While on my way to work I stop to get gas. I get in my car to leave and key will not turn left or right. Also steering wheel was locked. I was stranded and had car towed the mb dealership. They said first I have to buy new key before they do anything which cost me $380. Got new key and that wasn't the problem. Then they said my eis needs to be replaced. They replaced the eis, then I get a call saying car still will not start. Now they say I need a esl(electronic steering lock) now my total jumped up to 2,200. I am so disappointed that all these problems can go out at the exact same time with no warning at all. There has to be something done about this common problem in Mercedes.

- Loma Linda, CA, USA

Drivers power seat control module drains battery when auto is parked.

- Plano, TX, USA

Mercedes Benz C240 ECU failure. Also the transmission shifts are sometimes random at best and sometimes shuts off. The cars instrument cluster also sometimes doesn't work, the power steering leaks intermittently the rear coil spring broke on left side of vehicle. The alternator was replaced so was the coil pack and other items by Mercedes but they always tried to justify that problem was normal wear and tear which is not true.

- Kissimmee, NJ, USA

Extensive electrical problems in 2002 CL500 Mercedes Benz. Vehicle seats move on their own while vehicle in motion. Windows go up and down on their own; lock in whatever position it chose; hydraulics in this vehicle go up and down at will. Vehicle will lean on one side, then drop to where it is undriveable, then raise on the opposite side. The key has decoded itself and would not start the vehicle. It has been replaced and the new key had to be recoded as it started the car and then would not start the car. Battery has been replaced more than once and the car still starts fine one day and not at all the next and then will be fine on the third day. I can go on and on. We have only owned this vehicle for 2 years and have spent in excess of $10,000 in repairs that do not repair this vehicle. I still have a very large balance on this nightmare of a "vehicle" but don't have anything to drive. It is presently being repaired for a window issue. It simply would not go up. When it did go up the window broke. Glass has been replaced, regulator replaced, motor replaced and now I am being told it is the control module. $1200 later I still have an open window and still trying to figure out the problem. Presently the dashboard middle console serve no purpose other than decoration since the lights go on and off at will also. The vehicle exterior lights (headlights, parking lights, turning signals) work when they choose to and we have replaced bulbs excessively just to find that there was never anything wrong with the bulbs. The electrical system in this car is a nightmare. These issues have been ongoing since we purchased this car. It had only 27,000 miles at the time of purchase however because it was a 2002, it had no manufacturers warranty. We purchased separate warranty which covered practically none of the issues mentioned because they were all "electrical". this vehicle has a class action lawsuit pending on the reed valve. Probably another issue.

- Virginia Beach, Va, VA, USA

Cluster recall for mb clk 430 2002 W208 comments: Dear NHTSA rep., I own a 2002 Mercedes Benz clk 320 the VIN# is:________. My concern is over its faulty display readouts that I hear many other owners are experiencing. The safety concern is that the left half of the display blank and it is impossible to read. It's hazardous as I have to squint to read the display which takes my eyes off the road longer that they should be. As part of this cluster, the temperature pixels and the gear selection pixels, which leads me at times to incorrectly down shift not knowing if I am in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th gear, are hardly functional which has been mainly unreadable for some time now. I went to the mb dealer and requested to fix this issue and found out that the only way is to change the part, but this part is close to U$1,200 including labor. This is a safety issue and needs to be taken care of. As I stated before I am not the only one complaining about it, so I think you should consider a recall on this. Thank you for your attention. From NHTSA web site.

- El Paso , TX, USA

Seat controller modules, they constantly drain the battery when the car is off. This is a very very common problem with Mercedes C class. The controller drains the car battery to the point were the car cannot start, and continues to do this if the car is not driven everyday. Obviously having a car battery get sucked below 3V is not healthy for the battery, and in the end everyone with this problem has to replace their battery many many times.

- Rittman, OH, USA

Left rear of car sinks after sitting for more than 8 hours. Mercedes Benz has repaired many times but the problem still comes back. Repaired measures include replacing valves associated with the abc suspension, the abc pump has also been replaced and have also flushed the abc fluid and replaced the filter on many occasions. However, the problem has not gone away. Sometimes when the car is sitting for more than a day the active body control alarm comes on in the instrument cluster. I have not observed any abc fluid loss.

- Austin, TX, USA

My wife drove the car in the morning, no problem. Early afternoon, she left to pick up our child, while leaving the neighborhood. The vehicle starting sending warning signs came on the dash that had never been seen before. Then thick smoke came out from under the steering wheel. My wife had to open her window. She then turned around to go back home prior to leaving the community. On the way back the car slammed on brakes by itself and cut itself off and said the vehicle had 7 faults. Ran up to a neighbors home, upon returning the vehicle was engulfed in flames and became a total loss. Police and fire marshal came to inspect the vehicle. Since then, we have had to track down merecedes Benz and basically have had no customer support whatsoever. We located the vehicle for Mercedes as they took their sweet time. They did get an inspector there to view the vehicle but have yet to hear anything from them regarding this matter. We have contacted an attorney to protect us and want Mercedes to be held liable for this incident. Something was very wrong and we are grateful that no one was hurt.

- Matthews, NC, USA

When driving on rte 6 in hyannis, Massachusetts in my Mercedes clk 430 (the drop down options only include clk 320), the "battery alternator" light went on on the dashboard. Within seconds the entire car shut down at high speed. Fortunately there was no one in the right lane and I was able to pull over with a very hard stop onto the shoulder. The local dealership said that there was an "open recall" on my car for precisely this problem. I called the manufacturer to find out why I never received a recall notice. They claimed there was no recall for this problem but instead a "service bulletin" was issued and that, under this circumstance no notices were required to be sent to the car owner. The rationale was that this was not deemed a "safety" issue. I fail to understand how the possibility of a total shut down of the car could not be deemed to be a safety issue. I was told that the dealerships can voluntarily correct the problem if and when the car is brought in for service. If the car is not brought in the potential problem persists. The front of my car was damaged due to the hard stop. Although the electrical problem has been repaired (the bumper has not) I have not yet picked up my car so I am unsure as to whether I will be charged for correcting the problem. I was led to believe by the dealer that I would not be charged sine this is a recall but the manufacturer said that might not be the case.

- Newton Centre, MA, USA

Esp & bas warning messages appeared on the message screen twice, once on 1-20-03 & again on 1-27-03, the first time dealer said it can happen if you didn't tighten the gas cap. On both occasions, the messages were gone the next day. On 1-27-03 I called rallye motors to tell them & I have an appt for March 10, 2003.

- Bayside, NY, USA

Consumer was informed that the brain of the vehicle had given out, causing consumer to have to drive 30-40 mph on the interstate, vehicle also seems to have a possible electrical problem, the interior lights blink, the interior mirror lights work intermittently, the radio will turn on when the key is not in the ignition and at times the sunroof will not close.

- Espanola, NM, USA

Consumer states there are problems concering the esp and bas systems warning messages that are appearing on the monitor, when traveling at a moderate rate of speed in a straight line, the vehicle loses all power along with braking sensation. (Mercedes Benz C-240)

- Houston, TX, USA