trailer brake controller

Styles, or any one else have you heard from MB yet with a fix? I went to two dealers for answers. First one assigned a nice service tech who didn't know anything about it but wanted to find out. He emailed me some ideas on where to look and none of them panned out. I found the brake controller in the right rear side. 5 wires coming out of it going to the tail lights and an unused 8 plug opening. The 7 plug is wired for a 4 plug with a hot lead. Maybe for a surge brake control? Then he quit answering me, I guess he found out the truth and was afraid to let me know.
The second dealer, the one I bought it from told be I needed to go to a trailer shop to have it wired. I let them know that I paid for a towing package with a 7 pin connector so I wouldn't have to wire it myself and reminded them when I was researching the vehicle with them I would not buy a Metris unless it was ready to tow. Then I was assigned to the service manager who said he would let me know the answer. He called later to tell me MB's answer was they don't wire for trailer brakes with a 7 pin connector, asked why not they said that's how they do things. I asked the manager if it was fair to sell me something under false pretense and he said no and there is really nothing I can do about it.
A call to MB got me the same answer, that's how we do things and there is nothing they can do, I am on my own to fix the problem.
So, I bought the Metris to haul motorcycles in, and there has been a lot of interest in the van everywhere I go with people looking at it for the same use. But I will do my darndest to talk anyone out of buying a MB product as long as I am alive. It is all I can do about it.

Unfortunately I'm at a dead end at the moment as well. I followed up with my dealer last week who was supposed to have been working with MB engineering to get a solution but MB keeps coming back with "it was manufactured as designed". I need to follow up with Sprinter Line this week, I pm'd you the guy I've been dealing with, the more people that complain the faster they'll make this right. Any Joe off the street is going to walk up to one of these on the lot, see the hitch, see the 7 pin connector, see where it says "electric brakes" on the connector cover and come the conclusion that it supports brakes from the factory. Any modern pickup or van comes prewired for a controller. I bought mine to haul the family and a race car around every so often, my trailer has electric brakes and I'd rather not replace it with surge brakes.

All I really need from MB is a good place to get the brake activation up front. The +12 can come from the aux box in the passenger footwell. I don't know if the brake switch on the pedal is just a switch or a sensor cause I think it can sense the amount of braking for the start/stop. That and some pins and connectors and we should be in business but MB really needs to be the ones supplying the parts. I'll even write the TSB for them if I have to.

That is one option I was looking at along with this.
http://intelli-hitch.com/
I have been told by a few people that they don't use electric trailer brakes in Europe but use the proportional valve set ups. That's why they wire in a four way plug with a hot wire from the battery. My question is do I sent the bill for the hitch to my dealer or MB America since they sold be a vehicle they stated was ready to tow 5000 pounds. As the van sits now it would be illegal to tow a lot less weight in every state. I wish I would have known all this before I bought the van.
This whole experance has been a lot like when the Sprinters came to the MB dealers, they were glad to take your money but didn't want anything to do with you after the sale. It didn't change until the dealers discovered how much money they could make keeping the Sprinters running when they went out of warranty.

Not sure the intelli hitch will work well on the Metris. It looks like it hangs pretty low, I'd be concerned with hitting it on the ground since the hitch is so low as it is.
As for MB picking up the bill: I wasn't told they wouldn't when I suggested they should at least be paying the difference between it and something like a P3 controller. But you'll probably have to call and complain before they are willing to do anything. I'm still waiting on hearing if there is an actual eta on the mystical solution before I go with the ProdigyRF.

MB should really know better, there are several TSB's out for fitting the Sprinters and other vehicles with electric brakes. I would have liked to have known as well but my dealer knew nothing about the vehicle, even MB was telling me for a month that brakes were supported before they figured it out.