Mercedes-Benz USA has identified a problem affecting the 223-platform Sonderklasse. No fewer than six versions of the flagship sedan are being recalled for iffy front brake hoses that may rupture without warning. This recall, dubbed 26V638 by the NHTSA, is an expansion of a February 2025 filed service action.
The S 580 4MATIC leads the 30,064-strong recall population with 16,881 examples of the breed, followed by 7,143 units of the S 500 4MATIC. Mercedes-Benz USA further identified 2,277 copies of the S 580e 4MATIC, along with 1,746 of the AMG S 63 E Performance, 1,070 of the Maybach S 680, and 947 of the lesser Maybach S 580.
Said vehicles left Merc’s German factory between February 2, 2021, and November 28, 2024. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer believes that all carry the reported issue, per the filing published by the NHTSA. Regarding those suspect hoses, Continental Automotive Technologies of Frankfurt is the supplier responsible for missing the durability specifications.
Mercedes blames thermal and mechanical stresses, which is exactly what you’d expect from a front brake hose. Due to their location, such hoses flex with suspension movement, soak up the heat from the brakes, and are also subjected to moisture. Given the aforementioned, the rubber of a poorly manufactured hose can easily give up and weep brake fluid.
The recall documentation states that cars produced after the cut-off date run hoses that meet the German automaker’s durability specifications. In the event a brake hose gives up the ghost, brake fluid bleeds one of the two hydraulic circuits, degrading braking performance in the process. In other words, increased stopping distances increase the risk of a crash.
Photo: Mercedes-AMG
Because we’re dealing with two circuits, the surviving circuit tries its best to do the job. While it still stops the car, it does it worse. Drivers get no warning before the failure, with the first sign arriving only after enough fluid has left the system. That sign is a red brake fluid message in the digital instrument cluster.
Campaign 25V116 covered 20,339 examples of the 2021 through 2023 model year S-Class. At the time, Mercedes-Benz USA put the blame on climatic exposure and a particular production timeframe. The field data available back then clustered the reported cases in humid, hot regions, but that hypothesis proved wrong.
The company kept monitoring the hoses inside and outside that population after the first recall. More reports arrived from markets outside the United States of America, markets with wildly different climatic conditions from the US of A. Suspect parts were collected and sent back to Continental for testing.
Following a July 2026 review, Mercedes widened the scope to every vehicle produced up to the moment a modified front brake hose entered series production. Inside the expanded recall population, Mercedes identified three US reports from April, May, and August 2026. Thankfully for everyone, precisely zero reports of crashes were filed with the US subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG.
M-B dealers have been instructed to replace both front-axle brake hoses at no charge to affected customers. Owners and lessees will learn about this recall by first-class mail no later than November 27, 2026.