2000 S500 instrument cluster began to fail after 58,000 miles, total failure of illumination occurred at 63,000 miles. In addition to all gauge failure, most importantly the speedometer, in door trunk release failed as well as the keyless remote for the trunk failed. Took vehicle to dealership, I was told by service that "good thing this didn't go bad on a SL500, it would cost you $7,500. Yours is only $2,000 dollars." Diagnosed as an electronic failure to the instrument cluster. The consequences were a speeding ticket on 11/17/05, I ran out of gas on the side of a very busy highway, and was nearly hit by another motorist on October 1, 2005.

- Catonsville, MD, USA

2000 Mercedes S-430 blower motor fuse failure with gauge cluster problem(all gauages got stuck with blower motor fuse explosion at same time, I had fixed the blower motor fuse that was covered by mb's recall, but not the gauge) mb dealer said that was just the gauge problem but that happened at same time when the fuse went out(I was driving at 60mph and suddenly, all gauge stopped and some light does not turn on anymore). I heard that gauge cluster problem is a really common issue on S class from the dealer and the gauge clusters are in back-order nationwide. Untill Dec. 2004 I guess there should be further investigation about this issue... this incident has great potential to an accident in certain situations.

- Kirkland, WA, USA