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

This vehicle was purchased new, in cash, from the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Bellevue, WA. It was delivered to me, without being warned about the car being equipped with summer tires, the state of Washington has continuous rain, snow, and ice in a regular basis throughout the years, summer tires are not a good tire for an SUV such as this GLB unit in this region. On 12/27/2021 I went on an errand around my neighborhood, the road had snow and ice, and it had been serviced by our city's plows and deicer was present, during three occasions I had to stop for traffic lights, and my car skidded during all three occasions almost hitting another vehicle, and a pedestrian, my car was the only car skidding on the road, I am an excellent driver with not a single accident on my responsibility, and I have driven on snow and ice for years; this was not a novice's error. Furthermore, the car has a loud "clunk" noise coming from undercarriage, and sensations of tire slipping, possibly front and right corner, specifically when I perform a slow speed U-turn. This vehicle has not been damaged and has about 3,000.0 miles in the odometer, on 12/14/2021 I took it to the Mercedes-Benz dealership for inspection, they did not find any reason for the "clunk" noise and slipping of tires; this is when I was informed that my tires were summer tires and I needed to buy new all-weather, or winter tires, the tires "would not perform" in the winter, I was told by the M-B service representative. Here I am with a "high quality" new vehicle, with clunky scary noises, while sensing of tires slipping, and the dealership claims it to be "normal" and "safe", on top of that the car was equipped by factory with substandard tires for the region of final destination, all of which may cause accidents, damages, and/or injuries.

- Kirkland, WA, USA