2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500 Transmission and drivetrain Problems

“On september 30, 2019, I was driving downhill on a mountain road when our rv, a 25' ltv unity on a mercedes SPRINTER 3500 chassis, suddenly lurched and felt out of control. The breaks and steering were unresponsive, and I was pumping the breaks, hard! After about 10 minutes of struggling to control the vehicle around a curvey downhill road, control was restored. Luckily, I was going slow enough that no accident resulted, but it really shook me! …”

“Driving along on cruise control. Cruise control deactivates, anti-lock, traction control and anti-skid lights come on. I stop the vehicle, the transmission wanders between gears jerking. I go to mb dealership they replace r rear speed sensor mileage:9659miles. At 12,060 miles the same thing happens. I drivea five hour round trip to mb dealer, they replace the l rear speed sensor. At 17,000 miles (now off warranty) all the lamps are on again, the transmission will not shift into drive and I face a 133 mile tow to knoxville, tn mercedes dealership.”

“7-9-2018: pulling out of my driveway with a 2018 thor chateau 24fs (with a 2016 SPRINTER 3500 diesel chassis) with less than 9k miles, I had a bang from the transmission. In hindsight, this was just after a right turn. About 300 miles later after a stop light and 90 degree right turn, the transmission started trying to shift back and forth between 2 and and 3 (or maybe 1st and 2nd) in somewhat violent rapid alternation. I stopped and restarted the rv. Ran fine. About 75 miles later after a right turn, same thing. Stopped & restarted. …”

“When I went to try the 4 wheel drive the following things happened: a clunking sound in the rear of the vehicle. Numerous warning lights came on . Abs, collision avoidance, cruise control, check engine, ESC or esp. Over time the lights cleared but came back on weeks apart. I am a retired nasa safety/reliably engineer. In my opinion all of these lights come on as a result of failures of one or more wheel speed sensors. This is a major safety problem as when there is a failed or intermittent operation of a failed speed sensor. All of these safety systems fail when the one sensor fails. …”

“Rear wheel speed sensor failure. Can cause vehicle to surge uncommanded. Vehicle enters limited or limp mode. Some features / functions are disabled. While stationary vehicle attempted to accelerate (surge) in spite of driver brake application. Vehicle has had this failure two times once for each rear wheel sensor failure.”