It is a common problem... no preventive  measure unless you just don't use
it that much. People who uses it all the time finds it died early.

Just get it repaired... a Colorado outfit does great job... go to
mbcoupes.com and look under part supplier.

The cruise control failure is pretty will understood and even easier
to fix - in most cases.

Take the mofo out, resolder every connection. EVERY connection. 99% of
the time that fixes it. The other 1% of the time you guy a good used one
from a scrapyard, (resolder it!) and install and go.

To answer the original question, well, uh, you could resolder it now
or wait till it breaks then resolder it.