2009 Mercedes Benz C300: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Oct 17, 2022 · Body, Suspension · CT

I bought this car for my 18 year old son based on Mercedes reputation for safety and longevity, only to discover that Mercedes has a widely acknowledged issue with rotted sub-frames -- it's a serious safety issue and recalled in other countries. My son was was driving on the highway and the tire exploded. He was so close to being killed because the car went out of control. After getting it towed to my mechanic, he advised me that alignment adjusters were stuck, the subframe was rotted, the lower control arm subframe mounts were broken from the subframe and they were hitting the gas tank. Luckily, the tire only exploded as oppose to the entire vehicle bursting in flames. There were no warning lights or messages, only the feeling that the tires needed to be aligned. We bought new tires and were told an alignment was done from Town Fair Tires, which was untrue. My son's life was in immediate danger. Shame on Mercedes for not recalling this subframe. This is the first of many avenues I am taking to have this rectified and hopefully prevent a tragedy

Filed Jul 24, 2019 · Airbags, Driver assistance · 144,065 miles · CT · fire

"takata recall" when I was driving after a oil change, I heard a noise that sounded like someone hit my car. I was scared and shaky so I pulled over could see anything but I heard a ticking noise. Then I realized the head rest mini air bag blew up and the wiring inside the head rest was burning. This happened while I was driving. I could have got into an accident. I had to pull over right where all the traffic was because my hands were shaking and I didn't know what to do with the burning smell. I had my hazards on and people went around me. Then all kinds of alerts went off on my car. I only had it for a year and a half it shouldn't do that. Something is really wrong and this is dangerous while someone is driving. My tires and all of a sudden the muffler is making noises now too what is going on with this car. It's treated well I'm scared to drive it now. I'm still making payments on it. It's was for me fairly new and still good, do I thought. I'm very disappointed and need some answers. I was told that maybe it's the eps control unit but haven't went to mercedes dealer yet because I'm discouraged about this car and I haven't been feeling good.

Filed Apr 25, 2017 · Electrical, Lights · NJ

Sockets for the parking lights above the headlights melted. Knowing that something similar was addressed with the tail lights, seems to be related. The tail lights melted the carrier and the cables now the same is happening on the front of the car. I am not the only owner of mb c300 experiencing a issue. We are concerned that our cars can catch up on fire.

Filed Jun 6, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 61,999 miles · NY

Prior to pulling into my garage, I smelled burning electrical wiring. All warning lights on the dash panel for the left rear lights came on. I opened the trunk to see if a light bulb burned out, and smelled the burning wires. Opening the panel covering the left rear lights, I saw a burn through scorched circuit board. On closer examination, I noticed the ground wire was thin and the cause of the severally overheated and partially melted area on the left rear lamp assembly. Since then, the mercedes dealer replaced the circuit at my expense. About six months ago, the same thing happened on the right rear tail light assembly. It was also a thin ground wire that had overheated and partially melted the circuit board.

Filed Apr 23, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 70,140 miles · IL · fire

Right rear passenger lighting assembly caught fire. Wiring harness and light bulb carrier were burned. Right rear turn and brake lights are inoperable.

Filed Apr 10, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 84,000 miles · IN · fire

The dash warned me that my rear tail lights were malfunctioning. The message came and went for several days until it was on continuously. I accessed the electrical compartment and the ground side of plug, the socket and the wire was melted and has been on fire. I have pictures on dropbox: link attached https://www.dropbox.com/sc/w4tm7b28phh9lal/-dz3htmls-.

Filed Mar 24, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 102,000 miles · WA · fire

I was driving down the highway and smelled an intense burning. I had been getting the taillight error codes and thought maybe it was a fuse. Decided to finally research online and discovered that it is a very common occurrence that mercedes taillights/wiring spontaneously catch on fire. I removed the harnesses from the taillights and noticed the plug had almost been entirely destroyed/burned on the right rear, and was starting to burn on the left rear. I lost all power to my taillights at approximately 11:30 at night, and the headlights started shutting off and on randomly. The headlights are still turning off and on randomly, apparently this is a known defect with the auto dim setting. I have pictures of everything, even though I have now paid to fix the taillight harnesses (a cost of over $240 in parts) because mercedes has not willingly recalled this fire hazard and known defect. To be honest, I am pissed. Please let me know where I can send the defective parts and/or pictures to.

Filed Feb 9, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 48,000 miles · LA

While driving home from work, I was receiving error messages on my instrument cluster asking me to check the rear passenger brake lights and turning signal bulbs. Once I was home, I opened my trunk and smelt burning plastic. I opened the access panel to the fuse box located near the passenger taillight and inspected the area for damage. I noticed some residual smoke coming from the connector attached to the taillight bulb assembly. I removed the bulb assembly and the brown ground wire had burned through the plastic assembly. I removed the wire harness from the assembly and the connector crumbled due to the damage.

Filed Oct 28, 2013 · Electrical, Lights · TX

Yesterday (10/27/2013) I had to change out my rear right side brake lamp, which I successfully did right after I saw the message pop up on my dashboard. Then today (10/28/2013) in the afternoon I turned on my car and all these messages popped up regarding my right side turn signal, right side reverse light, right side fog light and the other bulbs in the right side bulb housing. I then opened my trunk and checked it out, and noticed that the far left side wire of the connector connecting to the bulb housing was burned luckily it did not catch on fire. I tried to take it off but was not able to at the moment, but I was able to take it out after a couple of hours. There was a horrible smell coming from it and I tried to clean out all the gunk in the connector but was not able to. Please get this issue fixed and call out a recall before someone doesn't act fast enough and leaves the connector plugged in and causes it to catch on fire.

Filed Oct 16, 2013 · Electrical, Lights · 46,000 miles · MN · fire

Right rear tail light was dim; strong smell of burning wiring in the trunk, wiring harness was hot to the touch, at least one wire on the harness was charred / burned. Dash warning light eventually came on. Brought to m-b dealer; not covered by any factory warranty, recall or the 3rd party extended warranty.

Filed Sep 22, 2013 · Electrical · 68,000 miles · MI · fire

Extreme electrical malfunctions. Light bulbs consistently burned out (low beam headlight, parking light, brake lights). Finally, smoke came from truck/brake lights area and wire harness melted.

Filed Aug 12, 2013 · Lights · 52,000 miles · SC

My passenger side tail light was dim, so I went to change out the bulb. Upon removing the cover inside the trunk, noticed the brown ground wire to the tail light was extremely hot, and had melted the plastic harness to the tail light assembly. I have seen numerous posts on forums online about this, yet my local mercedes dealership claimed I was the first they had seen. I had to pay in full to have the harness and board replaced. Please encourage mercedes to recall this major safety issue and fix this problem. I'm lucky mine didn't get to the point that it caught on fire and started smoking like many others I have read about. I'm guessing my drivers side is next?