NHTSA Complaint #11501082 — 2023 MERCEDES-BENZ EQS450

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on January 8, 2023 I, and three passengers (my wife, and another couple), were completing a one hour drive returning from an event in southern California. We traveled on the freeways as we headed home. The speeds on those freeways average between 65 and 75 miles per hour with the flow of traffic. I exited the freeway and pulled up to a traffic light. I made a right turn at the light, then traveled up the road. The weather was clear and dry, and there were no cars either behind, in front of, or beside me as I drove up a cleanly paved and level road at a speed of approximately 35 – 40 MPH. During the drive up the road, the car inexplicably and suddenly stopped, hard, as though I had run into a dense hill of sand. It was a violent and sudden jolting stop, and all four passengers’ seatbelts activated, firmly tightening and restraining us in our seats. My wife’s head whipped back and forth, resulting in an enduring headache for her through the rest of the evening. No one knew what had happened, or why, as there was absolutely no obstruction in the road and no traffic around us. We pulled over and inspected the car and it was in pristine perfect condition with no evidence of any contact of any kind. We looked in the road and it was clear, paved and level. No animals; no objects; no obstruction. When I arrived home I searched online to determine if this had ever before been reported, and it turned up several “hits,” apparently filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) on this very issue, apparently involving both the 2021 and 2022 EQS. My model year is 2023. The discussions I have read point to a possible defect in the Autonomous Emergency Braking System (EBS). It might be the car is sensing something that is not there, and reacting as though it were. At 70 MPH on a freeway, this could be fatal, should the EBS activate suddenly, with no cause to do so, with an ensuing rear-end collision. PLEASE ADDRESS THIS.