car down. The bottom line is if there are cars in front of you, you are either going to go off the road or plough into the back of the car infront.. That's the only way you are stopping.

And, there is no way a female of average size is going to stop that car with the pedal.. NO WAY!

stevebez

Also for all the brake failures we can document can we get a list of model years that have been affetcted ... I read an article that says models after 2004 have an uprated / updated SBC system ...?

vraa

Fatass. :p

Glad to know that you're safe!

Can you post your invoice when you get it back? I want to run it by my dealer to see if they can check the corresponding parts replaced for any unusual wear. I do a lot of traffic driving and I don't want this to happen to me. :o

GTR Power

Next time (if there is such an event) use the parking brake to assist- and if there is any unusual wear on that system due to that use get it warranteed under the SBC failure (next best option during emergency).

BenzoBoi

Glad to hear you are alright buddy...It's happened to me on certain occasions and it's funny how they say...oh I'm sorry, we sure do hope it won't happen again...not funny when your on the freeway driving and the car starts yelling at you saying the brakes are out...