2008 Mercedes Benz C350: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Feb 1, 2021 · Electrical, Lights · 150,000 miles · MO

Tl* 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.

Filed Nov 25, 2016 · Electrical, Lights · 115,000 miles · CA

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.

Filed Apr 14, 2015 · Electrical, Steering · 32,262 miles · AZ

I had just stopped to put gas in the vehicle and upon completion I got back in the car to start it. When I turned the key, the car wouldn't start. I had headlights and my dashboard was partially lit up, but nothing else would work. I then called the mb road side assistance and a technician came out and determined it was not a battery or starter problem. The technician said that it was probably the eis since he had seen the same situation before. An hour later the car was towed to the dealership, and dropped off with much trouble since the steering column didn't function. Several days later I got a call from my service consultant, informing me that the car needed the ignition starter switch as well as the eis unit and two new keys needed to be programmed. The total was $2500. In the meantime, I found a tsb number 2008020003, dated march 1, 2008, documenting the exact problem I was having. It appears that it was a know problem even back in 2008. My car is in excellent condition and it has only 32,260 miles. Why didn't this become a recall? I also feel like I was robbed on the cost of the repairs. I'll never trust this car again and I'm not buying another mercedes.

Filed Jun 25, 2014 · Electrical, Lights · 60,000 miles · MD

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 the federal safety agency website. Mercedes is trying to piece-meal out a remedy. Meanwhile, this is a big safety issue! When will the federal safety agency recall the entire mercedes c class line due to defective electrical issues?

Filed Apr 11, 2014 · Lights · 69,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercedes-benz c350. The contact stated that the headlights failed to function. Upon inspection, it was found that the wires had melted. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dearer who stated that the head lamp board needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 69,000.

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.