Mercedes with full knowledge installed disintegrating wiring insulation in many cars knowing full well the insulation would fail rendering any and all cars unreliable dangerous and ultimately useless

- Northport, NY, USA

The car was barely used in about 2 years. Before it had never had a problem, now it can't be taken to emissions because the check engine light is on. It was discovered that this is because the engine wiring harness was deteriorating. Through internet research, I have discovered that Mercedes-Benz knows about this common problem very well even though they blatantly disregard their customers' safety, claiming they have no such knowledge and requiring customers to pay for it themselves or continue driving an unsafe vehicle. There is no reason other than irresponsible greed that Mercedes-Benz ignores this problem, and this puts unknowing consumers at serious risk. I am appalled that Mercedes-Benz has not owned up to their responsibilities and I would be very happy to see action taken to force Mercedes-Benz to actually value protecting their customers' safety above keeping their pockets lined with money.

- Spanaway, WA, USA

I recently bought this used 1995 C280 Mercedes Benz, almost immediately after I bought it -electrical system started malfunctioning, gauges go on and off continuously, car refused to start -then starts as if nothing happened.windows work-and then they don't. obdii system reads different codes-obviously unreliable. After having a mechanic look at it -he stated that wiring harness is failing. After coming here to look for recalls-I see that over 90% complaints on this car are for a defective wiring harness-a fact that Mercedes Benz should be well aware of by now. This could create a fire hazard and serious driving hazard. Why haven't they dealt with this possibly disastrous defect" I'm totally disappointed that a car company that stresses safety, and dependability put something like this in the market and hasn't made any attempt to help out the owners of hundreds of thousands of defective cars they produced. Another myth falls by the wayside-Mercedes Benz uber alles? what a bad joke-people that own cheap Nissan get 200,000 miles-a high dollar lemon? shame on you Mercedes Benz-btw if you go to Mercedes recall page, they don't even mention this problem..has Mercedes dropped their standards to screwing their customers" apparently so-.another legend turns out to be nothing more than a lie.

- Conowingo, MD, USA

Car started running funny. Had it looked at and the wiring harness was found to be brittle and falling apart. Car cannot be driven until a new harness is installed.

- Decatuf, AR, USA

Several intermittent issues recently began to occur with my C280. Instrument panel started to intermittently not work and as a result I ran out of gas in several occasions in areas where my personal safety was at question. Car also began to intermittently cease from starting leaving me stranded until the car was able to start. After an investigation by a certified Mercedes mechanic, they had determined that the engine wire harness was defective and that the wiring insulation was seriously degrading. During the evaluation the wiring was starting to smoke and system shut down due to safety concerns. It is very possible that continued operation of the vehicle could have caused safety issues to driver, passengers and others as unpredictable and serious actions could have resulted from engine wire harness electrical shorts. I am very surprised and disappointed that Mercedes Benz had not provided any warning or recall for this condition, which they apparently already knew is a common defect for this model and year.

- Yorba Linda, CA, USA

The contact owns a 1995 Mercedes Benz C280. The contact stated that the vehicle was emitting smoke and the wiring harness was melting. The contact stated that the tail lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the ECM and the wire harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 142,000. Updated 11/12/14 updated 4/29/2015

- Houston, TX, USA

Engine wiring harness is defective. This caused engine to cut out unexpectedly when merging into traffic.

- Carson, CA, USA

Car stalled while driving on highway. After having a mechanic check it, he said it needed a new engine wiring harness because the insulation in the original harness was crumbling and flaking causing electrical problems. He said it was not safe to drive the car as it could stall again.

- Lawrenceville, GA, USA

While driving on the hwy at 75mph the car lost power and then came right back while this happened the transmission down shifted jerked very badly and car also slowed down rapidly. This is a known issue with 90's+ Mercedes Benz's why has nothing been done about this" multiple casualties on the hwy should not be a reason to inspect a very well known problem with millions of cars!! as long as these cars are still on the road safety should be at the top of the list! with the cost of repairs for a problem that the manufacturer has known about for many years whats the deal" and because of this wiring issue obdii diagnostics is defective and does not work! upon inspection of the wiring harnesses anyone can see crumbled cracked rotted away insulation leaving wires bare and able to touch causing fires costly engine repairs and possibly even death.

- Lexington, KY, USA

Car shut off at 25 mph. Towed to mechanic and upon investigation the wiring harness is disintegrated.

- Monroeville Pa. , PA, USA

The wiring harness shorted and caught fire. The engine shut off and I hit a pole on the side of the road after loss of steering. I hit my head on the steering wheel. I have a check engine light now, and they want me to spend thousands of dollars on an electrical wiring harness for the engine.

- West Chester, OH, USA

After starting the engine started missing then quit. Could not get it re-started. Failure codes said random misfire. Checked the wiring harness going into the spark coils and found that the insulation had disintegrated. After checking a few other spots on the engine wiring harness, I found the insulation had disintegrated there also.

- Pacifica, CA, USA

Apparently the W202 C-class (1994-2000) body style Mercedes Benz has a defective wiring harness by using biodegradable insulation in their harnesses. I recently acquired a 1995 C280 with 109033 miles. As I was looking the car over, I noticed that the rear view mirror fuse was blown I replaced it with a new one. All of a sudden the driver side mirror housing started smoking real bad, so I quickly removed the new fuse. Now I cannot adjust the mirrors to be able to see what's behind, also the mirror harness is tied with the reverse/back up lights. Without having reverse/back up lights, other motorists and or pedestrians cannot know if I'm backing up. After spending countless hours online searching about the C280's and other C-class W202 body style, I learned about this defective wire harness. The dealerships would charge an arm and a leg for the part and labor to get it fixed but the problem starts from the manufacturer with the faulty wires and should be a recall or tsb (technical service bulletin) and should be replaced for free.

- Fort Hood, TX, USA

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?

- Westerly, RI, USA

Complete wiring harness failure on 1995 Mercedes C280, only 60,000 miles on car.

- Nashville, TN, USA

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.

- Orlando, FL, USA

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!

- Mcallen, TX, USA

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.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

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.

- Naples, FL, USA

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.

- Burbank, CA, USA