2024 MERCEDES-BENZ Eqe 350+

Component/system that malfunctioned: The braking and acceleration system, including the collision assistance (driver-assistance/automatic braking) feature. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. How safety was put at risk: The car lags when braking and at times accelerates unexpectedly. On one occasion, the collision assistance system—which is designed to brake—instead caused the vehicle to accelerate. The most dangerous incident occurred when the car accelerated on its own into an intersection, nearly causing a collision. Reproduced/confirmed by a dealer or service center: The vehicle was taken to the Mercedes-Benz dealer twice regarding this issue. On both visits, the dealer reported that they found no problem. The fault has not been confirmed or reproduced by the dealer. Inspected by manufacturer, police, insurance or others: Inspected by the Mercedes-Benz dealer on two occasions (no fault found). UNKNOWN whether the manufacturer's engineering team, police, or insurance representatives have inspected the vehicle—to my knowledge, they have not. Warning lamps, messages, or symptoms prior to failure: UNKNOWN / none noticed. No warning lamps or dashboard messages were observed before or during these events. The symptoms (braking lag and unexpected acceleration) have been consistently noticed by all three drivers of the vehicle.

Twice, the car has autonomously braked when there was no threat to the car. The first time we were subsequently rear ended, though fortunately at low speed. There was cosmetic damage to the bumpers of both cars and the occupants were shaken up, but not injured. The second time the were driving at about 35mph when the car slammed on the brakes. Fortunately the following vehicle was not close and there was no collision. The occupants were again shaken up, but not injured. The "braking assistance" can be disabled, but only for the current trip. It is automatically reenabled the next time the car is started.