What 39 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Mercedes-benz Eqe SUV

I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic traveling West on Interstate 376 in Pittsburgh, PA. The weather was clear and cool, and the pavement where I was driving was dry. I was proceeding through the Fort Pitt tunnel outbound. Given that traffic was stop and go and moving very slowly, I switched my recouperation setting from “normal” to “strong” to enable one-pedal driving using the paddles on the sides of the steering wheel. Immediately after doing so, traffic was inching forward just West of the Fort Pitt tunnel, starting up Greentree Hill. I saw the truck in front of me starting to move forward so I took my foot off my brake (up to that point it had functioned correctly) and the car started moving forward slowly. When the brake lights of the truck in front of me illuminated, I placed my foot on my brake. The brake pedal depressed but the car brakes did not function. I immediately noted that the brakes had not functioned and as a result I pressed harder with my foot on the brake pedal. Nothing happened–the brakes did not function. I then used both feet and pressed as hard as I could against the brake pedal. Again, nothing happened–the brakes did not function. I continued to press as hard as I could with two feet as the car proceeded forward into the back bumper of the truck in front of me. The collision occurred at approximately two miles per hour and the damage to my car was mainly caused by the rear hitch on the truck, which went into my front bumper. Mercedes-Benz USA has inspected the car and stated it did not malfunction, but they did not perform any tests in a manner to recreate the settings of the car that were in place at the time of the incident. The car is currently in their control and that of my dealer. No warning lamps or other symptoms of the problem appeared prior to or during this incident.

NHTSA ODI 11671437

On [XXX], my wife was driving to a local business here in Las Vegas, NV. Upon her arrival she proceeded to pull into a parking spot she slowed down to pull into the parking spot keeping her foot on the brake at all times when she reached the parking block she firmly pressed the brake to place the vehicle in park. While her foot is still on the brake the vehicle took off at a high rate of speed causing the vehicle to jump the parking block onto the sidewalk where pedestrians walk. The car continued accelerating while her foot was on the brake burning rubber on the sidewalk and the high acceleration caused her to hit the wall of the building. The car came to a stop after hitting the wall, no airbag deployed no warning lights came on the dash went totally out and the seatbelt did not work properly it did not keep her restrained to the seat on impact. Due to the malfunction of the vehicle and its safety equipment my Wife has suffered a concussion, bruising to her chest and breast area as well as strain to her hips. Not to mention the mental trauma she will suffer from for the rest of her life. No inspection has been done as of yet and truthfully I don't think they're too eager to do one and even when they do is it going to be fair and true or down played to protect themselves and their pockets. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11579404

On [XXX] my wife was driving to a place of business here in Las Vegas, NV at approximately [XXX]. She proceeded to pull into a parking spot with her foot on the brake pulling up to the parking block. She never took her foot off the brake preparing to stop once she reached the parking block. Once she reached the parking block she applied the brakes firmly to bring the car to a stop, however, the car took off at a high rate of speed. The car then jumped over the parking block onto the sidewalk my wife continued to apply the brakes but they did not work the car tires kept spinning and eventually caused her to hit the wall of the building. At the time of the incident no warning lights came on the dash because everything went blank, no airbag deployed, no messages came on the car nor did it send any messages to me alerting me that my vehicle was involved in a accident. Due to this vehicle malfunctioning my wife has suffered a concussion, bruises to her breast and chest area and she also has a strain to her hips due to the seat belt malfunction. The seatbelt did not work properly it did not keep her restrained to the seat as designed. The building was of course damaged as a result of this vehicle malfunction. My wife unfortunately has suffered mental and bodily issues she has been traumatized due to this vehicle malfunction she has voiced over and over how this experience has affected her she also has repeatedly stated how this event took place and how it now makes her not ever want to ride in this car or any other electric car ever again. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11579164

THIS IS A SUDDEN ACCELATION INCIDENT in reverse with a brake incident. On January 11, 2024 shortly after 12:00 p.m., I was leaving my home and reversing out of my garage. As the tail of the car went slightly beyond the garage door, it stopped abruptly as if detecting something in the path of the car behind it. As I was looking at the rear camera to see why it stopped and what was in the path and contemplating whether I should get out and go see in person (as I did not clearly see anything in the rear camera) the car started moving again at what felt like a high-speed, backwards as I was still in reverse. I tried to brake but the brakes did not work. So, I started turning so as not to go directly into the home of the neighbor across the street. I turned sharply enough that the car went diagonally into my next-door neighbor's yard to the left of our home. The car continued to move in reverse and I kept steering to avoid the car hitting my neighbor's home. The car hit and knocked over the neighbor's in-ground basketball on the opposite side of the driveway. I believe the car slowed a bit after that impact but kept going in reverse heading back into the street in front of my home. Still steering and hitting the brakes, I remember the car spinning in the street and then had somewhat of an elliptical pattern and was headed back across the yard to my same neighbors home but hit the parkway tree in front of my home and stopped with that impact. Believe electrical failure. Brakes didn't work. Airbag did not deploy. Many sudden acceleration cases end in injury and death. Thankful no children out since middle of day. MBUSA (only) is investigating. Attempted independent review but told that unable because of proprietary software. 5 weeks in and no response to investigation status.

NHTSA ODI 11572481