The red icon shows the car rolling back-and-forth with an exclamation point (!) and the text says oil level may be low. It happened backing out of the garage on a cold start. I stopped in the street and restarted the car. The light re-appeared shortly after beginning to move again. I continued to drive out of my neighborhood slowly for about another mile and then stopped and restarted the car again. This time the light stayed out and handling (active roll) was normal the rest of the day. This topic is discussed in the Active Roll section of the 2004 USA Owners Manual on page 80.

Does anyone have experience with this situation or other advice?

 

Had this happen to me when my car was transported up north. Essentially, the fix was simple. I read somewhere on the forums that you need to start the car and turn the steering all the way to the left and then all the way to the right and then back to the left again. MBUSA has a similar mechanism as well I believe. After doing this, drive off slowly and the error should go out. Im not sure what makes this occur but it is known to take place on slopes and on cold engine starts. Try the technique above and see what happens.. Worked for me!

 

Also check fluid level, it may be low , see if you have a leak.

 

No leaks by inspection of the floor where the car sits, but I just checked the cylindrical reservoir immediately behind the coolant reservoir. It is marked with "CHF 11S Oil Only". If this is the correct reservoir, then the cold oil level is not even touching the dipstick. It might be that this should be checked hot, but I would think there would at least be some reading while cold. I could not find any discussion of the power steering/active suspension oil reservoir in the owner's manual, so don't know the proper procedure or even proper location.

I am still under OEM warranty and I made an appointment for inspection for leaks on Nov 3rd, but I don't want to continue to drive with low oil level. I am checking with my SA to see if they will top it off before the scheduled service, and if they will not, I will just buy the oil from dealer and fill it myself.

 

I looked again at the dipstick, and there is a line marked 20 degrees C. This is 68 degrees F, so about ambient temp. Definitely not hot, as in after driving. So, I should definitely have some fluid on the dipstick, probably up to the 20 deg. C line.