2001 ML320 Brakes come on while driving. HELP!!!!!

[AussieML]

W163 2001 ML320 Brakes come on while driving. HELP!!!!!

More recently l will be driving and whilst l'm driving the ABS/ESP kicks in and brakes/stops the car. Yes that's right stops the car. It is like as if l have braked really hard myself but the car does it on its own. Very Dangerous. Normally it would happen within the 1st few minutes but yesterday it happened on the freeway while l was doing 100. If l stop the car switch it off and then back on again the computer seems to reset itself, the BAS/ESP light comes on permanently and then the car is ok to drive. Until of course l switch the car off and then the next trip l do the same thing happens. And l have to run through the same routine again. Switch the car off and restart etc. Can anyone help me? Not sure whether it is a faulty relay of a computer issue. In conjuction with this if l am stopped at the lights the car stalls. Dont know whether this is tied up with the braking issue if it is a computer problem. The trip computer up top also appears to be wrong. The tank may be half full but it says it is empty or much less whatit actually is. Hope someone can help. Thankyou

 

[Carlo]

You should get a read out to see what fault codes are stored in the ESP system.Could be a speed sensor.
It's impossible to diagnose such a complicated system without a fault code reader.

Carlo

 

[television]

I would have said that the ABS pump that contains the ECU will have to be replaced. No sensor can do this

 

[richard]

This sounds like brake assist (BAS) activating. (which stops you really quick when the car thinks you aren't breaking hard enough = but it does normally require you to be braking pretty quickly to start with, and turns off the moment you remove your foot from the pedal slightly)

It also sounds like the ESP/BAS is off once the light has turned on - which is really bad news on a ML, since the ESP is doing stuff a lot on a ML ..

I'd be having the car towed down to the MB dealer to sort this out - it sounds extremely dangerous and it sounds like only Star Diagnosis machine will be able to read the faults properly. Sorry for the bad news in the £££ department though. Our ML probably needs a new steering rack soon - and that won't be fun either. May p-ex it before the next MOT.

Richard