Total Brake Failure Mercedes C220 BlueEffiency

[Colin_b]

How do you explain the BMW that crashed on the roundabout a few years back?

Driver said that car accelerated out of control, brakes burnt down, so far OK, but he was also said that the gear lever was stuck in D (i.e. would not shift to N) and the key was stuck in the ignition (i.e. he could not switch off the engine)? Now what are the chances of this? And before you say he simply panicked, he was talking to police on the phone for several minutes trying to slow the car..

A car with decent brakes, like a BMW, will stop and stay stopped without trashing the brakes, particularly a 318.

He - Kevin Nicolle - didn't try to turn the engine off. Sounds very suspicious....

 

[Dieselman]

Unfortunately this may prove to be the case, we'll see.

Renault21ts, your assertions as to validity have no real basis, I hope for your sake you do not experience such a situation. (Similarly I could assert that the 2 other posters may have settled with MB in which case you can be assured that a confidentiality clause came into play hence their lack of return to the site...)

I think we are moving into the realms of fantasy with that one. VOSA would be very interested in cases of new cars with brake failure, as I think Mercedes would as well.
Lets say their brakes had failed and Mercedes had found a reason and "compensated" those posters. Mercedes would then issue a recall/retrofit to stop exactly the situation we have seen here, if for no other reason than to stop any claims of cover-up and subsequent liability arising.

Mercedes have been very pro-active regarding the SBC brakes issue and certainly wouldn't want another one.

Presumably you ended up on this forum as a result of trawling the internet looking for cases of Mercedes brake failure on these cars, is that correct?

 

[tjw]

I think we are moving into the realms of fantasy with that one.

Precisely my point, who is to say what happened or is "true" in relation to any of the incidents without the actual, proven facts.

I'm not seeking to cast aspersions by posting here, I am purely interested in the others' experience. It seems they are not here which is fine.

And yes, you are correct.

 

[Dieselman]

Why bother trawling the internet looking for such examples, if your friends car did that then that will be proven.
The only reason i can think of for looking for such examples would be if maybe there is doubt over that happening and some additional suggestion is required.

I'm also a bit perplexed as to the events as described. How far back from the roundabout did this crash happen. it can't be far back as the trees don't start very far back.
If it was close I'm surprised the driver kept going on cruise that far and didn't think to disengage it to slow down before actually having to brake for the stationary traffic.

One way or another though the Police will find out what has happened for sure as don't the airbag and ECU keep a log of events leading up to an airbag deployment.

They will know the speed of the car (65-70) and whether the brakes were applied and other information, which will help corroborate your friends story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ir-left-baby-paralysed-Range-Rover-crash.html

It will be interesting to hear what happens, as this will have huge implications for Mercedes if the car is found to be faulty.

 

[corned]

Tasteful response. Indeed I hope your flippant remark does not prove to be true.

I hope you do not think this is a sham:

Fight to free crash driver brings A41 to standstill - News - Hemel Today

In any case thanks for the update on the 2 posters I originally enquired about.

Similarly I could assert that the 2 other posters may have settled with MB in which case you can be assured that a confidentiality clause came into play hence their lack of return to the site...

I remain cynical about the two previous posters. The reason I believe their posts are sham is because no evidence had come to light, by their hand or otherwise, to give even a sniff of credence to their stories.

You say that they might be subject to non-disclosure clauses. That's a possibility. However, can you really believe that Mercedes-Benz entered into a contract between them individually to rectify their cars/settle their claims, and slap on a gagging clause, yet the cases were so serious that no recall or inspection/test was issued on the suspect models of cars involved? Having established (or admitted privately at least) liability, they would be hauled through every court around the world if they subsequently just sat on the problem and allowed it to recur.

You can apply the 'what's more likely' test to that one for your answer.

Also, plenty of the MBClub membership buy new M-Bs, but I don't believe anyone established on here has experienced anything like this problem. Only new posters who post and then disappear.

I can fully understand that you are upset about the fate of your friend - it is not a nice situation to have been in by any stretch of the imagination. Clearly something happened out of the ordinary for his car to unfortunately end up hitting a tree. You gave a link to a report of (presumably) your friend's incident, yet I respectfully state that you yourself only have anecdotal information relating to the incident - you were not actually there, were you? - and I can find nothing in the report you posted which gives any hint of mechanical issues with the car. The only report we have of a similar claimed incident - the BMW case - appears to have been a complete fabrication on the driver's part in an attempt to evade a speeding conviction.

However, the case of a total brake failure in your friend's case may yet be proved. Time will tell.

For your information, I am not a particular fan of M-B at the moment, so any problems like this would only be fuel to the fire as far as I'm concerned. I am certainly not disposed towards defending them.

If my comments are proved to be misplaced, and the two original posters prove to be genuine cases, then you can rest assured that I will post a humble and genuine apology on this thread immediately. Until then, I remain firmly in the cynical camp.

 

[markjay]

I think there are two separate issues here.

The poster is trying to establish if there is a pattern of brake failure on new Mercs, and to that the simple answer is that based on the experience of this forum members no such common fault exist.

Having said that, this does not preclude the possibility of a one-off mechanical failure which caused the posters' friend crash. Such a failure - if found - would not merit a recall.

 

[Dieselman]

Having said that, this does not preclude the possibility of a one-off mechanical failure which caused the posters' friend crash. Such a failure - if found - would not merit a recall.

I suspect it would if the other two were found to be genuine. At the least it would generate a check of similar cars.

 

[markjay]

I suspect it would if the other two were found to be genuine. At the least it would generate a check of similar cars.

Indeed it would, but then it wouldn't be called a 'one-off'...

 

[Barryblackbird]

Hi All,

I suffered brake failure today while traveling on my way home from work and end up in a field! Its a 10 plate Blue Effiency and I had the cruise control set at 75. As I appoached the roundabout, I started to hit the break and was told I had bake failure and a pinging noise. By this time it was too late to do anything about it and the criuse control didnt dis-engage?

I have tried to search the internet to see if anyone else has suffered the same issue as the car was under 1000 miles! The only way to stop was to turn the key and that brought it to a halt.. Does anyone know if the total brake failure red warning exists as I am not sure of what I saw.. I am 100% sure it said brake failure but I keep analysting the accident! Any help to either goto Mercedes to diagnose as I am also sure I did everything correctly.

I hope someone can help as i am quite shaken up by it all.

Thanks,
Chris

Ive also had this problem. Could you please let me know the outcome of what fault was found if any? I suffered a total brake failure and my dash board also lit up red but I was unable to read what it said due to the panic and trying to avoid an accident!

Thanks

Barry

 

[renault12ts]

Ive also had this problem. Could you please let me know the outcome of what fault was found if any? I suffered a total brake failure and my dash board also lit up red but I was unable to read what it said due to the panic and trying to avoid an accident!

Thanks

Barry

He will not read your post. He made one post over a year ago and has not been back since 9 minutes after posting. It was a sham post.
Then another plonker posted in January...he hasn't been back since either. Strange that.
I do hope you don't do the disappearing trick.

 

[markjay]

He will not read your post. He made one post over a year ago and has not been back since 9 minutes after posting. It was a sham post.
Then another plonker posted in January...he hasn't been back since either. Strange that.
I do hope you don't do the disappearing trick.

I can see the headlines:

'The PM denies any wrong-doing in the BMW-planted-fake-posts-in-MB-forums hacking scandal...'

 

[rf065]

He will not read your post. He made one post over a year ago and has not been back since 9 minutes after posting. It was a sham post.
Then another plonker posted in January...he hasn't been back since either. Strange that.
I do hope you don't do the disappearing trick.

Maybe their brakes really do fail & that's why we never hear from them again?

Russ

 

[markjay]

Maybe their brakes really do fail & that's why we never hear from them again?

Russ

Well, with new Mercs now having COMAND Online, these may have been their last ever posts...


'Dear MB Forum, my brakes have just failed and I managed to log-in to your forum - how do I stop the car????'

 

[trapperjohn]

Nip back to post 28/30. I apologise to DMS as he says Preston then Blackburn Mercedes have his car.

But there are some posts missing on this thread. By DMS. Very strange.

 

[Barryblackbird]

brakes really did fail and am going to see mercedes for advice. just wondered what happened as a result of the other guys brakes failing!

 

[Colin_b]

brakes really did fail and am going to see mercedes for advice. just wondered what happened as a result of the other guys brakes failing!

To be honest, I'd love to know what happened. I'm in the sceptical camp, but I can imagine scenarios that could cause this type of thing.

 

[Barbanasos]

I would be very interested in this too. Unfortunately recently back in Greece a friends family were coming back from a trip with his uncle in a new e class. Strangely the car fell in a cliff side. My friend's mother seating in the middle at the back was killed in the accident while all others severely injured.

There was talk that the brakes didn't work, so if it can occur it is very serious indeed. Very interested to see if it is the case.

 

[nigel cross]

I had the same problem about 25 years ago on a 2002 BMW.
About 1 month before I had changed the rear brake shoes for new ones and had done nothing but short run arounds.
I then went on a long run about 200 miles and coming to a roundabout, no brakes.
This BM had dual circuit brakes (advanced at the time), so confusing.
Drove about 1/2 mile to a little cafe and a roll. Can out about 1/2 hour later and all appeared ok.
Drove home at reduced sped taking a couple of extra breaks.
Nest day had a look at brakes and found that I had put one of the rear shoe springs in backwards causing the shoe to rub against drum, presumable heating it up and causing that heat to be transferred to fluid causing it to boil.
Rectified problem and it never reoccured.

 

[Dieselman]

Ive also had this problem. Could you please let me know the outcome of what fault was found if any? I suffered a total brake failure and my dash board also lit up red but I was unable to read what it said due to the panic and trying to avoid an accident!

Thanks

Barry

What exact model of car do you have?

how did you stop the car?

 

[AMGeed]

I had the same problem about 25 years ago on a 2002 BMW.

Wow, time has passed me by. Is it 2027 already