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.
The Rear Subframe of the car rotted out, making the car dangerous to drive. This problem has been identified by Mercedes and IS considered a safety hazard in Canada and Europe. This problem should also be covered here in the USA. Unfortunately Mercedes Benz USA will not offer any help here, instead trying to charge customers more than $7,000 for the repair. A frame should last the lifetime of a car, especially when the rest of the car has no to little rust on it. The Subframe is available for inspection, broken suspension puts everyone in and around the car at risk while it is on the road. This issue was inspected and confirmed by a local Mercedes dealer and a local mechanic. There were absolutely no warnings of the issue before it happened.
The rear subframe of this vehicle is made of faulty materials and has completely rusted out leaving the suspension components which connect to it in danger of failing. The left rear wheel connecting trailing arm has already detached from the subframe. There have been numerous complaints about the 2010-2013 Mercedes C300 W204 rear subframe, many of which share exactly the same failure as my own. It is a known problem with this generation of Mercedes.
Rear subframe completely rusted through resulting in multiple attached systems to break off. When applying the brakes the rear end of the vehicle swings and can force the car into random directions. Upon any basic research this issue can be seen in similar Mercedes models across the globe consistently. If the issue was not diagnosed sooner the likelihood of a fatal crash would have been extremely high due to critical components like braking and suspension systems being nonfunctional. Many vehicles that experience this design flaw are well maintained and kept in good conditions. I urge the NHTSA to release some kind of warning to owners of these vehicles because this issue can blindside even the most vigilant owners. Many posts regarding this issue describe nearly avoiding severe accidents. Please do not let this go unheard because it can be fatal if not addressed.
The dealer noticed that the rear suspension subframe had rusted and corroded with a hole. They rejected the passage of the state safety check. A review of online forums shows this is a common problem in these years and Canadian and German counterparts of MBUSA have issued recalls because a third party supplier provided the parts without sufficient corrosion protection. See eg. https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204/805501-rotted-rear-subframe.html
- Burke, VA, USA
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The rear suspension cross member has rusted out on both sides. The rear wheels turn during braking, causing the vehicle to swerve. This is a original materials defect or design flaw.
My husband drove my car home from work on April 18th 2022 and it was a bad rain storm that everyone. He had to drive through a couple of big rain storms. Soon afterwards he got around the corner from the house and the electric system failed lights started going off everywhere in the car, he lost steering and couldn-€™t see and almost crashed and got the car home safely but it wouldn-€™t shut off so he had to disconnect the battery for the car to shut off. On April 22 nd the car was towed to the dealership because it wasn-€™t driveable and they check out the car and discovered water under the carpeting of the drivers seat near the wiring of the car. I submitted an insurance claim and an adjuster went out to see the damage and his thought is that it-€™s due to a known problem for this car that-€™s been reported by many people with this same vehicle. The Mercedes Benz c300- 2010-2014 years. I checked online and apparently many people have reported this same issue water underneath the car due to bad firewall manufacturered not sealed correctly which could be a manufacturers/ safety issue. My husband was almost killed thank goodness he made it home safe that night. I believe there are many people that have had this issue and someone needs to be done for safety purposes, and I believe the insurance doesn-€™t want to cover the repairs because they are blaming Mercedes-€™ Benz. My cars been in the shop a month and I still have no answer from State Farm or the shop Mercedes Benz.
Driver side subframe broke in half due to rust. However, vehicle has low mileage and was very well maintained and is in mint condition throughout with no signs of rust anywhere underneath on any parts. This subframe rusted through from the inside and with no way of being able to see or catch any warning signs for owners.
Rear subframe failure due to corrosion. Car has approximately 130k miles. Based on internet reasearch, this is a common issue with the c300 w204 Mercedes-€™ car. It-€™s a serious safety issue and warrants a recall before someone is killed. Failures have happened for this car at various miles on the odometer, without warning.
The rear subframe rusted so bad that one of the control arms detached from frame i think this is a risky and i seen lots of those complaints in YouTube I think there should be a recall from mercedes benz of usa.
Rear subframe rusted from inside out causing driver side lower control arm mount to break free from subframe. Traveling approximately 40mph but proper evasive maneuvering allowed for safe stopping without incident.
I was told today that my car is unsafe to drive because the subframe has rusted so severely that the control arms for both rear wheels have detached from the subframe. A web search (https://) indicates that my problem is not unique. During a drive yesterday evening, the top dead center (tdc) of the steering wheel started out as it should at the 12:00 position. During the drive, the tdc shifted to the 10:30 position. This morning, as my wife and I drove the car to be inspected, the tdc was at 11:30. I always brought my car to the Mercedes dealership, where I purchased the car, for its scheduled A- and B-services. We have never been in an accident in this car. During winter, I frequently took the car to touchless car washes and paid extra for the under-body wash to remove road salts. I am flabbergasted that a 10-year old Mercedes should develop such a serious rust problem on a critical structural part that it fails completely. My 15-year old range rover has led a much more demanding life, and it's doing just fine. As of this morning, my C300 has 158,000 miles.
The contact owns a 2010 Mercedes Benz C300. The contact stated that while driving at slower speeds, an abnormal grinding sound was coming from engine without warning. The contact took the vehicle to Mercedes-Benz of fort Washington located at (404 Pennsylvania ave, fort Washington, pa 19034), where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective bearing in the transfer case. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the transmission replaced. The contact took the vehicle back to the same dealer to be repaired under NHTSA campaign number: 19V010000 (air bags). The vehicle was inspected and the contact was informed that the subframe was corroded and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 96,000. The VIN was not available.
I am the original owner of this car having purchased in on February 01, 2010. Recently, after getting my wife's C class back from a service at the mb dealer, she started to complain about it's strange handling. I went out with her and noticed that while traveling in a straight line under braking the car would swerve severely with the rear of the car oversteering in one direction and the front of the car diving in the opposite direction. I was able to observe the right wheel/tire toeing out under braking with the outside right mirror tilted down. I jacked up the right rear of the car and removed the wheel and found a crack on the rear subframe near a flange holding a suspension link. Under any braking the crack allows the entire wheel/brake assy to steer the car. This fracture of the subframe created a very unsafe driving condition. The car was delivered to mb of wilmington de and inspected by their head tech and a representative of mbcc. I was told that due to the age of the car, 10yrs. 14days, 94K, that mb would not help out with the repair. I then did some research on the mb forum and found a number of owners with newer and older cars having the same problem and mb refusing to fix or acknowledge the problem.
My car made a electric shortage and the car won't turn on so I had to take it to a shop and they told me the car had to be programmed again so it could turn on.
I was driving my 2010 C300, 99,000 miles at approximately 40 mph when I experienced a nearly fatal collision. When I applied the brakes, I experienced a failure of the rear cross-member subframe which caused the rear left wheel to deviate in a such a way that caused the rear of the vehicle to fishtail. I had to fight to regain control of the vehicle and avoid a head-on collision. I drove the vehicle to a nearby mechanic who pointed to a break in the sub-frame where the rear-left tire suspension components attached to the rest of the car. The break appears to have manifested where the sheet metal components were welded to form a bracket in the subframe. I live in a state where annual safety inspections are carried out and the vehicle has passed such inspections with no past indicators of rust. The safety inspection focuses on the structural integrity of components such as suspension and frame. The most recent state safety inspection was carried out on September 2018, at 97,000. Furthermore, at 90,663 miles, Mercedes-Benz dealer conducted a thorough inspection of the vehicle and did not notice any issues with the subframe, suspension, or any other components of the vehicle. Near-fatal, catastrophic failures should not take place on a modern luxury car that is less than 10 years old, unless there is a manufacturing defect. However, Mercedes-Benz usa refused to consider a manufacturing defect and made the determination without reviewing photos of the structural brake. Note that based on my research, NHTSA id numbers 10504684 and 11023618 speak to similar rust issues to the sub-frame. Please investigate and launch the recall campaign.
Original tires with 29000 miles........ Continental tire left front shredded on freeway, total separation of rubber from rim, contacted Continental [xxx], was referred to customer and then to warranty and property damage, filed a claim which was rejected after 4 months because I didn't provide the shredded tire. Continental refuses to take any responsibility for their product virtually disintegrating without warning. This is total unacceptable, I have replaced all four Continental tires and will never purchase any Continental product again. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
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- Winchester, VA, USA