Mercedes c230

- the metal-like accents on the air vents are peeling off

Getting all of these items fixed will cost me over $5000 through an independent repair shop! Two more months until my car is paid off and I'm dumping it. I was looking forward to not having a monthly car payment but it looks like I'll be shopping for a new car again soon and it won't be a Mercedes-Benz.

Warranty on Benz cars doesn't work.You need to fight with dealers in this regard.If you want peace of mind then don't buy Mercedes cars....I hate the Symbol....Poor Performance in Minnesota.

The tire noise never went away, and it became louder over time. It was always a loud ride, which wasn't expected. I didn't notice it before I purchased it because the sales person had a CD on. Anyway, the car never stayed aligned for long. In the end, it pulled to the right continually.

Also, the tires wore quickly and unevenly. They wore on the edges first. I was told, at 25,000, that my tires had gotten more than its fair mileage and that I needed to replace them. They refused to acknowledge the fact that they put the wrong type of tires on this model....and whatever was wrong with the tires (ball bearings, settings, torkage, who knows?), that it caused the erosion on the sides of the tires and the rough ride. The rest of the tire had plenty of tread; it was only the edges. Nevertheless, that was their solution -- $500 for two tires. I replaced them and nothing changed. The car was still misaligned and still had the noise.

I went back to the dealer five times for this situation. Each time, they tried to charge me for something new. This last time, 27,000. They told me my back two tires were dead. Nothing was solved. Mercedes provided poor service, they didn't solve one problem, and they wrote up the accounting of the service calls very different from how they went down.

This last visit, the technician rode with me and said that it sounded like the bearings, but Mercedes doesn't usually have that problem. He said that he'd been a mechanic for 30 years and would fix it. He said that the tires were the correct tires for the car and that he could adjust the settings to make them work, but that they will ALWAYS wear unevenly because of the model of the tire. None of that was in the report. They wrote up the ticket as: the tech rode in the car to hear noise. nothing out of the ordinary. aligned car as requested by customer. This is NOT truthful.

I feel like this Mercedes experience has been a nightmare. I feel conned and duped. It's a poor quality car with poor service.

I would NEVER recommend anyone to buy a Mercedes. Actually, I am warning people from getting one at all.

They t

With all the maintenance inspections warranties I had closely been following I was confident that my vehicle was at its top performance, and that I could take a long trip.

On April 22, 2006, I decided to visit my sister 300 miles away, in Calexico, California for the weekend. With my vehicles recent inspection, I only checked the car's tires, which showed no sign of distress, cracks or shredding of any kind.

As part of my trip routine, when I'm driving alone, I called my husband to let him know that I was leaving, as well as call my sister to let her know that I was departing and I would be checking with her along the road to give her status of my location. This is a precaution the woman in our family use when we visiting each other, because sometimes driving alone on a desert freeway can sometimes be unsettling and dangerous, especially at night.

I left at 3:00 pm and headed south, calling my sister along the way and giving her status. I had reached the valley and I was driving on Highway 8, eastbound, driving the limit at 70 mph. As I was driving, I heard this loud bang on the back of my car, I wasn't sure where it had come. I immediately looked at my side mirrors to see if I had hit or ran over something, I did not see anything on the road, I then looked at my rear view mirror and did not see anything on the road. I continued to drive, moved to the right lane at a slower speed, because the car had a different feel, but I contributed it to the road, since I did not see or hear anything else. The highway is two lane and I had to move to the left lane again, because of oncoming traffic into the right lane of the freeway. As I moved I heard this loud explosion,and my my car began to swerve to the right with force. Cars began to speed up and pass me. The only thing I did was grip the steering wheel very hard and maneuver the car to side of the road. Fortunately for me I didn't not hit any cars and I did not go off the freeway into the ditches below the highway. My car could not be driven any farther, so I was parked on the front side of an on ramp, which cars were flying by. The incident had left me shaken and scared. I thank God and my angels for their protection and said a quick prayer. I got out to see what had happened and I couldn't believe my eyes, I had never seen a tire with that type of damage. The tire looked as if someone had used a knife and had cut it all the way around, a perfect circle. I used my cell phone and called AAA for assistance, didn't even think of using the Mercedes 800 roadside assistance. I guess I was still in shock. I called my husband and sister and told them what had happened.

The CHP shortly arrived and she asked me if I needed company to feel secure in the highway, I absolutely said yes. After waiting 20 minutes, the AAA tow truck came. He moved his tow truck behind me to provide a shield from the oncoming traffic and began to change the tire. As he changed the tire, I asked him if I had ran over something that had punctured it, was a nail or if it was the desert heat, which the temperature that day was only in high 70's. He told me, that it was nothing I had done, that this was a defective tire and in his line of work, this was not the only tire he had changed with the same defect. He indicated this type of tire had caused other damage to other vehicles new and used. He recommended that I speak with my Mercedes Benz dealer. It was 6:45 pm by then, and it was getting dark, I asked his advice for finding another tire location to replace the (donut)he had just changed and referred me to the only open dealer, Pep Boys. I did not waste any time I drove to Pep Boys in Calexico, when they saw the tire, they too told me that I should contact the Mercedes Benz dealer, because it was a defective tire. I don't know if it was luck or not, but they only had one tire in stock, which they mounted. I payed $139.04 and left with the defective tire on my trunk to show my Mercedes Benz dealer. The next day I drove back home, but not with the ease of mind I used to, I drive in fear that the next time the other tire explodes, I will not be as lucky. I don't even want to think of the consequences in L.A. traffic and well as Inland Empire traffic during rush hours.

My husband contacted the Mercedes Benz dealer and the representative told him, that Mercedes Benz does not cover tires under their warranty, that it was a manufacturer problem, and was not very helpful with our tire concern, and couldn't assist him. She told my husband that the person who changed the tire was not an expert and my husband then asked her how would she know, was she a tire expert. She said no and he he stated to her that he wasn't either, but he knew the difference between a flat tire and an tire that exploded and it was a structured defect. He also indicated to her that he was going to check the internet for other problems related to the tire. He demanded that she set up an appointment for him to bring in the car and have the other tires expected, as they shouldn't done this when when it was seen at the 13,000 maintenance.

The appointment is 5/6/06 and we don't anticipate that Mercedes Benz will refund our expenditure, but we do expect for them to hear our concerns regarding this tire and maybe save a life.

looseness of my front end due to alignment. So Please review . This is ridiculous I have learned Mercedes is just a name ! I feel technicians are trained to misrepresent customers .There Negligence to deal with customers is very unprofessional .

15. On occasion the tranny would click

Jeff ****, Tracy , California

Another time, we were driving up a grade and the vehicle dropped from 70mph to 50mph in about 2 seconds even while increasing pressure on the accelerator petal until it hit the floor. I hit the kick down button and the car dropped about 3 gears and red lined the tachometer to about 7000 RPM's. The regional sales rep says this is the way the vehicle is designed to drive. My sister-in-law's four year old Honda Civic doesn't drive like this. The service technicians say there is nothing wrong with the car and are sticking to it. Seems like a conflict of interest to me since they work for the company that sold me the car. They blame the weirdness on the "fuzzy logic" adaption process of the engine computer. I could go without the "fuzzy logic", thank you very much.

I HAVE FINALLY RECEIVED AN ANSWER AS TO WHY THESE CARS HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS: A service man at a Mercedes Dealer admitted that the problems we experience with these cars is 100% computer software glitches and that he has seen this A LOT. At this moment my warranty is covering (thank God) all new software and computer components to be replaced in the C230's main computer and in the transmission computer. He said these were serious problems! This is the first dealer to admit this to me, whereas the others told me it "was just the plugs" yet had my car in their shop for over a week!

Additionally, the paint on this car is horrible and I am obsessive about taking care of my car using only McGwires Gold Class wash and wax products, which are the only products endorsed and recommended by Mercedes-Benz. The clear coat on my front bumper is peeling off! Also, this paint chips extremely easily regardless of how many coats of wax you put on it. Mercedes has a long-time bad reputation for using paint that chips easily. I am so disappointed with an otherwise beautiful car.

Mercedes-Benz should be forced to put these cars into recall to resolve these extremely important computer and software issues, and replace the software in all cars. Mercedes has developed new software because of these problems but the consumers would not know this unless someone from Mercedes told them this, as I was told by an authorized dealer. You, as the consumer, MUST BE AWARE and bring this to the attention of the dealer's servicemen, especially if the car is under warranty. HAVE YOUR ENGINE'S AND TRANSMISSION'S SOFTWARE REPLACED UNDER YOUR WARRANTY BY AN AUTHORIZED MERCEDES-BENZ DEALER UNTIL MERCEDES IS FORCED TO RECALL THESE CARS. ALSO, GET ALL DOCUMENTATION REGARDING THIS SOFTWARE FROM THE DEALER SHOP AND INSIST UPON IT. Thanks to an honest serviceman I finally have an answer to the C230 Sport Coupe Kompressor mystery. Hold the dealer accountable for replacing your computers/software until Mercedes takes responsibility for recalling the cars. Use your warranty to your advantage combined with this information I have just provided.

I hope this helps...I understand your frustrations as a fellow owner.

A year ago, I hired a high profile law firm to take on my lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz. Which is why I can not release my name, for legal purposes. Needless to say, it is going back and forth with the manufacturer and they think that their vehicles are the best thing on the road. They will not budge on their feelings. My lawyers, have filed a lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. for violation of the Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Rights Act and the Georgia Lemon Law. Please, please, please seek legal help as there is no hope in sight when dealing with the dealership.

9. Car struggles to start in the morning, especially when its cold

The window mechanisms continue to scratch the window tinting - it has been replaced three times on the front windows. Rain sensing wipers work part of the time, sometimes not at all. The cupholder mechanism has broke twice. Nomenclature has fallen off the vehicle. There is EXCESSIVE road noise, tire noise, suspension noise and wind noise in this vehicle. Also, there are squeaks and rattles THROUGHOUT the vehicle. This car only has 9000 miles on it, and most of these problems were regular problems since the car had 2500 miles on it.

I wrote a nine-page letter to Paul Juron, the Director of Customer Assistance and received a brief email from someone named Honora Duffy, who told me that Mr. Juron does not deal with customers AT ALL, not in phone calls, not in correspondence. She then told that Mercedes does not get involved in any dealership concerns, and if I had any problems with my vehicle, to contact my dealership. She thanked me for buying a Mercedes and closed her email by telling me that "[my] observations about my vehicle have been shared with the appropriate individuals, and while MBUSA realizes this may not be the response I desire, they solicit my understanding of their company position.

What is THIS supposed to mean? To me, it says, we want nothing to do with you, and thank you for buying our product.

After discussing the matter with an attorney, and relaying that information to Mercedes, they offered to get me into another vehicle. Unfortunately, all they want to do is get me into a late-model vehicle [the last offer was for a five year old car], which had a higher payment, higher insurance, and less warranty.

The vehicle keeps going back and back and back to the dealership. All I get back is an invoice that says "Could not duplicate", "No Code Observed" or "inherent vehicular characteristic". They fix NOTHING on this car, and corporate won't do ANYTHING or get involved WHATSOEVER. How can they get away with this? Their four year warranty is meaningless and worthless if they cannot fix the vehicle.

Are they hoping I will just go away? Are they waiting for the lemon law statute to time out? The service advisor told me he had been to nine such Lemon Law Arbitrations and Mercedes didn't lose a single one. He assured me my case, should I pursue one, would end the same way. Such arrogance - how can they get away with this?

I spent $32K for this car, plus over $2K in accessories thus far, and over $3800 in payments to date. Meanwhile, this car has been a piece of garbage since day one. This is ridiculous.

Next the BRAKE LINER WARNING LAMP went on, brought the car in, three days later car was fixed. Next the car was brought in for the ESP AND BAS warning light coming on again. The car was brought in and almost three weeks later the car was returned to me with a new ESP-BAS CONTROL UNIT. After that the car has been making wierd noises throughout the car, making left turns causes some wierd squeaking noise but when the car was brought in nothing was heard till finally a road test was taken with me and a manager (Clint) and sure enough the noise was heard but I was told there was nothing they could do and if I hear it again I should bring the car back in.

As I pulled out of the service department parking lot I made a left turn and wouldn't you know, the car made the same noise. But the kicker to all these repairs is the third week I had the car in my possession it was leaking transmission fluid in my driveway, the car was brought in by flatbed and the transmission was dropped and all the gaskets were replaced.

The second month I had the car I was at a red light, the light turned green and as my car reached the speed at which it should have shifted into second gear the car would not. The car was once again flatbedded to the Mercedes service and a brand new tranny was put into the car. I honestly feel I have not been taken care of in this matter and no longer feel I should be paying a monthly bill for this car. I would like to get out of the lease, this car is a LEMON.

Christopher should read up on the .

1. Runs rough in the morning, stalls sometimes- most days just barely stalls, shakes terribly when reversing. [On 4 occasions since December 2002 until February 2003, while driving on highway at approx 55 mph, went over a slight bump in the road and completely lost power in the vehicle and all warning lights (Every single one) came on. Car immediately halted to about 3 mph, the car behind me almost rear-ended me. I had my foot all the way down on the gas (I was in the middle of the road) and the power came back on within 30 seconds, and I almost rare-ended the car in front of me when my car surged forward]
2. Car doesn't shift to second in the AM while engine is cold.
3. When you turn the key in the ignition sometimes it does not start recent problem.
4. Transmission fumbles for a gear also slipping in cold weather.
5. Power steering doesn't work in the AM after sitting all night. [Steering wheel is completely upside down and you would think the car would not drive straight- it does!- which means the steering wheel and power steering is not working or my car would not be going straight. This is very dangerous and could cause an accident and I have no idea which way my tires are facing!]
6. Car sometimes lunges forward when going from park to drive.
7. A/C doesn't always cool car.
8. Heat is temperamental- doesn't always get warm- blows cold air.

I've complained to Mercedes corp via phone and no one returns my call. The Mercedes folks I deal with are nice, but tell me there is nothing wrong that my problems are NORMAL in the Mercedes cars (with the exception of the SUV). They claim their diagnostic tests show there is no problem. Are they trying to appease me until my lemon law rights expire? I purchased my car brand new in October 2001 right off their lot. My car has only 17,000 miles!