This is a very scary problem. The engine dies suddenly and for no apparent reason. Not a big deal if you're moving slowly but could be disastrous at high speeds or on a winding road. I researched a bit on MB message boards and there is talk that it could be a Crank Position Sensor problem or maybe a problem with the ECU or perhaps fuel pumps?? No engine code is showing. Very mysterious.

Update from Oct 22, 2018: Turns out it was the Crankshaft Position Sensor. Not an expensive repair, fortunately. And, I was able to do it myself.

Engine just shut off while driving 50mph, luckily I was able to shift gears to Neutral and used its momentum to pull to the side of the road, "check engine" and "ESP" lights stayed on, hands on a clock spin back and forth like crazy, was unable to restart. While waiting for a tow truck, about 45 minutes, I tried to restart and it started, called off a tow truck and drove home on its own. I could have gotten hurt that day if I did not pull over in time. It drove normal for a week.

Then one morning, when it was in "Park", it did not start again. Waited for about 30 minutes, restarted it, it started. I decided to take it to Mercedes-Benz dealer and told them that I would not pick up the car until they found the problem and fixed it. They had to tested it every day for a week. Finally, one day, when it acted up on them, they tested it and told me that a computer module was bad. I did not know why. They replaced it free of charge despite that my car was out of warranty (7 years old, 70K miles). Other wise it would cost me $1,500 at least, they said.

It was a very frighten experience, you could get hurt or stranded anytime. I talked to another owner of this model and she told me a similar story. Mercedes-Benz should recall this model before some one get hurt.

First of all, I wish I had known about this site when my incident first took place. I just want to share my experience with everyone so that people can be aware when purchasing a Mercedes Benz. I plan on speaking out on every single forum out there, and if it can help even one person, then I will be satisfied.

I live in Los Angeles and purchased a brand new E350 in 2007. Just a few month after the purchase (around 10,000 miles on the odometer?), I was driving down the freeway when the car came to a sudden stall. The engine completely died, and I could not get it started back up. I was in the second lane from the inside, and the freeway was full of drivers speeding at 70-80 mph. Unable to get out of my car, I watched vehicles behind me careening to a sudden stop or jerking to rapidly change lanes. It was truly a frightening experience.

I called 911 to report the incident then AAA to get a tow truck. The CHP arrived within about 15 minutes to help divert traffic away from my car as I was at a dead stop in the middle of a 5 lane freeway. The officers alerted me that it is too dangerous to stand still in the middle of the freeway and that they needed to immediately move my car off the freeway.

Since they didn't have towing capability, the only way for them to do that was for them to push the car from the back with their squad car while I steered towards the nearest exit.

Without getting too dramatic, I will say that this was probably the most frightening experience of my life. Luckily, no one was injured, and the car just suffered a lot of scratches on the rear bumper as a result of it being pushed by the police car.

I wrote to MBUSA and explained the entire experience plus access to the police records. They offered absolutely no sympathy. They didn't even offer a nice gesture by offering to fix the scratches which would have cost approximately a few hundred dollars - pocket change to them.

They didn't see any seriousness to the incident. I could have been seriously injured, and I could have caused serious injury to other motorists on the freeway that day. The message that they were sending to me was clear: I am an isolated incident to them, so I do not matter at all. They're a big, powerful company with millions of other buyers, so of course they don't care. How nice.

I'm the family's third generation of MB driver, and I will most certainly be the last.