2008 Mercedes Benz C350: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Mar 16, 2018 · Electrical, Lights · 113,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercedes benz c350. While the vehicle was parked in the driveway, a family member notified the contact that there was smoke coming out of the trunk. The contact opened the trunk and noticed that the passenger side was in flames around the tail light assembly. The fire department was present, but no report was filed. The tail light assemblies were replaced approximately four years ago per an unknown recall by mercedes-benz of south orlando in orlando, florida. However, the dealer was not contacted for the recent failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 113,000.

Filed Apr 13, 2014 · CT

My radio plays but smell like something is burning when I turn it on (wires) radio stills plays but screen goes in and out was told I need new radio but was never told that radio may catch on fire .

Filed Apr 7, 2014 · Electrical · 91,005 miles · CA

An error message was displayed after driving a short distance. The error indicated a failure in the left tail light and a burning smell. On investigation I found a burned area of the tail light assembly ground wire connector. I replaced the bulb holder and wiring connector. This did not fix the problem. On further investigation I found that the same issue was present on the right side tail light. I also found that most of the light bulbs on each side were very dim. This car is unsafe to drive in its current condition. The local mercedes dealer stated they were not aware of any known issue with the tail lights at the time I bought the replacement parts.

Filed Mar 24, 2014 · Lights · 110,000 miles · MS · fire

Tl* 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.

Filed Jan 6, 2014 · Lights · 78,579 miles · CA

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.

Filed Jul 18, 2013 · Electrical · 109,000 miles · CA · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercedes benz c350. The contact stated that the instrument panel caught on fire. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer where it was determined that the radio and the wiring needed to be replaced. The failure and current mileages were 109,000.