The airmatic system on my Mercedes Benz S-500 has failed for a second time. The car-body dropped and is resting on the tires, making it impossible to operate the vehicle.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

I'm probably not the first complain about this subject, as a simple search on www.google.com would reveal that this problem is nation wide. I own a 2000 S-class Mercedes-Benz (W220 chasis), and I too got some aromatic (air suspention) problem. While I was driving on a side street, my vehicle displayed a warning sign saying "aromatic stop vehicle too low". I began to pull over toward the side of the street by slightly turning the wheel to the right, when I noticed that the car was shaking from the friction of the wheel rubbing against the bumper (or fender). I did not notice any visible damage to my vehicle other that the car was sitting so low that a good five inches from the top of the tire was inside the fender. It was then that I realized where the noise and vibration came from. The speed that I was traveling when this happened was 20mph. I can not imagine what would happen if the travel speed would be over 55mph (a very common speed for freeway driving in the city), what about over 70mph in rural areas. Something needs to be done about this before somebody gets hurt (hopefully not already). If a moving part comes to contact with a non moving on at high speeds, the consequence could be lethal. According to my reaserch, all the W220 chasis Mercedes-Benz have this "aromatic suspension" problem, all the mechanics also agree with that statement. Please investigate for a possibility for a recall before it's to late. Thank you.

- Warren, MI, USA

This car has an air suspension system which has a severe problem. The car has no springs, instead each shock absorber has a pneumatic system that supports the weight of the vehicle. When both rear shock absorbers fail at the same time the whole rear of the car drops down and the car has to be stopped, posing no hazard. But when only one of the rear shock absorbers develops a small air leak, the car does not loose much height and there is loss of traction in the tire in the involved side because there is not sufficient vehicle weight being applied to it. This loss of traction in only one tire causes the tire to spin on light to moderate acceleration, but worse, it causes the tire to "lock up" on braking. Immediately the ABS system gets activated and in trying to prevent this "lock up", the ABS system decreases the braking force on the remaining 3 tires causing marked decrease in braking capacity. When this happens at highway speeds, braking distance is extensively prolonged, posing an extreme hazard. This is a severe design flaw which merits immediate correction by the manufacturer, or action by the government to prevent this type of suspension from being installed in any vehicle sold in the usa.

- Caguas, PR, USA

2000 S 500 airmatic failure. Car inoperable.

- Park City, UT, USA