I was driving across the verrazano narrows bridge from brooklyn to staten island. Just past the tolls, my harmonic balancer failed, causing the serpentine belt to sizes and stopping the engine. Consequently, I lost steering and braking became very hard. I was more-or-less pointing to an shoulder/embankment between the main highway and the exit immediately past the tolls. I coasted to that embankment and used its slope in part to help stop the vehicle. I was subsequently towed to ray catena Mercedes in Edison, NJ. I was informed by the service advisor there (Mr. Hessert) that this failure was part of a "campaign" and that it would be repaired along with any collateral damage "for free" by Mercedes. I asked "since when" was this campaign in effect, they stated since April of 2005. I asked why I was not notified of this as I am the registered owner. We both together then called Mercedes customer service and were informed that there was no 'notice' and that this was not a formal recall. Had this failure happened 40 minutes earlier while I was on the long island expressway, or 10 minutes later when I would have been on the goethals bridge, I would have been at the very least severely injured if not dead not to mention any other vehicles and individuals who would inevitably been involved. I am told that the _defective_ harmonic balancer will be replaced along with the serpentine belt and the "upper oil pan" as that part was damaged during the failure. I will request that these parts be retained.

- Wyncote, PA, USA

Failure of harmonic balancer, an event that has occurred on many Mercedes with this design for the harmonic balancer. New cover, oil pan. And balancer needed.

- Baltimore, MD, USA

1999 Mercedes ML320 harmonic balancer. I was aware of the investigation being performed and had Mercedes check the balancer in January. They said it's fine. On 9/6/04, it failed causing $1500 in damage. I was not injured because I knew not to drive the vehicle after failure. Mercedes needs to recall the harmonic balancer. It is failing on most vehicles and causing extensive damage.

- Bloomsbury, NJ, USA

Faulty harmonic balancer in fly wheel 1999 ml 320, 66,000 miles NHTSA action no.PE03058.

- Kingsport, TN, USA

The vehicle vibrated uncontrollably while driving. The driver had difficulty to maintain control of the vehicle. However, the driver was able to pull over and the vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the driver that the pulley assembly needed to be replaced.

- Clovis, CA, USA

(1)vehicle was making a left hand turn and became almost impossible to turn steering wheel. (2) crankshaft dampener became separated at point of rubber vulcanized and caused serpentine belt to come loose leaving power steering to stop working along with all other pulleys run by the same belt. (3) dampener and belt were replaced. (old parts are available) this is an extremely dangerous situation that my local dealership says is happening very frequently. New types of replacement dampeners have been changed six (6) times in the last five (5) years in the parts book. Several local mechanics say it's a very common problem and they wonder why a recall has not been ordered. It would be very easy to find out how many crankshaft dampeners have been ordered and replaced by both dealers and parts sales. Again, let me say this is a very dangerous situation that is very common. My primary worry is that a small person would not be able to turn the steering wheel if the power steering goes out as in these broken dampener cases. I'm a 225 lb man and I could barely bring the car to a safe stop at only 25 miles per hour. What would have happened on a mountain road? please investigate this problem for everyone's safety. Thank you!!

- Clovis, CA, USA

Harmonic balancer failure.

- Chapin, SC, USA

Crankshaft pulley failure.

- Brewton, AL, USA

Crank shaft pulley wheel flew off.

- Skillman, NJ, USA

I have been an owner of a 1999 Mercedes Benz ML320, bought used about 6 months ago. Recently, something went wrong on this vehicle and it started wobbling and making external engine noise. Soon, I discovered that there was a non-metallic part, a ring, the size of a palm was found in my engine bay. I took it to my local mb dealer, Mercedes Benz of cincinnati Ohio and received a quote of $3700. The dealer's service manager told me its not a problem commonly seen but it sounded like awfully too popular as they knew exactly what it was when I described on the phone. The Mercedes E320 engine (supposedly 1998 through mid 2000) called M112 as well as the same engine or substantially similar engine on C280, ML320, E430 etc., has a harmonic balancer, a rubber ring sandwiched between 2 metal pulley to isolate the engine vibration from the rest of the pulleys being driven by the engine. This is what the serpentine belt rotates on.over time, the poorly designed harmonic balancer pulley fails, the rubber ring cracks, breaks or falls off, depending on the temperature of the vehicle driving conditions and stress/load. It is typically seen on ML320 in the range of 40,000 miles, but is not as commonly reported as typically it is still under warranty. On E320, it tends to be around 60,000 miles though, often it could be as low as 25000 miles. The issue is, when this part fails, the engine timing belt cover, oil pan etc get seriously gouged by the rotating pulley. In my case the dealership, Mercedes Benz of cincinnati is charging $3700 for the repairs. Often dealer profess innocence or lack of similar failure (common across board, every user in my group mentions that the dealer said 'never heard of it'.). the issue become more dangerous and expensive as well, when less mechanically inclined people just keep driving until something smells or makes terrible noise etc., often resulting in a middle of the road complete breakdown and seize of the engine.

- Loveland, OH, USA

1999 M-B ML320 - harmonic balancer failed, rendering power steering and all other serpentine belt driven accessories inoperative while in motion. Damaged engine front cover, timing cover, oil pan and associated parts.

- Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Consumer complained about having problems with the pulleys making a hole in the oil pan. Manufacturer was not notified at the time of this call. The vehicle had an oil leak. The technician stated the leak was caused by a pulley which was hitting against the oil pan. The technician stated that if the oil pan was replaced the pulley will still hit the oil pan and cause a leak. The check engine light illuminated. The dealer replaced the mass air flow sensor.

- Austell, GA, USA

The failure of the center pulley resulted in the engine belt coming loose. It resulted in all power mechanisms (power steering, power brakes failing). The steering was very hard to turn. The belt got ripped by the fan while it was working. The fan also stopped working and elevated the engine temperature. No visible indication of this on the dash panel. When I opened the hood, the metal pulley was sitting loose against the engine block. If the pulley had fallen down or hit the fuel line, it could have caused a serious accident. Mercedes dealership told me they have seen this problem before and it happens in hot weather. Mercedes has fixed this problem in later models but not letting owners of previous models know about this potentially serious problem. Ph **dimsii IVOQ entry posted after 12/12/02 cut over to artemis**768016

- Naperville, IL, USA

1999 Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV. On Thursday, December 19, my wife was driving the vehicle when suddenly the "harmonic balancer" failed (became detached), causing a complete loss of power to the vehicle, resulting in a disabled vehicle and leaving my wife and family stranded. The "harmonic balancer" is the main pulley wheel which is attached to the crankshaft. This pulley wheel in turn drives all other belt-driven items, such as power steering pump, ac, alternator, water pump, etc. First, this item should be so resilient that failure is nearly impossible, and second, both the tow truck driver and the dealer who is repairing it stated that this type of failure is "not at all surprising or uncommon" on the mb ML320 SUV. While no injuries or deaths occurred in this case, it seems that if this critical component were to fail at highway speeds, the resulting loss of power could cause a loss of control of the car. I will also add that we have very carefully followed all of the routine maintenance recommended by the manufacturer. If this critical component is subject to failure, a check should be part of the scheduled maintenance. But to be direct, the design of the "harmonic balancer" is faulty, and clearly should be recalled. The repairs are expensive (upwards of $1500) and the results are potentially deadly. Let's not wait for an injury or death to result before some action is taken on this!

- Highland Village, TX, USA