I have a 2008 S550, which I purchased in June. It drives very nicely. However, starting last week (after driving through a heavy rain storm), each time I start the car and back out of a parking location, I receive the message "ABS and ESP Inoperative. See Owner's Manual". My manual instructs me to drive forward at a reduced speed to reset the alarm. And, if the alarm can't be reset, to contact my dealership. I reset without problem, but the problem occurs every time I start the car.
Is this a problem to be remedied by the dealership service shop? Probably a dumb question, but I want to know if it is common.

Thanks.

 

Update: I turned my car over to the local Mercedes Benz dealer today so they could fix the ABS and ESP error indication. I found earlier threads to this problem from 2003 and 2004, and these all indicated that the problem would arise from either a sensor position/integrity fault or a bad module. Beyond my comfort level for a home repair. I'll post again with the final results.

 

The dealership (Mercedes Benz of South Atlanta) did indeed find and fix the problem. Fantastic group of people at this location.

The problem was an errant speed sensor on the left front wheel location. Easy pickins' for the service guys at MBSA.

 

You can also try bleeding the brakes the system work with your brake abs if there's air in the system you can bleed the system and after you have gotten the brakes to where you like it then start pump the brakes and watch that light not come on again sometimes the little piston in the brake caliper does push all the way back out against the brake pads and it will throw that light on.

So I went to the dealer first and then I got to thinking about what causes this system to work so I took off the rites and started from the right rear bleeding the brakes and after I got all of them done then the light went off and never came back on, so if I would have allowed the to replace it I would have been out of more money than the 8.00 buck I spent for brakes fluid. I have found with mine car, go to the dealer see that they say and research to see what else could be the issue and this worked for me!

2007 S550

 

Hello Everyone,

Had a similar issue to everyone here with my 2013 Mercedes C250 acquiring ABS and cruise control inoperative errors after my car sat for a couple of months while I was out of the country. I was thinking it was a battery issue at first as I had to jump it when I first got back, and the folks who I left the car to watch it also told me that was having to jump the car. I tested the battery though and the loads came back fine. After my mechanic reset the error dashboard, and the error was returning, they decided to try changing a speed sensor in the wheel. That did the trick. Cost of the speed sensor was about $40 ish bucks.

TLDR: After you confirm the battery is ok, try changing your speed sensor in your wheel.

Good luck!

 

Hello guys
The sole reason for me joining to this forum is this topic.

CLS 350 (2009) has got the same warning all of a sudden and "ABS and ESP inoperative" as well as Cruise Control was not usable. After searching for the forums and all, I figured out is was simply the break sensor (a 10$ part) broken, hence car is not able to understand the break applied. I changed the break sensor and voila, issue resolved for good (3 months now)

Now, how did I do the diagnostic: I woke up 6am in the morning and drove the car without break applied as much as I can. Whenever I applied the break the "ABS and ESP inoperative" warning popped. Stop the car, start the car and try again: the error comes only when I applied the break.

Hope this helps...