Model years Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2009 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Complaints about this year name takata recall far more often than the model's other years — 19% of them, about 21× the usual rate of 0.9%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 670 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 254 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 19 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- lock — 34% of this year's complaints, against 9.6% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: lock, steering lock, key, electronic.
- steering — 26.6% of this year's complaints, against 6.5% across the model's other years (4.1×).
- ignition — 18.1% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the model's other years (8.2×). Owners wrote it as: ignition, switch, ignition switch, key ignition.
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.
Also unusual this year
- steering lock — 13% of complaints, 32× usual
- steering — 27% of complaints, 4× usual
- ignition — 13% of complaints, 15× usual
What owners wrote
EIS STEERING LOCK BATTERY FAIL. $12 BATTERY DIES AND EIS STAYS IN LOCK POSITION KEY DOESN'T RESPOND TO IGNITION SWITCH OR CAR UNLOCKING DOORS.
ELECTRONIC STEERING LOCK(ESL) UNIT FAILS TO UNLOCK STEERING WHEEL FROM A PARKED, OFF POSITION, CAR WILL NOT TRY TO START AND STEERING WHEEL IS LOCKED. CAR MUST BE TOWED FOR REPAIR. HAD TO REPLACE THE ESL AND HAVE IT RECODED TO WORK WITH THE ELECTRONIC IGNITION…
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 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-Class? What happened to yours?
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