Mercedes-Benz preliminary evaluation PE21019
Vehicle Rolls Away While in Park. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the automatic transmission on 2 model years (2019–2020). Opened Aug 2, 2021, closed May 27, 2022 after 10 months. It led to safety recall 21V972000, 22V796000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedThe Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened this PE after receiving 11 Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) alleging that Model Year (MY) 2019 Mercedes-Benz (MB) Sprinter vans, configured for use as Amazon delivery vehicles or ambulances, roll away shortly after being shifted to park using the Auto-P function. A rollaway vehicle with no operator behind the steering wheel could potentially strike pedestrians, moving or parked vehicles or buildings, resulting in injury, fatality and/or property damage. Analysis of data provided by MB in response to the ODI Information Request (IR) letter showed a high failure rate. Following discussions with ODI about the failures, MB decided to conduct a safety recall. On December 15, 2021, Daimler Vans USA, LLC filed recall 21V-972 covering 48,400 model year (MY) 2019-2020 Mercedes-Benz (MB) Sprinter vans. With recall 21V-972, this investigation is closed. The affected vehicle population determined by MB is Sprinter vehicles (VS30, Platform 907) produced between June 5, 2018 and November 30, 2020 with a manual parking brake and a 7-speed automatic transmission that was manufactured between May 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019, in the Hedelfingen transmission plant in Germany. Further use of Agency resources does not appear to be warranted. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist on other model or MY vehicles outside of the recall scope. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances. The ODI reports cited above can be reviewed at: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID using the following complaint identification numbers:11360500, 11404893, 11404894, 11360505, 11404417, 11405798, 11405804, 11404969, 11404838, 11404891, 11415509, 11428353, 11428296, 11298470, 11428219, 11405803, 11427068, 11428216, 11428296, 11429905, 11447877, 11452051
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2021 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2021 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2021 | |
| Memo granting a response extension | INRE | 2021 | |
| Confidential business information notice | INCBC | 2021 | 6 files 123456 |
| Correspondence | INLO | 2021 | 4 files 1234 |
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Aug 2, 2021, owners had filed 2 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 1 named the power train NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themA vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE21019 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 21V972000, 22V796000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE21019 still open?
No. It closed on May 27, 2022 and led to recall 21V972000, 22V796000.
Which vehicles does PE21019 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2020 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.