NHTSA Complaint #11671437 — 2023 MERCEDES-BENZ EQE 500

I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic traveling West on Interstate 376 in Pittsburgh, PA. The weather was clear and cool, and the pavement where I was driving was dry. I was proceeding through the Fort Pitt tunnel outbound. Given that traffic was stop and go and moving very slowly, I switched my recouperation setting from “normal” to “strong” to enable one-pedal driving using the paddles on the sides of the steering wheel. Immediately after doing so, traffic was inching forward just West of the Fort Pitt tunnel, starting up Greentree Hill. I saw the truck in front of me starting to move forward so I took my foot off my brake (up to that point it had functioned correctly) and the car started moving forward slowly. When the brake lights of the truck in front of me illuminated, I placed my foot on my brake. The brake pedal depressed but the car brakes did not function. I immediately noted that the brakes had not functioned and as a result I pressed harder with my foot on the brake pedal. Nothing happened–the brakes did not function. I then used both feet and pressed as hard as I could against the brake pedal. Again, nothing happened–the brakes did not function. I continued to press as hard as I could with two feet as the car proceeded forward into the back bumper of the truck in front of me. The collision occurred at approximately two miles per hour and the damage to my car was mainly caused by the rear hitch on the truck, which went into my front bumper. Mercedes-Benz USA has inspected the car and stated it did not malfunction, but they did not perform any tests in a manner to recreate the settings of the car that were in place at the time of the incident. The car is currently in their control and that of my dealer. No warning lamps or other symptoms of the problem appeared prior to or during this incident.