This is one of those times that the engineering team responsible for this module and design area, after going through thousands of hours of design and testing, trying to come up with every feasible thing that has to work in this area, and everything else that may potentially happen,

you're stuck with something a consumer does that you would've never imagined. In this case, the water from window tinting.

Must be super frustrating for the engineers as well as all the customers affected by this. Just one of those things.

 

It’s interesting how European and Australian models come from the factory with tint on the rear windows

 

Having been raised by an engineer with German ancestry, I totally agree with you. This would've driven my engineer father crazy to say the least. My German ancestors typically do sweat the small stuff. My W201 which is the great-great grandfather of the W206 actually has ribbed taillights to keep the snow from piling up on top of the taillights and preventing them from being seen in a snow storm. My local MB dealership has been seeing this problem as well when I stopped to warn them about what I was seeing being posted in this thread. My MB service advisor's theory is that the window tinters are using way to much water in their tinting process which is overwhelming the car's drainage system because there's no problem when the cars are in a heavy rainstorm as in that case the car's drainage system is more than adequate to handle the water flow. I don't know if there's a way for the electronic module that's getting fried to be moved father away from the bottom of the rear window or maybe there might be some room to place some sort of protective cover over the electronic module to protect it from such a massive volume of water or not. Maybe there needs to be a warning placed on the home page for the W206 section in bold letters to warn new W206 owners to not tint their back window until this is resolved would be my immediate suggestion for how this forum might be able to help in a small way.

 

This vent is on the inside of the car! What massive water would ever be there other than by some fool pouring water into it to tint the window. There should be no water inside the car! There is probably no drainage system at all. Probably just fills up with water.

 

Yesterday I discussed this issue with my GSM at the dealership I got my car from and the way he described it it seemed as if it also had to do with the side windows on the passenger side and not just the rear window. I could have misunderstood him but it seemed as if using too much water in those areas may also cause this issue.

 

I don't know what vent you're referring to. This problem is about an electronic module that's underneath the rear window. The window tinters are using too much water and it's overwhelming the drainage channels that the cars has for draining rain when the car is driven in rainstorms. This is what's frying the electronic module and all of the electronics in the back half of the car it controls. There's no problem happening with this electronic module when the car is being driven in a rain storm.

 

I was referring to the inside of the window (where tinting is normally done). Sounds like you are talking about the outside of the car.

 

So first post on the forum. I purchased my 22 C300 on 7/13/22 and took it to my normal shop the next day for tint. They finished everything minus my windshield then smoke start pouring from the trunk they claimed. Get a call that and head over to see two fire trucks and team of 10 guys around my new car. 🤦‍♂️ Get it towed to Mercedes and thats what happened. They got alot of water on the rear Sams unit and it fired. Needed new Sams, truck mechanism, fuel door release, along with other connectors. Total cost $2155.41 !!!! I just got my car back 7/27/22 which was quicker than we thought because the trunk release was on back order. Sounds like they need a better placement for this computer module.

 

Or maybe a better procedure for window tinting that doesn't pour water on the computers. Possibly seal the opening below the window before dumping water in it. $2K sounds like a bargain.

 

So sorry for your trouble. I would suggest you send the bill to your window tinter's insurance company. It sounds to me like they used way too much water in their tinting process which overwhelmed the car's drainage system. It's my understanding that this problem is not happening when the cars are driven in heavy rainstorms so that would implicate the window tinting procedure.

 

Trust me everyone has the bill lol. Its in the process and it will get handled. Just a waiting game right now.

 

We are experiencing issues w/ this now. We got our son windows tinted on his CLK 350 AMG. He initially thought it was the battery in remote.. Battery was replace but no keyless locking features .. Then I started to google and discovered this defect. I had now issue w/ my e350 I had tinted 2 weeks prior

 

After putting in an order with the dealer a month ago for the to be delivered next week, they tell me that Merc has said if the windows are tinted, then the warranty will be voided. Where I live, tint is allowed on the front windows as well. It's between 85F to 89F year round and the car is black with black leather interior. I think it's a deal breaker for me.

 

That first video is a night package I believe. That package comes with factory tinted windows.

 

Not here in US. It must be something country specific.

 

What do you all think of this solution?

 

Thank you so much for the link.
I wish they offered a different level of tint (this one is limousine privacy), however it's a great solution.
I asked them if they ship to US, I'll share the answer as soon as I get it.

 

For those getting their new car delivered these days, are any of you getting a tinted car by the dealer? Many times the dealers automatically tint the car when they receive them so they can charge $500 for it. Is this still the case with the C class given the electronic problems?

 

Considering what's being experienced, I would get the dealer to do it. If anything happens, then they will be liable for the damages....assuming they agree to install the tinting.

 

This would definitely be an issue for me. Wife is very sensitive to heat, so window tinting is a must. I'll ask the dealer about it.

Glad I found this forum to be aware of this issue.

 

Hey, my parts finally arrived so I wanted to let you guys know what happened. I tinted my windows 2 months ago and it made the car go haywire, you can find my post further up. First off, I will say what the dealership told me about tinting. They said that if I wanted to tint it, I should've asked them to do it for me, as they can remove the windows and tint them directly without damaging the SAM module in the rear.

The parts that arrived are trunk latch, fuel filler cap latch, rear SAM module and the rear seat latches. The only thing I had to replace was the rear seat latches. After the car was left to sit in the garage for 2 months straight it seems to have dried out or something like that, so it is working perfectly fine. The total for all the parts was around 1500 euros, but what I ended up paying was 65 only for the right seat latch. The parts took 2 months to arrive from Germany (they were not available at the time). My car had a horrible burning smell the entire time, but it seems that actually came from the rear seat latch that they left inside before, after replacing it the smell is gone. They told me that since the parts are working that I should keep driving the car. They left the parts for me in case they break down, so I ended up getting off really cheap for all of the stress I had, except the part where it sat in the garage for 2 months. I drove the car for around 600 kilometers after the seat latch was replaced and there is absolutely 0 issues.

So my advice is, if you absolutely want to do the tint, tell the Mercedes dealership that maintains your car that you want to do it, and ask them to do it for you. It is worth paying them extra money over the absolute chaos that can happen to the car.

Other issues i had, a little bit off topic, which are not connected to the tinting as confirmed by the dealership:

Low oil error, had the system show minimum oil
Parking sensors beeping for seemingly no reason, sometimes not even letting me drive forward or backwards due to the car thinking something is in the way
48v battery malfunction error
Service overdue error
Car refusing to shift down after suddenly accelerating and then releasing the pedal (staying in high revs and making tons of noise at a parking lot for no reason)
Car beeping like a madman when driving behind someone in traffic (what you could call tailgating in the US is normal driving in Eastern Europe unless you are on a highway)
If you hear a weird noise in the back while slowing down to go over a speed bump or just chilling somewhere with the car on it is actually the rear camera dropping down because another car is approaching. This made me lose my nerves after all the stuff I've had happen after tinting it, but it's normal.

All of these issues disappeared within 300/400 kilometers of driving. They said it's due to the car sitting for a long time in the dealership, and also the sensors requiring calibration and the gearbox needing to learn my driving habits.

 

Has anyone figured out what to actually tell the tint shop in order to avoid this?

 

yes, see my latest comment in the other tint thread here. I successfully had mine done. The tint shop just needs to properly cover the SAM unit. It’s located in the trunk, right side, inside the trunk liner. They usually just cover this with a sufficient amount of towels. Any good shop is aware of this car by now.

 

yep i actually did follow that and it’s been 3 days since the tint and no problems! got 15% on the front and 5% on the back

 

awesome, any photos? what did you tell the shop to do.