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I’ve gotten my car regularly inspected by both Huntington Long Island Mercedes as well as a shop that only does Mercedes in Brooklyn - was told it was in great shape. Runs beautifully etc.
After getting my usual NY state inspection last week, I was asked to follow the mechanic to look under the car at the rust under the rear chassis.
It was insane. Pitted out- I wish I had added an extra coat of rust proofing as soon as I got the car. I do park outside, but I never expected this. I have had thorough inspections numerous times since buying the car in 2019, and nothing was seen or mentioned.
Therefore it all must have occurred in the last few years - and was missed by both official Mercedes mechanics and mechanics that specialize in Mercedes.
My theory is that when the drain line by the wiper gets clogged, and the water collects on the right side of the chassis (happened to me twice) it accelerated the rusting.
Either way it is unacceptable. We should make a class action lawsuit so they are forced to replace and/or rust proof all these chassis. Someone is going to die!
There was a recall for the passenger airbag in 2019 (it shot out shrapnel for gods sakes) and I had to wait 6 months for the parts, and this was pre covid. Maybe Mercedes is slipping w the threshold for recalls?
Hey guys, word of mouth is Mercedes’ is going to cover this in the future sometime hopefully soon! Save your receipts! They’ll be re-imbursing people who have already done the repair I hear!!
No no no no no you do NOT have to remove subframe or fuel tank to do brake line....
That being said, subframe itself may need to be replaced if rusted of course...
My back tires started to feel as if I was fishtailing.
Originally Posted by AAIIIC
I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that all C300s have this issue. Again, between this thread and the other thread that RossP linked, there are probably 20 or 30 people who have chimed in with this issue. How many C300 owners peruse this forum? Certainly it's more than 20 or 30 - if the problem affected every C300, wouldn't there be a bunch more people responding to these threads? And the nature of this sort of forum is that people log in and report problems; nobody logs in and creates a thread that says, "My rear subframe is fine. Just wanted to let you know. Oh, and my front one is fine, too, in case anyone was wondering." Add in that the users of this forum are only a tiny, tiny fraction of the total ownership of W204s, which were sold all over the world, and you should come to the conclusion that you have no useful data to assess the commonality of the subframe rust issue.
If you're worried about it, inspect the car before buying - that way you'll know if it's a problem for that specific car.
I took it to the shop. The mechanic said instantly he hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was (the subframe). Well, it is. He had just done 3 of them this year. he will replace the corroded break line while he is in there. I’m in CT and the part is in Canada.
I’m also a 204/ 2009 C300 owner who is experiencing the subframe failure. I just had my Benz at the dealer for airbag recall last December and they gave me a list of things that needed to be done but subframe wasn’t one of them. I asked if the car was safe to drive and they said yes. They said front upper lower ball joints , flex disc cracked and intake had some residue. Less then 2 months later I heard a strange noise from right rear of vehicle so I brought it to EUROPEAN AUTO REPAIR in Gardiner Maine and they told me I had a complete failure of the rear subframe. The subframe had completely broken from the manufacturer weld point and the car was unsafe to drive. Later that day they called to tell me that the part is on back order and won’t be available until the end of the first quarter of 2023 at the earliest. My car is well kept and completely rust free exterior or underneath besides the rear subframe. With only 90k miles I had expected this car to be half life mileage ways and had hoped to get several more years of use out of it. Now I’m looking at waiting almost a year. part available April 2023 soonest and I was quoted $3500 parts and labor to repair which is fine. I don’t mind spending $3500 to have my vehicle faithfully serve me for several more years to come but waiting a year to have my car back is not something that works for me. Once the car sits for a year , it will need more work like brakes , tires , possible rust on other parts , battery , etc. why has no one started a class action lawsuit? This problem is all over the net and MBworld forums and this is recalled in Canada and Germany. Let’s get together and start a class action lawsuit and stop this problem for all of us and to all future and current owners. This subframe issue is dangerous and will ultimately cost someone their life if it hasn’t already. I filed a complaint with National highway safety but haven’t heard or seen any progression or results as of yet.
Hello everyone, new to this forum. I have a 2000 E430 W210, and have participated in that forum for years and have been glad to receive all the great information. My daughter has a 2011 C300 and I was just reading about the rear sub frame problem. I had her bring the car over to check it out. She has about 65K miles on it. everything looked OK, I took a brass drift and tapped all around the problem area and it sounded solid. I read the corrosion starts on the inside, has anyone drilled a drain hole in the problem area? By the way she had a short in the engine electrical harness at 32K. No help from Mercedes, I forget what it cost her, not cheap, had an independent do the work. Thank You for your insite.
In Croatia , replacing rear subframe is also free of charge at Mercedes dealership , just did mine few days ago.
And theoretically if you would had to pay it , it would be 1300 eur , labor and parts. So i dont know where from do USA dealers take there prices from.
In Croatia , replacing rear subframe is also free of charge at Mercedes dealership , just did mine few days ago.
And theoretically if you would had to pay it , it would be 1300 eur , labor and parts. So i dont know where from do USA dealers take there prices from.
for an OEM sub frame? Might be the shipping and markups here that make it that but it’s still ridiculous.
Had my 2011 c300 for a couple of months. Did not know that the subframe was a problem on these.
it broke and I searched her for a recall found out that nothing was available. Called MB for the part and was told it was a six month wait. So I bit the bullet and bought one on Ebay. Was gonna do it myself, but decided my time was more important than that so I took it to my local indie me mechanic.
I have never had a car do anything like this. And I had some rickety old cats as a kid.
just sttange.
So glad to find this forum and so many postings on subframe rust issue on C and E class cars. Mercedes executives should take this safety issue seriously to all its loyal customer base before they loose credibility.
I am the first owner of 2010 GLK 350 and being doing regular services and repairs per the service schedule and none of the dealers found out that the rear subframe is rusted till last week there was a break fluid low sign which I topped off but the sign kept coming back. The technician said the issue is not just he break oil leak it is the entire breaking system is bad due to rear subframe rust and will cost anywhere between 4K to 10K. I am like WTF you guys check the cars regularly couldn't find this issue earlier and he is like it is very common in C and E class you need to call Mercedes to get any help from the company. Called the company and directed me to complain in mercedes-benz.custhelp.com/app/ask but there is not correct drop down to file complaint against. We all need to file litigation against Mercedes, it is a highly safety issue that Mercedes should fix at no cost. I have filed complain on national highway safety as well.
Did anyone got response back from Mercedes knowing that there are so many complains per this thread?
I have a 2011 c300 and the rear axel carrier frame is rotted on the driver's side. This car has only seen 5 winters (2011-2013 and 2019 - 2021) In the in-between years
it was garaged and stored for the winter. There is no corrosion anywhere on the vehicle except the rear driver's side carrier arm as others have noted in the thread. I would
expect rot elsewhere if it were salt in general. In my opinion, this is a design issue. Since Canada has administered a recall I assume it is a valid defect. Lucky the rot is not extensive and my mechanic
said it is still drivable. I have been waiting for parts for 3 months and they are still on backorder. The local Mercedes dealer indicated the same but I assume they are handling their customers first before selling to repair shops. Please log a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (see below). I have seen a number of complaints logged already. If there isn't a recall I hope there is a class action lawsuit. Maybe we should start one?
I am so glad I found this forum. Owner of a 2011 C300 Sport here and just got back from the dealer with the same diagnosis, cracked rear subframe. $5K repair estimate and part is on backorder with no in-stock date ("could be 2 - 3 weeks, could be 6 months"). I had my two rear tires replaced at the end of July and they didn't say anything. I'd like to believe them when they say they would have noticed it then had it been cracked as I have been a loyal customer and have always taken the vehicle to this dealer since the day it was purchased. I am just aghast that this is clearly a quality issue and no recall has been issued in the U.S. yet. I'll be filing a NHTSA complaint and truly hope that a recall is issued. For those of you who decided to go ahead and wait for backordered parts and have the work done at a dealer - have any of you actually had the work performed by the dealer, and if so, how long did it ultimately take for the part to arrive? Truly hope this isn't going to take 6 months.
I was told the part will be available sometime in the first quarter of 2023 which would be January to April 2023 at the soonest. I found a used ones from a junkyard out of California and it cost $800!! That also included shipping. My car is currently at Rennen Performance (auburn Maine ) and they quoted me $1200 in labor. So I’ll be looking at around $2k for part and labor. Not bad but still this problem shouldn’t have ever happened to begin with. Mercedes Bangor told me the part has gone up in price to $1410 when it does arrive from back order. ROBBERY!!!!!
This subframe issue is particularly troubling. I am Shocked a recall has not been issued yet. Major safety issue about to plague many people, especially here in the Northeast. It’s very easy to see the rot. It’s not going to be if it fails but when. I see a class action lawsuit coming Mercedes.
I opened a case with MBUSA and they told me to pound sand. Very disappointed that a luxury brand like MB would have this kind of problem and very dissapointed that MB offered no relief. We purchased the car brand new and baby it with all the scheduled maintenance and garage kept. So I replaced it myself on our 2010 C300 Sport 4MATIC. I found a new subframe online for $1000 and it was perfect. Took me a few days because I was going slow and being careful. I'm sure an experienced mechanic could get it done in a day.
Same thing happened to me a month ago. The w212 sub frame also fits our cars so that is what i bought used on eBay. $1800 later and the car isnt worth a dollar more and is now safe to drive.
Just happened to my 2014 E350, I am so disappointed and frustrated this isnt a recall yet.... seems like a pretty serious issue to me and not expected on an 8 year old car... it shoudn't happen.
W204 C220 MY2012 just went in for the recent Passenger Air-bag Safety Recall in UK. The MB Main franchise identified a large defect in the upper surface of the rear subframe, which was almost impossible to see from below.
This was rectified FOC - it comes under the MB Anti-Perforation Warranty. My Service history is MB for the 1st 3 years, and I've been looking after it myself for the remaining time. According to the MB Dealer, he has done something like a hundred of these replacements. They were happy to rectify FOC with the proviso that I would have to pay the cost of additional parts needed, if any of the link arms or their bushes broke during disassembly,
On annual MOT inspection earlier this year, my regular test station had mentioned this issue as a regular known problem with the 204 chassis, but assured me that mine was not affected.
Given the severity of failure under braking and loss of control, a serious accident for someone is likely. Sadly, that accident may not be linked to the subframe as the cause unless someone has knowledge of this as a potential problem, does the proper investigation, and then takes massive legal action. MB has likely done their legal risk analysis on this likelihood and deemed it low. Viewing that corrosion is defensible position on a 10yr old car. However, someone with firsthand failure experience, the estimated numbers of cars on the road prone to this, and a good news reporter, it becomes a PR nightmare.
I just heard from my mechanic that my rear subframe and control arms are rotten and need to be fixed before driving it again. Mechanic said it will cost about $2500 to get a used part to fix and it could take a few weeks to ship from the South. I’m not sure if it’s worth fixing a 2012 C300 MB for as I checked on different websites and they are offering around 5-6k for my car even without knowing the current problem. I’m afraid the car might develop other issues that are not visible now, later on. I’m confused on what to do. I had called MB corporate office to file a claim and they said someone will call me in two days and they haven’t. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
09-16-2022, 04:12 PM
I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that all C300s have this issue. Again, between this thread and the other thread that RossP linked, there are probably 20 or 30 people who have chimed in with this issue. How many C300 owners peruse this forum? Certainly it's more than 20 or 30 - if the problem affected every C300, wouldn't there be a bunch more people responding to these threads? And the nature of this sort of forum is that people log in and report problems; nobody logs in and creates a thread that says, "My rear subframe is fine. Just wanted to let you know. Oh, and my front one is fine, too, in case anyone was wondering." Add in that the users of this forum are only a tiny, tiny fraction of the total ownership of W204s, which were sold all over the world, and you should come to the conclusion that you have no useful data to assess the commonality of the subframe rust issue.
