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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 11
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
86,200 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 electrical problems

electrical problem

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2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 Owner Comments (Page 10 of 12)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #44

Jan 012014

C300 6-cyl

  • 80,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Right tail light connector, brown wire has melted and has affected the brightness of the bulbs on the right side of the car.

- Albertville, MN, USA

problem #43

Feb 012014

C300 6-cyl

  • 3,000,000 miles
Rear light housing assembly wiring smelling like smoke, open the truck and plastics housing was melting and very hot.

- Freeport, NY, USA

problem #42

Jan 012014

C300

  • 91,000 miles
The brown wire in the right hand brake light melted through the wire harness and started to melt the light board. This is a fire waiting to happen, I smelt burning in my car when I was driving. The break light no longer works.

- Princeton, IN, USA

problem #41

Dec 162013

C300 6-cyl

  • 73,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Multiple system warnings on dash saying to check right rear tail light, brake lamp, and signal light. Upon replacement of light bulbs, noticed that the ground wire cable covering was melted as well as burns and melting on the bulb housing unit. All right rear lights worked intermittently or dimly and now don't work at all. Now, there are system warnings for left rear lights as well. This is a safety issue as a fire can start in the trunk of the car as well as having rear lights working intermittently or not at all with no warning. Vehicle is no longer under warranty and authorized dealership won't repair at no charge unless there is a recall. This is a known issue with these vehicles, by both the manufacturer and authorized dealers. Recall should be issued.

- Visalia, CA, USA

problem #40

Jun 142012

C300

  • 50,000 miles
Fault indicator for left sided rear lights sporadically show defect lamps, but they are not. Finally a partly broken/corroded ground return was detected. The same happened to the right sided rear lights about 6 months later. Defect was finally repaired, expenses covered by Mercedes international adress cottonwood Arizona is incorrect but country is austria, city vienna [xxx] is incorrect but error checker did not accept correct austrian phone numbers phone number [xxx] and [xxx] are correct. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Cottonwood, AZ, USA

problem #39

Nov 152012

C300 6-cyl

  • 62,157 miles
Rear lights circuit board burnt and wire for lights melted.

- Lake Worth, FL, USA

problem #38

Aug 012013

C300

  • 70,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Right read brake lamp harness melted causing malfunction of the brake lamps. Warning indicator in the dash. I am worried about a fire. Also low beam headlamps stopped working for no reason. Checked the bulbs and they are both good.

- Bridgeville, DE, USA

problem #37

Nov 042013

C300 6-cyl

  • miles
Rear lighting failure (taillight). Failure causing my vehicle lights to very dim and some bulbs are not illuminate at all. Occurs with left taillight (brake light). I see some burning on plastic panel that bulbs goes in.

- Irving , TX, USA

problem #36

Dec 062013

C300 6-cyl

  • miles
Started to get the message to check my rear, right turninf signa, fog lamps, brake lights. Checked all the bulbs and they are fine. Put the harness back and realized it was a little hot and when I looked the wire to the far right I think is expose and on the other side it is burnt through the plastic. Message comes off and on during driving.

- Vista, CA, USA

problem #35

Nov 012013

C300 6-cyl

  • 110,330 miles
Connector (harness) is melted and shorted the circuit board for tail lights and is now inop.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #34

Oct 312013

C300

  • 85,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I drove my car home from work. Everything was working fine and ten minutes later when I went to go back to work, the car would not start. I could get all the electrical working, but the car would just not start up. I was told it was the steering lock, and it needs replaced.I got towed to the dealership and was told that my steering lock needs to be replaced. I don't feel safe driving this car anymore. Imaging driving in a bad part of town suddenly your "steering lock" malfunctions or my wife is driving and is stuck in a bad part of new orleans.

- Covington, LA, USA

problem #33

Oct 182013

C300

  • miles
My right passenger side tail light connector board is melted. All my lights stopped working at once and dealer stated its a faulty connector board that needs to be replaced. Same issue so many others have reported. Mb needs to recall this issue bc it makes no since I have to pay $400 for a well known issue that is hazardous which the dealer advised.

- Elgin, SC, USA

problem #32

Sep 022013

C300 6-cyl

  • 36,000 miles
As reported multiple times by others, tail light connector is insufficient to handle the heat emanating from the ground (brown) wire. Connector burns. Cable covering melts. All tail lights (including brakes, turning and reverse) stop functioning. - safety issue- (not to mention gas tank sitting not too far from source of fire) preliminary symptoms: Random warning messages in dashboard about lights malfunctioning. One tail light dimmer than the other. Repairs required: New connector/new pins plus regrounding to avoid certain recurrence authorized dealers know well about the problem. "recall should be issued" "recall is surely coming" but will not replace if out of warranty references: Prior report chain NHTSA id number: 10499828 pictures and multiple information mbworld.org/forums/C-class-W204/465331-tail-light-connector-melted.html.

- Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA

problem #31

Jul 182013

C300 6-cyl

  • 54,500 miles
The wiring harness to the tail lamp on the right side was fried & filled with smoke and now the tail lamp goes very dim & almost off, but replacing with new bulb doesn't help.

- Alameda, CA, USA

problem #30

Dec 142012

C300 6-cyl

  • 54,000 miles
Tail light message. Found harness melted on the passenger side tail light. Now I get a message from both sides.

- Orlando, FL, USA

problem #29

Jan 092013

C300

  • 45,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz C300. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 mph, the fuel gauge reading displayed empty although the fuel capacity level was half full. There was a recall associated with NHTSA campaign id number was 08V303000 (electrical system). The VIN was not included. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.

- Minneapolis, MN, USA

problem #28

Aug 162013

C300 6-cyl

  • 54,000 miles
Cars automated warning system indicated problems with right rear lighting system ("check right rear turn signal etc"). took car to mechanic. There had been a short in the right rear electrical system...plastic circuit box exhibited signs of a short and melted plastic. Mechanic replaced wiring, circuit box and lights. Could very easily have had a fire in the trunk of the car.

- Greenville, SC, USA

problem #27

Aug 012013

C300 6-cyl

  • 51,000 miles
Burning smell and melted connectors on rear tail light assembly.

- Garland, TX, USA

problem #26

Jun 122013

C300 6-cyl

  • 36,000 miles
The left rear light was noticed to be dimmer than the right one. Once the light cluster was open up, a burn /melting of the electrical socket was noticed.

- Mclean, VA, USA

problem #25

Aug 022013

C300

  • 100,000 miles
The left tail light connector and the plate connection melted. Reported the issue to mb dealer and mb cac but they refused to accept it as a design flaw. The explanation given to me was it melted because of heat of light bulbs. The same flaw has been reported on many forum and I think it is a recall item.

- Lawrenceville, NJ, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »

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