A friend of mine just experienced a life threatening failure on his 2003 E320. While driving at about 35mph, the brakes totally failed. He panicked and didn't try the emergency brake and repeatedly drove the car into a curb and eventually jammed the transmission into park. He hit his head on something and the airbag didn't deploy.

The Mercedes dealer asked him "didn't you get the recall notice for the the brakes?" He said no, and then she commented that maybe the recall notices haven't gone out yet.

My friend's E320 is like new and is driven no more than 10K miles a year. He's never had a problem with the car until now. Mercedes poor quality rears its ugly head in a situation that could have taken his or another's life.

Anyone else experiencing brake failure on the 2003 models? Is there a recall for the brakes?

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Dave

1998 E320
2001 SLK320
2000 Lexus RX300

not a good way to stop a car, correct way would be turn the ignition off and apply the hand/emergency break while still in drive and not use the cerb to stop it or jam it into park which could have caused extream damage to the gearbox, if they say there is a recall then go with it

Yep, I agree. He panicked and perhaps caused other damages.

__________________
Dave

1998 E320
2001 SLK320
2000 Lexus RX300