Car goes into limp mode cant drive faster than 20mph on freeway very dangerous. Have to pull over turn off engine and restart car to reset. Car just randomly shut off all electronics died on street. Towed car to dealership says needs new valve body of transmission. Researched online very common problem. Defect in manufacturing and parts.

- Foster City, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes Benz R350. While driving approximately 15 mph, the steering wheel seized without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. In addition, the contact stated that when the vehicle was serviced, the technician stated that the transmission valve body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 44,000.

- Lil Burn, GA, USA

Balance shaft deteriorating eventually causing engine failure.

- Woodland, ME, USA

Transmission goes into limp mode after slowing down on to near zero on an interstate highway. The result is the car will not shift down into lower gear and thus will not accelerate. Car must be turned off and re-started on interstate highway in traffic in order to make the car operate or able to move forward. Needless to say, stopping and re-starting a car on the interstate is an obvious safety issue... particularly when trapped in the fast lane with no way to cross multiple lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder (because car will not accelerate and cannot merge into 70 mph traffic to cross). As this is a very common problem that Mercedes has on several platforms that share the 7-G tronic transmission, I would think that Mercedes must acknowledge the problem as there is no warning that it will happen and when it does it can easily present a very dangerous situation. A quick search of 722.9 transmission will show how common-place the issue is.

- Festus, MO, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes Benz R350. Regular service and maintenaince has been performed by the dealer only. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds, the check engine warning lamp illuminates. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the balance shaft was defective and needed to be replaced. Dtb-S-B-03.30/08I was sent to dealers for this known defective part and corrective measures. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered to cover half of the 7K repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The fiirst time lamp lit was at 72,245 miles but went off. Lamp continued to light intermitted but stays on now more than off diagnosis mileage was 73,845. The current mileage is 75,679.

- Cleveland, GA, USA

The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes Benz R350. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the check engine warning lamp illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the balanced shaft was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 72,000 and the current mileage was 72,500.

- Auburn, MA, USA

Check engine light came on, took the car to my mechanic that works on foreign cars, he informed me that my drive cam shaft is "retarded" basically stating that my sprockets that hold the timing belt are worn down, I am also loosing compression. I took it to the Mercedes dealership and they told me they will goodwill the repair if that is really what is wrong with it. They however proceeded to tell me that your car has almost 100,000 miles on it, so it may just be the timing belt is worn down.(they will try anything to get out of the repair). They told me that they need to check the records to see when the car was serviced and also that since I did not purchase the car from them they do not have to do the work.

- Pflugerville, TX, USA

The vehicle indicated check engine light and the error code shows P0016 which is shaft balance issue. The dealer and manufacturer would not attend to it despite the fact that it a known error from factory. The issue would reoccur because of poor material and could cause the car to stall while in travel.

- Lanham, MD, USA

I have a 2006 Mercedes R350 that we bought used in 2009. The car now has 51,560 miles and the front differential is out and needs replaced at a cost of $3500. I have read of several complaints for the same problem with the same mileage on the car. Mercedes is aware of the problem but refuses to issue a recall. I am fighting with them now to just get them to cover half the cost. Even though it is out of warranty, the problem started before the warranty was out and I called the dealer. They informed me that the warranty ran out on Friday and I called on Monday so there was nothing they could do for me.

- Lumberport, WV, USA

2006 Mercedes Benz R350 3.5 272 engine constant cel for P0016 P0017 cam balance shafts for left side intake and exhaust cam balancers worn gears due to incorrectly hardened gears during manufacture. If gears fail engine will fail timing chain may cause engine to seize or smash valves possibly causing a wreck if occurs at high speed. Mb has known that their engines are unsafe since 2007 issuing tsb's but not recalling engines expecting customers to pay from $4000 to $7500 for repairs after they have done minor repairs such as replacing the solenoids for the camshaft balancers ( as I have already done ) dealers say this is a common problem and pretty much all 2006 2007 272 engines have this problem over the whole classes of mb vehicles not just R class, but mbusa is denying this, since a class acion suit was filed against mbusa they have started to cover repairs to some people who's warranties have expired but not all....... a problem exists dealers know it exists and now mbusa is starting to admit it to some people a recall should be done and an investigation in to mbusa and their practices in covering up a defect of manufacture and subsequent cover up of their putting unsafe vehicles on to the us auto market, plus lemon law violations as they are telling owners to trade their vehiles or sell them ( dumping them onton the open market for people like myself to purchase them )..

- Charleston, WV, USA

Front differential needs replacement at only 55,600 miles. Cost is $3,000 dollars and vehicle is only 5,000 miles out of warranty. There are many other Mercedes 4matic with this same problem, this is an manufacturer's defect Mercedes is not correcting. Do not buy a Mercedes.

- Athens, GA, USA