Front right ball joint separated from lower control arm with no advance warning and the drive shaft was disconnected from the vehicle body. I was travelling at about 15 mph in a straight line through an intersection on a flat surface with no potholes. Then I saw a warning of a transmission fault in my instrument cluster, followed by a loud grinding sound. My car then came to a stop and I was unable to move the vehicle in Forward or Reverse gear. I ignition cycled the vehicle and tried forward/reverse, then someone told me that my front right wheel had separated. Upon inspecting my car from the outside, I then saw the mechanical failure that had occurred. The ball joint separated from the lower control arm. The drive shaft from the front right wheel also separated from the vehicle body. I also noticed that a ring-connector for the drive shaft had been flung maybe 4 feet from my car. My car was in a non-driveable condition and I could not engage drive with the transmission, my car had to be towed from the scene. If this had happened on a busier street or at higher speeds this would have been a severe collision. My car was just delivered to a Mercedes Dealership after sitting in a tow yard for several days, they have not yet fully inspected the vehicle. My insurance has not yet sent a representative to see the vehicle. The indication I had was a "TRANSMISSION FAULT" displayed on my instrument cluster, but I did not notice any other telltales on the instrument cluster after coming to a stop. To the best of my knowledge I did not collide with any objects before the event. There is damage to the outside of my front right rim and tire in the photos, I believe this damage occurred as part of the mechanical failure and how the tire may have deformed and the rim contacted the ground.

- Redwood City, CA, USA