NHTSA Complaint #11468355 — 2017 MERCEDES-BENZ B 250E

When trying to leave a shopping complex in my Mercedes Benz B250e, the vehicle suddenly just wouldn't move in either drive or reverse. All instruments looked normal, there were no warnings or messages on the console, and the vehicle was fully charged, but the electric motor just would not engage even though the transmission was engaged. The vehicle was towed to the nearness Mercedes Benz dealership in Littleton, where they diagnosed the problem simply as a "failed electric drive". They could offer no explanation as to why the drive failed, but offered us the option to replace it at a cost of over $16k. The vehicle's warranty had expired only 3 months prior, the vehicle only had 16K miles, and I had owned it less than a year, so this all felt very strange that such a major component would simply fail with no explanation. We pleaded with the dealer to honor the warranty under the spirit of "good-will" but did not offer any consolation towards what we feel is an exorbitant cost to repair the vehicle. Upon further research we have discovered that this seems to be a problem with these particular Mercedes model, many other owners of the same vehicle have experienced the same issue, Mercedes is aware of the problem and refuses to recall or honor repairs. vehicle mileage at 16,000