This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
My vehicle shuts off at start up and also during driving in motion. This happens at various times during the day while stationary, on a city street, or turning while the car is in motion. My mechanic says the engine wiring harness needs to be completely replaced. I've owned this Mercedes for years and have had this problem. I didn't realize how serious this problem was until I spoke with my mechanic recently.
I started my car and began driving home from work. I was going about 55 mph when the car suddenly began to shut down; like the power was suddenly turned off. Then, like a child flipping the lights on and off, the car began to jerk forward and back as the power and engine went on and off again. When I came to a stop the car died. I was able to start it and get home but the car continued to shut down while I drove home and die when I stopped. The next day I got it over to the shop. My mechanic told me it was the wiring harness. He said this is common problem with Mercedes. I looked it up and sure enough, many people have had the same problem due to defective materials. I asked the mechanic to see the wiring harness he removed. It looked just like the on in this website www.mercedesdefects.com/2008/04/wire-harness-defect.html?M=1 there was cracked insulation and exposed wires throughout the harness.
I was changing my oil and checking my level and suddenly there was a spark and then fire but I took it out fast with sand.it was the wiring harness they were all cracked and some of it are disintegrating.
My vehicle has the faulty wiring harness prevalent in all these cars during the mid to late nineties. It has exhibited many of the signs mentioned by numerous other owners over the years such as: Engine light on constantly, surging of the throttle, dash instruments that won't work, stumbling and stalling in traffic, etc. The only thing I haven't had yet is a fire. I was completely unaware of this problem when I purchased the car back in Feb. This is my first Mercedes and will be my last.....next car will be a Honda. Why Mercedes is allowed to ignore this is beyond me. I thought the reason we have government regulation is to force car makers to clean up messes like this. There are still a number of these cars on the road and this problem will eventually get someone killed if it hasn't already. Mercedes should be made to recall and replace this wiring with good remanufactured parts for free if you still own one of these cars.
- Noblesville, IN, USA
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The contact owns a 1995 Mercedes C-220. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, the vehicle decelerated and stalled. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 70,000.
Mercedes Benz knows about these faulty wiring harnesses and refuses to own up to their faults. These faults place the owner and others at risk as they can cause shorts, a poor running car with shorting issues, or even cause a fire. I would be happy if Mercedes would just give us a new wiring harness, I would install it myself and they would not have lost anything.
Vehicle stalled in intersection. Continues to do so, though it will restart. Cel on. Mechanic changed maf and wiring for maf, advised rest of underhood wiring insulation bad, exposing bare wires.
I took my car to a mechanic with an unrelated engine problem which was resolved. Afterwards the mechanic pointed out the engine main wiring harness to me and informed me if I don't replace it, it could have serious consequences like the car catching of fire, stopping at any moment and main computer damage. They shoed me the wire insulations in the wiring harness and I was appalled by what I saw. They were all cracked, at places missing, and very close to actually touching and shorting out. One does not have to be an expert in automotive technology or electrical repair to understand the implications. The wiring harness cost is about $1000 and the labor is several hours. I believe that this is a design or manufacturing defect which should be rectified by Mercedes-Benz by issuing a recall and replacing the harness at no cost to the owner. I was also informed that this was a systemic defect, and many Mercedes-bend cars of the same era around 1995-1998 had to be refit with new wiring harnesses. It is not caused by normal wear although my car has high mileage, but poor materials used.
The poorly designed wiring harness caught fire due to manufactures defect of biodegradable shielding... it is the harness from the E.C.M. to the engine... if the car was traveling at a higher rate of speed during this failure it could have caused death or serious injury to either the driver/passenger or others on the road... I have owned older M.B. and never seen this kind of wiring in my 10+ years of driving and repairing these kind of cars... this issue was reported to mbusa and they tried to say it is due to non maintenance through M.B..... this part should have lasted longer than the life of the car and it has nothing to do with routine maintenance...what did I miss " how do you do maintenance on a wire ? how"... this issue was found to happen off the line and they produced this crap...recall/repair thank you please fix or recall this there are others who trusted their family's to this company and some are still unaware of this issue and are in danger...
The contact owns a 1995 Mercedes Benz C220. The contact stated the faulty wiring harness installation became brittle, began to crack and was falling off of the conductors which detached the wires from the engine and caused the vehicle to stall. The vehicle was previously repaired by the dealer back in 2000 and they replaced the wiring harness at the contacts expense for $800. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated, they had to replace the wiring harness for $700. There were no related recalls or a warranty for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 159,000.
The contact owns a 1995 Mercedes Benz C220. The contact was driving 65 mph when the engine stalled and was the contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a mechanic shop who stated that there was a shirt circuit in the wiring harness installation and that it was fractured. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was contacted to report the failure. The failure mileage was 209,000.
My well maintained '95 Mercedes-Benz C280 of which I am the single owner since new has a defective wiring harness. This could have been a very bad disaster as the car just lost it's power to drive while being driven...by my son, who just came off of I-95. He managed to get to safer ground and had to be towed. Mechanic(not a mbenz one) states never seeing anything like it as the wire coating is disintegrating into a powder like substance and baring all metal...caused it to arc when first looking. Thank good fortune it didn't catch fire, explode or cause a bad accident. So if replaced by mbenz part cause it cannot be repaired....won't the same thing happen with it?
I purchased my C220 in 1995 from a dealer in North Carolina. Within three years the lcd became nonfunctional(radio and tapes became dead). In fourth year the check engine light came on, I took it to dealership, they fixed and charged huge amount but after a month or so it came on again. I was told at the dealership to change wire harness but they were not able to give a guarantee that the check engine light will not come on so I didn't get that service. Till today I am driving my car with check engine light on and nothing have happened. I think this problem should be fixed by mb without any charge to its customers. It seems like this car is not worth for the money. My driver seat can not be fully adjusted using its mechanical system. The upholstery also coming down from the roof and there are so many other bodily faults in my C220.
My car, 1995 Mercedes C280, backfires, stumbles, loses power, and sometimes dies while driving. I have replaced the plug wires, ignition coils, spark plugs, fuel pump, and filter. I have replaced the overload protection relay, the fuel pump relay, and the engine cooling fan relay. The battery and alternator have been replaced. All of these were done after contact with Mercedes Benz and dealers in both Florida and Tennessee. The wiring harness was replaced before I bought the car and is in good condition.
Engine wiring harness failure on 1995 C 220 Mercedes - Benz. Had all engine wiring replaced at a cost of $500. Having so many electrical problems caused many parts to be changed that did not need to be changed. The car is in the shop now for over 9 months because mechanic can not figure why car continue having lost of power.before I found out about the bad wiring on this C 220 Benz, my car was almost hit by another car while trying to cross a busy highway. This could have tragic thank god they slowed down to let me cross. This is a very serious safety situation and something should be done about it asap before some get seriously hurt or receive death form this major problem. I'm over $4,000 in the hole and still no working C220 Mercedes Benz yet!
I own a 1995 Mercedes Benz C280. This vehicle year and model has a possible critical engine wiring harness problem where the insulation on the harness disintegrates very quickly. This disintegration can cause the car to stall and catch fire while driving. There are of course other related severe problems that can occur since the wiring harness is critical to the operation of the vehicle. A few of the other critical components affected are ignition, fuel injection, cooling, timing, mixtures and various other systems/sensors of the car. After speaking to the manufacturer (mb-usa in NY), local dealers, owners and reading various websites, I believe that Mercedes Benz is aware of this problem but will not issue a voluntary recall. The only available repair I am aware of is to replace the entire engine wiring harness. Since the disintegration can occur due to the normal operational engine heat irregardless of mileage, it is my understanding that this can happen at any time. It is highly likely that a affected car with higher miles is much more susceptible to the failing of the wiring harness. This naturally also leaves drivers and passengers of older affected cars much more susceptible to the dangerous and fatal effects of a engine wiring harness failure. I ask that NHTSA investigate this further and issue a recall on behalf of all of the owners. I know that my car falls in the category where the harness is possibly bad, and you are welcome to contact me to see the condition of the my car's engine wiring harness. I hope at the least you can seek a resolution for me from the manufacturer in remedying a known issue in the model I own.
Mercedes-Benz engine wiring harness defect enclosed, please find a list of reported complaints that I found on your very own National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website concerning the chronic engine compartment wiring harness failure suffered by (at the least) 1992 through 1995 Mercedes Benz automobiles. This list is not, by any means, meant to be complete, as it only lists those reports that I was able to locate. Note that the first complaint on the list is mine. I am outraged at Mercedes-Benz' arrogant refusal to own up to, and take responsibility for, this extremely dangerous design and engineering defect. For the life of me (literally), I cannot understand why NHTSA has not investigated this dangerous situation, especially given the large number of complaints. I will not be satisfied with less than Mercedes' immediate rectification. I was asked by Mercedes Benz dealer over $4,000 to fix problem.
While driving on the highway (NJ turnpike, my engine began to become challenged to accelerate. After a couple of miles, I was no longer able to accelerate at all. With nowhere to pull over I drove across the ben franklin bridge at 20 mph. A few blocks after exiting the bridge the car simply failed. Upon researching this issue I determined that many many other owners of my same model car had the same exact issue - the engine wiring harness insulation was shot and needed replacement.
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- North Las Vegas, NV, USA