2022 MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER 2500 Complaints

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.

When parked or stopped at elevation (above 9,000) feet, the throttle doesn’t work. The vehicle just rolls down the hill (if on one) or stays put if on a flat surface. This is dangerous because I could roll into someone, and if alone, I am stranded with a vehicle that doesn’t work. I have contacted Mercedes. The dealership won’t fix it because they won’t drive it to elevation to recreate the problem, and there is no error code. There are multiple other people with this issue online, and the dealer told me they’ve seen the problem multiple times but don’t know how to fix it because no error code pops up.

Upon starting the van (brand new, less than 300 mi driven) everything functions normally in P, however as soon as I shift into D, there is no power and the gas pedal is completely unresponsive (Can push pedal to the floor and still 0 RPM). This issue happens randomly, though the common factor that myself and many others have experienced is being at altitude >5000ft (quite common in western US). There are no warning/error indicators and service dashboard looks clean. The only fix appears to be restarting the engine or waiting for it to idle for 5-10min to "warm up" even though this happens in both cold (20F) and warm (70F) weather. This is very dangerous as I will start up the van, and roll out of the driveway/parking lot/etc and then when I go to accelerate the power dies leaving me stranded in the middle of the road with no ability to get the van moving apart from turning it off and restarting it. An odd thing is when this occurs, if I shift back into P (from D) then the engine comes alive again and I can rev >3k RPM while in P, but as soon as I shift back into D the power is gone and I'm back at the 0 RPM issue. This issue seems like some kind of sensor malfunction that occurs randomly at altitude and likely due to Mercedes' lack of testing at altitudes commonly found in the USA.

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.

My transportation business invested in a Commercial Sprinter Van 2500 4x4 2022, that was purchase on November 19th, 2022. We use these cargo van to transport LTL throughout United States and Canada. On December 23rd, 2022 the vehicle was involved in an incident that almost resulted to death of the driver due to a faulty manufactured vehicle recently purchased through Mercedes Benz. After completing a drop off, the driver of the vehicle was on his way home for the Holidays. Driver was driving about 65 mph per the posted speed limit. At the time of the incident, he was driving among many 53 ft semi-trucks and other vehicles. While driving the newly purchased vehicle on December 23rd, 2022, the hood of the vehicle swung open without warning and completely smashed the windshield. There was glass every where from the impact of the vehicle's own hood flying open. The driver of the sprinter van was disabled now that his front view was blocked. The drivers of those 53 ft semi-trucks behind the Sprinter Van noticed the vehicle's abrupt condition and were able to avoid hitting the Sprinter Van despite the Sprinter Van's immediate reduction of speed. The sprinter van driver was able to pull over to the shoulder safely. Company had to pay to tow the vehicle over to a nearby Mercedes Benz Service Department with availability to take the vehicle in. On December 26th , 2022 the vehicle was admitted into the Service Department for windshield replacement and sensor alignment. After Mercedes Benz ran a diagnosis and completed an inspection they began replacing all nuts and bolts of the hood. The total cost of the repair was close to $25,000.00. Mercedes Benz refuses to give me the diagnostic and inspection report indicating what was found. I would hate for something similar to happen to anyone else. They may not be as lucky as my driver who would've lost his life had he not been quick enough to use his side mirrors as guides to pull over safely. I can also provide dashcam.

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 contact purchased a 2022 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500. The contact stated that two days before taking possession of the vehicle, he was notified by the dealer that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V131000 (Suspension). The contact was informed that the part to do the recall repair was unavailable and he could not take possession of the vehicle. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the repair. The contact had not experienced a failure.

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?