Model years Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2005 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
This year drew an ordinary 140 complaints for a Mercedes-Benz C-Class — the model's median is 280. What they were about is the unusual part: 24.3% of them mention c230, against 3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 140 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 280 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 0 |
What the complaints were about
- c230 — 24.3% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the model's other years (8.1×). Owners wrote it as: c230, c230 contact, benz c230, harness.
- seat — 16.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the model's other years (5.3×).
- c240 — 11.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the model's other years (8.3×). Owners wrote it as: c240, c240 contact, offered, emitted.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
TAKATA RECALL. THE CONTACT OWNS A 2005 MERCEDES-BENZ C230. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 16V081000 (AIR BAGS) AND STATED THAT THE PART WAS NOT AVAILABLE WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME FRAME TO SCHEDULE THE RECALL REPAIR. THE DEALER WAS…
THE CONTACT WAS DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 60 MPH WHEN THE CHECK ENGINE WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE WARNING LIGHT REMAINED ILLUMINATED UNTIL THE ENGINE WAS SHUT OFF. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR DIAGNOSIS. THE TECHNICIAN INFORMED THE CONTACT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Mercedes-Benz C-Class? What happened to yours?
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