on my 2008 C300, my OEM P2 tailights (I have not upgraded them), the driver side tailight is brighter than the passenger side. It is more noticeable in certain lightness. Weirdly in complete darkness they look more even. What could this be? I'm planning on updating to the 2012 tails which will require my SAM to be reprogrammed, hopefully the issue will be solved once I do that upgrade.

Maybe your bulb is going bad?

Did you turn on the rear fog lights by mistake?

I have the same problem. When the rear fog lights are on, the left is brighter than the right...

That's because there is only one rear fog and it's on the driver's side.

I am not sure of the logic, why only one rear fog light on left side. Why not both sides. Front fog light is for driver to see cars in the front; rear fog light is for the car to be seen by cars behind so two lights are better than one in terms of easily being seen.

"The single rear fog light has been standard for quite a few years. It is very valuable and you only need one. I have driven on the autobahn in fog and I could see a single light glowing before I could see anything else. It lets you not only know there is a car ahead but where the left rear is.
The biggest problem in the US is that few MB owners know they have this light and miss a great safety item."

Source:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w204...-foglight.html

how do you know if you turned them on? sorry I'm new to MB

When the rear fog light button is pushed, the fog light is turned on or off. The yellow indicater light is also on and off.

Usually people turn on the rear fog light when turning on the front fog lights.

For 2008-10 cars if you turn your headlights on manually and then pull the dial outwards, the rear fogs go on with the second/last click, there will be an amber light on the dial representing the rear fogs as well as two green lights, one for the parking lights and the other for the front fogs.

This is correct for 2011 and onward cars, Benz changed the light switch once they installed LED DRLs, with that one there is no off position, just Auto, parking lights and headlights, with a separate button for fogs, whereas before it was all integrated into one dial.


Believe it or not I do not have my rear fogs on in this picture. The picture also exaggerates the contrast, its not that bad in person but still noticeable. I ought to take another pic with the rear fog on, I bet it will be even brighter.

^What he said

Here are my tailights at night, I'm wondering if my left one is too bright or my right one is too dim, either way I'm puzzled. The second picture is once I turned on my rear fogs, that way you see the problem is not that I have the rear fog on. You also see my blackberry camera seems to exaggerate light.



With rear fog on:

I wonder if this is an issue affecting more P2 owners than non-P2.

My P2 C300 has this SAME EXACT issue... Left tail light is brighter than the right tail light. (Or right is dimmer than left? Idk) It isn't as obvious as yours but DEFINITELY noticeable. No, it's not the rear fog.

I have heard this is caused by the rear SAM unit and is a precursor to other issues. Can't find the thread but this issue has DEFINITELY been discussed. If anyone can dig it up and shed some more light it would be greatly appreciated.



IMO, one is better than two rearward facing fogs because: 1) Easier to see brake lights activating over one really bright red light than two. 2) For people who know what a rear fog is, it's easily identifiable as one, instead of being mistaken for stuck brake lights or someone riding their brakes.

I think that the safety benefits of preventing the above issues is more important than the "MOAR LIGHT MAKE MOAR PPL SEE ME" mentality.

With all honesty, I'd prefer one low lying fog around the middle of the diffuser, sort of like an F1 car (!!!!), but I'm sure they just integrated into the tail lamp to simplify things.

I'm glad I'm not alone. I searched and wasn't able to find anything discussing the exact issue, but I did find discussions of the SAM not working, Glyn said that a lot of times they can be corrupted and just need to be reprogramed. As I recall, once or twice I have had all these error messages pop up on the cluster saying my rear parking lights and brake lights all need to be checked, but they were fine and once I turned the car on and off the messages were gone. It would be awesome if the reprogramming necessary for the 2012 light upgrade fixes this issue because I am planning on having that done anyway.

Does anyone know exactly what the 2012 tail light reprogramming entails? Is it all new 2012 software for the SAM or just small adjustments made to accommodate the new lights?

Could it be a bad ground in the dimmer tail light? I remember seeing threads with burnt up tail light wiring harnesses...

Hi,
I had the same problem as yours on 2009 c300 4matic. the connector was melting on the right side, i discussed that with a mercedes technician at the stealership and he told me that's a known issue on w204.
good luck.

The single rear fog light is so that the drive behind you knows when you step on the brake. The brightness difference between brake light and fog light is not as noticeable as tail light and brake light.
A pet peeve of mine is people who use the rear fog light when there is no fog. Following in traffic your eye is pulled towards the bright light and you can easily miss the brake light turning on.
Similar, people who drive with their flashers on at speeds above minimum speed (45 on most highways). If you need them when there is not a problem, you shouldn't be driving. Especially when it is raining, very distracting. In CA and FL, I understand, it is illegal to drive with flashers on.

The 7 pin connector for that tail light is melting at the ground wire."

More details on this thread. https://mbworld.org/forums/newreply....te=1&p=5379223

There is a user, akasigfreak, who posted an invoice of the dealer goodwilling the part even though he is out of warranty.

With luck, all of us will be able to get this fixed at no charge.

I did change mine once at the dealer. Like above said, the pin connector is melting. you can actually see it, too. When you touch the pin, the wire is hot so try not to touch the bear copper color wires. If you press in pin and slightly push up or down, you can see the light gets brighter at some point. bring it to dealer and they will swap out with new taillight unit

My 2009 (I just bought it used in March) did the same this this past week. Luckily, I noticed it the day before I had to take it in for body repair. My warranty ran out in September, but the dealer replaced the plug that had melted free of charge. I just turned over 30k miles on it, and up to this point have only had to take it in for regular service. I've really enjoyed dealing with MB on everything. They haven't nickle and dimed me like the Lincoln dealer did. Everything was complicated when dealing with Lincoln. MB has been a pleasure dealing with. I think I'm sold for life.

As for the body damage, I was hit while parked in a driveway by a neighbor. I cried a little inside. It did a little damage to the door, but the skin somehow wrapped under the door brace so they replaced the door. $2081 to repair everything, and it was covered by my neighbors insurance. It still bummed me out to see it happen.

Same issue ! Read https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ghts-true.html

Hi, my C180 is a right hand drive, but I have the same issue, just in reverse. My right hand side tail light is brighter than the left. Perhaps it's got something to do with the wiring, or that both tail lights use the same earth. When I get some time, I'll wire in a seperate earth for the dim tail light and note the difference.
Or perhaps the outside tail light is brighter for safety reasons so that other drivers can see the outser corner of the car.

This happened to mine. It's in regards to the taillight recall, the balast gets all rusty and f'd up. Go get your recall done and they'll be back to normal.