Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2022 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 14 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
Front crash with no airbag deployment and no emergency braking. Currently at The Metal Shop in Warm Springs Va. Told by insurance it is totaled. Sustained mild concussion from head trauma. Head hit steering wheel. I notice many Sprinters for sale for parts after similar front end collisions. No warning lights.
Active distance assist inoperable, active brake assist functions limited, adaptive cruise control not working, lane keeping assist glitching. I was driving the vehicle home after purchase and the lane keeping assist was glitching, it was actively pulling the wheel to the left, like I was over the fog line (I wasn’t) and it was hard braking, Making driving very unsafe. I slowed down and got off at the next exit at a gas station to figure out what was happening. I put the vehicle in park and consulted the manual. I tried to turn off and back on all the systems, through the menu, noting worked. I shut the vehicle off and cleaned the areas around the sensors and the windshield, like the manual suggests. I went in to start the vehicle, and the message “service required do not shift gears” came on the dash. It was stuck in Park. I tried to get a tow truck, but had to wait 4 days, in a gas station parking lot before a tow company with a big enough truck, and skids, (because it was stuck in park) could come on Wednesday May 27. I got it towed to a repair shop. It shows the Code P179A77 direct select redundancy malfunction, they couldn’t fix it. It needs Xentry level diagnostics. The intelligent Servo Module, or direct select module failed/won’t shift from park. There is a recall that wasn’t fixed, I got a carfax from the dealer saying that there were NO active recalls. The recall is to update an all service modules. Yes it’s available for inspection, but it’s stuck in Park at the repair shop that can’t fix it in Riverton Wyoming. I called Mercedes Benz, and tried to get help because the active recall should fix these problems. They would not help. They will not sell me the part and code it to the vehicle because it’s part of their theft deterrent system. This has cost me thousands in flights, hotels, and countless hours trying to figure it out. The nearest Mercedes Benz dealership is 270 miles away, and towing will break me.
Hello. There is a Crosswind Assist feature on the van that is downright dangerous. When it engages it breaks and corrects the vehicle in a way that will result in an actual crash, worse than what the feature is intended to do. This could be a great feature if it didn’t cause more harm than good. It overcorrects. Almost caused me to hit another vehicle and run off the road.
My van has a "cross wind assistance" feature that can not be turned off. Apparently it helps to keep the vehicle in the lane during cross wind situation, I found it to be way too aggressive and turning itself for no apparent reason. I find it that while it may be helpful in some situations it certainly does more harm than good.
Side wind assist is an absolute disaster. It triggers when passing semi trucks and immediately brakes the van and veers into the lane with the truck. This causes the truck to take evasive action and the cars behind to have to brake abruptly. It also will do the same without warning with both mild and strong side winds. It is so unpredictable as to be dangerous. MB is aware of the issue but denies any ability to address it.
The Cross Wind Assist feature on the Mercedes Sprinter is extremely flawed and dangerous. It is also the only assistance system you cannot disable. We have brought it up to Merceds Benz mechanics and dealers and they are aware of the issues, but say there is currently no fix from corporate. I have had the system activate hundreds of times on short windy drives. The last incident was driving through Nebraska from Omaha to the Colorado border. The system engaged 600-800 times. It was windy, but the danger wasn't the wind, it was the cross wind assist feature. When the system engages (which appears to be random at times) it brakes one of the front wheels in the direction opposing wind gusts. When this happens your front nose dips sharply in that direction and makes the van rock violently. It does this particularly when other cars or semi-trucks are passing. Sometimes it does it back to back as if the system is engaging to correct itself. It's truly dangerous. I don't know how they released a vehicle with this feature. I was hoping a brand new van of this quality would make long drives feel safer. My experience has been the opposite.
The contact owns a 2022 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500. The contact stated while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking, with the traction control warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had occurred several times while the cruise control was activated. The contact stated that the failure worsened over time. The contact stated that the failure ceased after turning off the cruise control feature. In addition, the contact stated that the Forward Collision Avoidance feature was disabled and failed to operate as needed. The dealer was notified of the failure; but the manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 6,800.
While driving the MB sprinter with distronic cruise control and there are no vehicles around the cruise control option on the sprinter will disable itself and fail to restart until it senses another vehicle object around. I have noticed this many times while driving long distance on the interstate.
I drove on the freeway with Cruise Control engaged. Suddenly, the control kicked off, and the meter board displayed the following warnings: "Active Brake Assist Functions Limited. See Operator's Manual" and "Active Distance Assist Inoperative." I immediately contacted Mercedes-Benz road assistance, and it took them 13 hours to tow my vehicle to the Mercedes-Benz dealer in Las Vegas. It is closed on Sunday. They just drop us on the driveway. The temperature was scorching at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. I drove very cautiously to a nearby parking lot, parked my vehicle under the shade of a tree, engaged park position, activated the emergency brake, and kept the engine idling with the air conditioning on for approximately 10 minutes. Unexpectedly, the vehicle suddenly started moving forward and accelerated, ultimately colliding with a tree about 5 feet in front. The front end of my vehicle sustained severe damage, but Mercedes-Benz has refused to take responsibility for this incident.
Shadows from an overpass/bridge or large signs over the highway cause sometimes causes the front collision mitigation triangle lights to go off with warning sounds. Occasionally, automatic braking has occurred at highway speeds.
The vehicle will lose power at high altitudes. I will push the gas pedal all the way down and the RPMs do not move nor does the vehicle move. This has left me in dangerous situations at intersections. I have spoken with a Mercedes dealer in Denver and they have multiple reports of this problem. The vehicle only has 1800 miles and this has happened multiple times at altitude.
At elevations above about 6,500ft, the Sprinter is essentially immobile or becomes intermittently unresponsive to the gas pedal when it is depressed. This happens routinely at elevation and has led to unresponsive acceleration while driving. The unresponsive accelerator has compromised safety when trying to pull out onto roads. This issue has occurred frequently to other Sprinter owners in similar conditions. No warning lights, lamps, or messages appear or are associated with this issue. This issue appears difficult to replicate at Mercedes dealerships/service centers as they are all below the affected elevation. When describing the issue to a MB service representative, I was told it was “normal”. Though an unresponsive accelerator should not be written off and discarded as normal when it has the easy potential to inflict harm its passengers.
Brand new van with less than 1000 miles on it. Driving in the High Sierras 8600 - 9000 ft. Altitude seems to be related to this problem. I have not had the problem in San Francisco on steep hills. Problem: When leaving a stop, on any uphill slope RPMs will stay well under 2000 and the van barely moves or not at all. Occurs even with full throttle, manually in lowest gear and in low range (low range 4wd helped a little), warmed up, etc. The to get the rpm's up to back up to a flat spot. This was very scary when entering the highway. When that was impossible, such as in a dip in the road certainly would have have to call a tow truck. Driving as slow as desired on an uphill was possible because if the RPM's dropped below 2000 the van would slow to a stop even with the pedal to the floor. If I managed to anticipate a hill while driving slowly I'd have to depress the accelerator pedal fully it prior to incline. If successful, RPM's would stay above 2000 and the van would have all the power needed (and more would develop instantly) requiring extreme finesse to prevent spinning the wheels.
The distronic cruise control system cuts out after a period of seeing no vehicles in front, sometimes an hour, sometimes two hours. But when this happens, it then begins disabling other safety systems like emergency braking. There is no way to quickly reset the system. I spoke with the Mercedes Benz Dealer about this (van is brand new and this happened twice on my first trip) and I was told that this is both common in the 2019 and older Sprinter Vans, and that it is just a idiosyncrasy of the system. How is this safe? How have there not been any changes to this system in 3 years?
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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