E220d (S213) Towbar failure

[BfgSLKMan]

My 220d estate is now just shy of 3 years old and the factory fitted towbar has stopped working (fortunately it was deployed as it broke on arrival at the campsite!). Long story short, but Mercedes here in Germany have said i need a new bar (about €1200 fitted). The issue is that something has broken inside so it wont respond to the button and it is definitely not electrical or control box related. As MB they don't sell any spare parts (only the complete bar) and ORIS (who make it) have said they can't talk to me about the towbar due to contractual issues with Mercedes [i have read similar comments on BMW and VW forums where people have reported similar things) and since the car was UK supplied by MB Corporate UK (and still UK registered car) i shall write to MB UK and politely ask for at least a good will payment. Before i do, are any dealers or similar who are members of the forum know if this is a widely reported fault or indeed if there is any form of service recall for this? Thanks.

 

[ernie]

My 220d estate is now just shy of 3 years old and the factory fitted towbar has stopped working (fortunately it was deployed as it broke on arrival at the campsite!). Long story short, but Mercedes here in Germany have said i need a new bar (about €1200 fitted). The issue is that something has broken inside so it wont respond to the button and it is definitely not electrical or control box related. As MB they don't sell any spare parts (only the complete bar) and ORIS (who make it) have said they can't talk to me about the towbar due to contractual issues with Mercedes [i have read similar comments on BMW and VW forums where people have reported similar things) and since the car was UK supplied by MB Corporate UK (and still UK registered car) i shall write to MB UK and politely ask for at least a good will payment. Before i do, are any dealers or similar who are members of the forum know if this is a widely reported fault or indeed if there is any form of service recall for this? Thanks.

Definitely not common. I haven't seen a failure of an MB-fitted towbar on any of the forums I'm on. Should be covered by UK warranty. though. How this works in Germany is a new one though.

Ernie

 

[zenman63]

Does it make any noise?
Or just not responding to deploy?

 

[BfgSLKMan]

Does it make any noise?
Or just not responding to deploy?

So when you pull the button you here it click about 3 times over 5 secs and then it stops. The dealer is really helpful and they have confirmed (as i guessed) it was not electrical (else there would be no power to the motor) so clearly something has broken inside. Interestingly after a bit of research the A/B/CLA/GLA with the same towbar were recalled (Mar to Nov 18 build) do to a mechanical failure of the locking pin in the swivel bar. I am keeping that up my sleeve for the moment, but also know a number of VW/Audi cars have had the same problem (and been recalled) and ORIS is the OE supplier in all of these cases.

I'll keep you updated as I get news back from the Customer Centre...

 

[zenman63]

So when you pull the button you here it click about 3 times over 5 secs and then it stops. The dealer is really helpful and they have confirmed (as i guessed) it was not electrical (else there would be no power to the motor) so clearly something has broken inside. Interestingly after a bit of research the A/B/CLA/GLA with the same towbar were recalled (Mar to Nov 18 build) do to a mechanical failure of the locking pin in the swivel bar. I am keeping that up my sleeve for the moment, but also know a number of VW/Audi cars have had the same problem (and been recalled) and ORIS is the OE supplier in all of these cases.

I'll keep you updated as I get news back from the Customer Centre...

My Gle does it sometimes, I start the car and drive it, try it again and it works.

 

[BfgSLKMan]

Sadly mine is well and truely knackered, i have tried to move it every now and again but no joy. Since coming back from the garage the red warning light is more on in the dashboard. Fingers crossed for the right results from Mercedes UK....

 

[E220dEstateS213]

Has your issue been resolved yet ?

 

[BfgSLKMan]

Hi Yes. It turns out that as mine is a UK car it has a 3 year waarranty and is covered albeit that as it was in year three I had to pay the bill and then send the receipt to MB UK (as the car was abroad). It was a bit convoluted in the end but I phone MB Corporate (the originally supplier for the car to the supplting dealer) and they were really helpful. Sadly their dealer was a bit slow releasing funds but it was sorted. To date all is OK.

The dealer in Germany who fitted the new towbar let me keep the old one (as for him it wsn't warranty work) and I stripped it down. I think that a locking pin in the ratchet mechanism failed inside the swivelling part. Either way it was lucky it failed when it did (3 months before warrany expiration) else I would have had an €1850 for the new unit.

 

[Delboy0127]

Following unrepairable failure of a Factory fit Oris Deployable Towbar. A detachable replacement was fitted.
This also included a new 13 pin socket. Following fitment of the new Towbar a dashboard warning light came on , Which now constitutes a MOT failure as advised by Mercedes by email.
The car has been on the Star machine and Mercedes advice the only way to remove the warning is to switch off the Towbar electrics which then disconnects the wiring to the new socket.
It appears the company that fit the Tow bar used the existing wiring from the old socket and wired the new socket with this wiring, as I understand nothing else was changed
The question is was this correct way to wire the new socket ? or should a dedicated wiring kit have been used.
Has any else has a similar problem? Any assistance appreciated.

 

[Delboy0127]

Definitely not common. I haven't seen a failure of an MB-fitted towbar on any of the forums I'm on. Should be covered by UK warranty. though. How this works in Germany is a new one though.

Ernie

Following unrepairable failure of a Factory fit Oris Deployable Towbar. A detachable replacement was fitted.
This also included a new 13 pin socket. Following fitment of the new Towbar a dashboard warning light came on , Which now constitutes a MOT failure as advised by Mercedes by email.
The car has been on the Star machine and Mercedes advice the only way to remove the warning is to switch off the Towbar electrics which then disconnects the wiring to the new socket.
It appears the company that fit the Tow bar used the existing wiring from the old socket and wired the new socket with this wiring, as I understand nothing else was changed
The question is was this correct way to wire the new socket ? or should a dedicated wiring kit have been used.
Has any else has a similar problem? Any assistance appreciated.

 

[ernie]

Following unrepairable failure of a Factory fit Oris Deployable Towbar. A detachable replacement was fitted.
This also included a new 13 pin socket. Following fitment of the new Towbar a dashboard warning light came on , Which now constitutes a MOT failure as advised by Mercedes by email.
The car has been on the Star machine and Mercedes advice the only way to remove the warning is to switch off the Towbar electrics which then disconnects the wiring to the new socket.
It appears the company that fit the Tow bar used the existing wiring from the old socket and wired the new socket with this wiring, as I understand nothing else was changed
The question is was this correct way to wire the new socket ? or should a dedicated wiring kit have been used.
Has any else has a similar problem? Any assistance appreciated.

I think a dedicated wiring kit would have worked as it wouldn't have included the wiring for a warning light for an inoperable o.e. towbar. I wouldn't have thought using a new socket would have been the problem; more likely there will now be unused connections for wiring to a processor that would detect a problem and give a dashboard indication.

As for the way forward, I would go back to the company that fitted the new towbar and see if they can either bypass the wiring that is now redundant (look for unused connections in the loom) or use a dedicated wiring kit for the towbar they fitted and code it to the car. Note that there are benefits to having the system coded as, for example, the rear parking sensors would be cancelled when reversing and also the gearbox map is optimised for towing.

Maybe somebody else could give more hands on advice!

Ernie

 

[Delboy0127]

I think a dedicated wiring kit would have worked as it wouldn't have included the wiring for a warning light for an inoperable o.e. towbar. I wouldn't have thought using a new socket would have been the problem; more likely there will now be unused connections for wiring to a processor that would detect a problem and give a dashboard indication.

As for the way forward, I would go back to the company that fitted the new towbar and see if they can either bypass the wiring that is now redundant (look for unused connections in the loom) or use a dedicated wiring kit for the towbar they fitted and code it to the car. Note that there are benefits to having the system coded as, for example, the rear parking sensors would be cancelled when reversing and also the gearbox map is optimised for towing.

Maybe somebody else could give more hands on advice!

Ernie

Many thanks for input. It appears the problem is the wiring to the deployment side of the Tow bar, the 13 pin socket is working 100% ok in every respect. I have someone with Star who is going to examine what has happened to the plug in side, which operates the deployment side of the Tow bar if those are still connected but not being used which they are not, by passing those connections may be the answer.