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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
56,503 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 C350 lights problems

lights problem

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2008 Mercedes-Benz C350 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #35

Oct 012019

C350

  • 150,000 miles

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

The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz C350. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, several electrical failures had occurred and on several occasions and the vehicle would not start. The contact replaced the fuel pump however, the failure continued. It was later discovered the cause of the failure was due to a faulty fuse. No further information was available. Additionally, the passenger's side headlight and windshield wipers had stopped working and the SRS warning light was illuminated. The cause of the failures were not determined. The local dealer plaza Mercedes Benz located at 11910 olive blvd, creve coeur, mo 63141 and the manufacturer were notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 150,000.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #34

Aug 052018

C350 6-cyl

  • 100,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C350. The contact stated that the parking lamps failed to illuminate without warning. The vehicle was taken to baker motor company (1513 savannah hwy, charleston, SC) where it was diagnosed that the lamps overheated and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000. ** updated 11/1/18

- North Charleston, SC, USA

problem #33

Nov 012016

C350

  • 115,000 miles
Front lamps and headlight keep randomly not functioning at start or when driving. Warning light that bulb is out comes on but then goes away and the lights come back on after a little of time and a restart of engine.

- Burbank, CA, USA

problem #32

Jun 092015

C350

  • 107,000 miles

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

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015, I drove my car to work and parked at approximately 7:45 am. I did not get back into the car until 4:30 pm on the same day. When I attempted to start up my vehicle, it would not start. I called a mechanic friend, and he determined that it is a faulty eis which is the same problem that other people are describing here. As it stands right now, I will never buy another Mercedes Benz!!!!

- South Boston, VA, USA

problem #31

Dec 112014

C350 6-cyl

  • 45,007 miles
After I took my 2008 Mercedes C350 to the dealership to have them do the repairs for the recall on the tail lights/bulbs. I keep getting the "check right rear turn signal". the blinker will work fine, then after 10 minutes of driving it blinks very fast and the warning light comes on. This issue is getting worse. This is an extreme safety hazard and must be fixed immediately. Please advice! everything appeared to be working fine until I got my vehicle back from the service dept. They changed the bulbs.

- Normal, IL, USA

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problem #30

Jun 252014

C350 6-cyl

  • 60,000 miles
I have a 2008 Mercedes Benz C350. The rear passenger taillight malfunctioned causing me to be pulled over by the police. Mercedes Benz has since recalled the faulty tail lights and is scheduled to release replacement parts to mb dealers next month. However, it seems the entire electrical system is defective. Sometimes the radio station changes when I adjust the cabin air temperature (air conditioner). The dashboard control panel constantly displays warning messages about failing headlights and side markers. Aside from the recalled passenger taillight which is visibly dimmer than the driver side taillight, the other lights appeared to be working fine. Yesterday the fuel gauge indicator and the coolant indicator on the dash came on - the antifreeze and fuel tanks are both full. I had a mechanic look at the lights, only to discover the plastic housing is completely singed and melted in the headlights and side markers, just like it is in the defective recalled taillight. The car is one over-priced fire trap - at this point I don't feel safe driving it. What is even more disturbing to me, is that Mercedes Benz is well aware of electrical problems with the C class. There are thousands of complaints about this issue online - posted to blogs and NHTSA website. Mercedes is trying to piece-meal out a remedy. Meanwhile, this is a big safety issue! when will NHTSA recall the entire Mercedes C class line due to defective electrical issues?

- Baltimore, MD, USA

problem #29

Jan 162014

C350 6-cyl

  • 75,000 miles

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

The rear passenger tail lamps are dimming to about half the normal strength. The bulbs are all fine, but I am getting notices on the dash that the lights need to get checked. I checked the rear light harness and it appears the electrical connector has melted so that it can't be removed from the component that actually holds the bulbs. I am concerned that this might be a fire hazard. The electrical failure also seems to be affecting the horn. There are two horns on this car. One is on the drivers side and one on the passenger side. The passenger side horn is not functioning. It appears like there is weak to no electrical power on that side of the car. This is extremely dangerous too as I can't warn other cars on the road if needed.

- Leawood, KS, USA

problem #28

Mar 072014

C350 6-cyl

  • 63,000 miles
My rear back tail light wiring panel fried. The light is not working at all and when I called manhattan Mercedes dealership they told me there is not an appointment available two weeks from 3/7/2014 then I called the dealership in brooklyn and they told me they did not have any appointments either so I just showed up there and they told me that due to my tail light being fully out I am not aloud to drive my car since its a safety issues but they did nothing to help me out and told me that they will have to order the part even though it is a recall then they told me I would have to pay around $ 400 dollars for the parts and labor but still they had no appointment for me to come in and fix it is 3/25/2014 and I still have a broken car and no way of driving it or fixing it because no other shop will take my car in since it is a dealer issue.

- Staten Island, NY, USA

problem #27

Mar 222014

C350

  • 110,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz C350. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph, a burning odor emitted inside of the vehicle. The contact later noticed smoke coming from the interior trunk area. There were no flames present however, the wiring harnesses for both taillights was found to be burned. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 110,000.

- Pontotoc, MS, USA

problem #26

Feb 202014

C350 6-cyl

  • 10,400 miles
The brake light (driver side) was malfunctioning and giving multiple indicator warnings on the dash computer. After checking to see if it was a faulty bulb... the harness connecting to the taillight housing was burnt and melted. The taillight bulb housing was brittle and was burnt as well. The dealership said they know of no such recalls and are replacing the taillight bulb housing and replacing the burnt harness. (435.00) they also said that the computer module is bad because it is telling the brake light to stay on. They are not sure which occurred first. This is another $1000 repair. I have researched this issue online and there are many other Mercedes C-series vehicles having the same issue. Most experts think the gauge of the wiring is not acceptable to the load of current. This is a safety hazard and is not looking like an isolated incident. Thank you for your support on this matter.

- Elyria, OH, USA

problem #25

Jan 212014

C350 6-cyl

  • 42,000 miles

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

Right rear brake light burned at connector causing brake light failure and possibly caused small fire.

- Riverside, CA, USA

problem #24

Jan 052014

C350 6-cyl

  • 78,579 miles
After parking my C350 I noticed smoke coming from the trunk on the passenger side. I opened the trunk to discover the source of the smoke was the trunk fuse box panel. I removed the panel and found that the taillight assembly was smoking. Following the removal directions in the owner's manual, I removed the multi-pin connector and noticed that the housing around the brown conductor was completely melted and corroded. There was a distinct smell of burning plastic. I then drove home with the passenger tail light assembly disconnected for fear of further damage or an electrical fire. Luckily I was not pulled over nor did I cause an accident due to inactive brake/reverse lights. Once home, I determined that the burned and corroded conductor must be the ground connection. I believe that the ground cable in the tail light harness is not of heavy enough gauge to handle the current that passes through it under normal conditions. Here is the math: Each bulb is 21W. If you are at a stoplight at night with your headlights on and you're turning right, there will be 5 bulbs active (per side). This is a total of 105W. At 12V, 105W translates to about 9A. The recommended wire gauge is 16-18 at this level of current. The brown wire in the tail light harness is an 18 gauge wire I believe. This wire is right at its limit for current handling. We know that in the real-world, current can easily exceed theoretical limits, so engineers often over-spec wire to be totally sure that a circuit will not fail. In this case, the Mercedes-Benz engineers did not over-spec the wire...they under-spec'd the wire, and it failed! I highly recommend a recall, since this is potentially a serious safety issue. A car could easily go up in flames due to this problem. Or an accident could happen due to brake/reverse/turning lights that have burned up and failed.

- Irvine , CA, USA

problem #23

Oct 282013

C350 6-cyl

  • 58,500 miles
The onboard computer indicated that the R rear turn signal had failed. Visual inspection of the wiring inside the tail light assembly showed that the connector for the electrical wiring harness which delivers power to the tail lights had melted. This caused damage to the bulb, carrier, plug and socket parts. All needed to be replaced. This is a known issue on the C class Mercedes for this model year.

- Longwood, FL, USA

problem #22

Jan 092013

C350

  • 63,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz C350. The contact stated that the rear taillight failure warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the passenger's side tail light assembly needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 63,000 and the current mileage was 73,000.

- Fairfield, CT, USA

problem #21

Nov 042013

C350 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 #20

Dec 062013

C350 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 #19

Nov 042013

C350 6-cyl

  • 50,000 miles
Started getting notifications on dash that a light bulb was out in the left tail light. Upon further inspection, the brown ground wire has melted plastic around it on both the male and female side of the connector and all of the bulbs have corrosion from a bad connection or arching on the connectors.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #18

Oct 142013

C350 6-cyl

  • miles
All exterior light bulbs keep burning. -seat belt stays on even is used. Air bags comes on and off. The engine makes like high idol noise like the car wants to move even its brake.

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #17

Sep 232013

C350 6-cyl

  • 55,000 miles
All right rear lights failed. Starting to get messages of rear left lights failing, but non have actually failed yet. I took off the back panel in the trunk to change the bulbs and found the wiring has melted through the plastic housing unit, it looks like the wires and the unit have been burned. After taking the car to the dealer, he said it was starting to happen to the left side of the car too. This is costing me $500 for the entire replacement! I've read so many complaints about this same issue. I'm amazed that there hasn't been a recall issued yet. Burning up wires in the trunk has to be a safety hazard!

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #16

Aug 012013

C350 6-cyl

  • miles
Keep getting the "check right rear tail and brake lamp", "check right rear sidemarker lamp", and "check right rear turn signal". the blinker will work fine, then after 10 minutes of driving it blinks very fast and the warning light comes on. Sometimes none of the lights on the right rear panel will turn on, sometimes they will. Or they will work for 10 minutes and then go out along with the warning signs. I looked at the bulbs today to see if any were burned, and the harness was burned and brown! I have smelled smoke a few times within the last month as well. This issue is getting worse. This is an extreme safety hazard and must be fixed immediately. Please advise!

- Southaven, MS, USA

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