Daimler To be remember nearly 50,000 won Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner Sprinter truck for faulty powertrain programming that could allow the vehicle to move while the transmission selector is in “the park,” the company announced last month, after a NHTSA investigation released last summer. While recalls are common – especially in the face of increased scrutiny by US regulators over the past decade – it is a mystery what their root cause is. abnormal. In this case, however, the best of Daimler seems to be stuck.
The investigation was launched after 11 reports of Sprinter trucks rolling in the “park” and to this day, Daimler engineers are still unsure exactly why it happened. . So far, it has only been documented in cases where drivers failed to follow what Mercedes-Benz calls “appropriate procedures” for parking their trucks. And if that sounds like the most German problem you’ve ever heard, trust us, we didn’t make this up. Here it is, straight from the Daimler recall report:
“During extensive testing, MBAG observed a temporary and rare failure of the parking lock function on a small number of vehicles,” it said. “However, despite extensive investigation, multifaceted testing, analysis and evaluation by Mercedes-Benz, the specific and clear technical root cause for the rare phenomenon has not yet been identified and determined. receive.”
“The fault is a rare and temporary parking lock system failure that can increase the risk of an emergency, but only in the specific case where the driver fails to take the required steps to park the vehicle safely (referred to as an emergency). emphasized in the manual) and get out of the driver’s seat instead without booking a parking space brake. If the driver fails to secure the vehicle properly according to the parking instructions in the operator’s manual (including the necessary setting of the parking brake), it is possible that, under certain circumstances, the vehicle will roll off the road. parking position and thus increases the risk of an accident. “
Campaign includes Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner 2019-2021 1500 . sprinter, 2500, 3500 and 4500 models with manual parking brake and seven-speed automatic transmission. Since Daimler has yet to determine the root cause of the problem, no remedy has been specified. Customers will be notified starting late January. Right now, the easiest way to protect yourself (and those around you) is to remember to put the handbrake on. Yes, it has a reason.
