My husband has a few years old black Mercedes C230 Kompressor Sports Sedan. Car was purchased brand new at Mercedes authorized dealer. There is no modification made to this car and all the servicing done at Mercedes authorized dealer. It had only 58000 miles. Last B servicing which checked any safety related issues and includes regular maintenance, was done at authorized dealer on 02/18/2012. No issue was informed on 02/18/2012 to us by mercedes authorized dealer servicing department. On 06/21/2012, when my husband was driving this car from work to home, he turned on A/C, A/C shutdown and he started smelling smoke. On left side of driver side, there is A/C vent and he saw fire inside the hood through that vent. He pulled over car right away and electricity went out with in 1 min of his pulling over and within 4 min, whole car was burnt and now totaled.

This issues poses very serious security risks to public and it needs through investigation.

My husband contacted Mercedes head quarter for investigation and Mercedes declined to investigate. GEICO stated in report that hood is stuck and cause of fire is unknown. GEICO Insurance Company authorized Mercedes engineers to investigate further upon my husband's request and Mercedes USA does not want to investigate further. We do not want others to go through same ordeal as we went through. Mercedes manufactory should be fully responsible for it since there is thousands of people out there driving the same car. It's very shocking that such a reputed company refuse to do anything about it.

Mercedes said it's because our car is too old so it's not their problem, which i found it ridiculous because it only had 58k miles. I understand that things will break when it gets old, but it should not turn into a hazard product which can kill someone. And the servicing department at the local dealer totally agreed that it should not caught in fire like that.

What should I do from this point?



Video of car fire is available here

 

The wording of the choices in your poll does not make sense. It's obvious you have an axe to grind with Mercedes and maybe rightfully so. But asking the folks here whether they think Mercedes doesn't care about safety or product defects or is not a good company won't prove anything either. Suggest you contact your states consumer relations board or the National Highway Traffic Safety Association at nhtsa.gov and see what they can tell you. Good Luck.

 

I would be very upset, too. However, it sounds like one of those strange & rare situations that occasionally takes place. I've owned 3 different MBs & the safety measures have always been top-notch (& much better than any other vehicles I've owned).

Therefore, I believe aquinob has the right idea. I wish you the best of luck!

P.S. Review your polling options because giving only negative options defeats the purpose of the poll, especially considering the nature of this site. In other words, the website mostly consists of MB enthusiasts, so most members think highly of MB vehicles.

 

I will not be upset if Mercedes could have inspect the car and tried to find the root cause instead of brushing me of. All your suggestions are welcome and very constructive.

 

Poll is ridiculous and made this thread 10x more irrelevant. I understand that you just lost your car and you're upset. Yes, it could've been extremely dangerous. Tons of us on the forum and no reported fires at 50k miles, 90k miles, 200k miles etc. etc. Sorry, you can't be pointing your finger at Mercedes for something that only happened to you and no one else. I'll have to agree with them, car is extremely old and anything could've happened to it during the time. Look at it from their point of view - you could've wired something to the car and it accidentally caught on fire, who knows. Car is burnt to the ground so they can't really do anything to find out what was the cause.

 

Car had only 58K miles on it. All we are asking Mercedes to investigate car fire.. We are not asking for new car or anything like that. First Mercedes Benz customer associate assigned to my case said that Geico insurance company is not allowing them to look at car and when I got them clearance, I was told by Mercedes is not going to look at it. Do you still not see the problem ?

I also liked their car and that is the reason we all bought it. Try contacting their customer service and you would get to know the company really really well.

 

I sorry for you loss, and hope you will consider a new MB. All major car companys and their customer relations departments are great if you are not wanting something from them....In this case an investigation into your car fire that is not their responsibility, the car is past their warranty period, If anything you may have something on the dealership that serviced the car (slim to none at best since the fire happened months after their service was performed on the car.) Have you tried to get an independent investigation (private) possibly from a former insurance adjustor/fire arson dept worker, first? No major car company is going to be willing to talk or work with you unless you can show them proof that it was their product/car that is at fault. You could also consider consulting and attorney and seek their advice, but they will probably say it was a freak accident and not a product defect. I'm sure your only wanting peace of mind in knowing what caused the fire, but find solace in that fact the your husband was able to pull-over and exit the car with-out harm to himself or others.....