2003 Mercedes-Benz C230 problems
The 2003 Mercedes-Benz C230 has 76 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (32%) concerns engine. Next are transmission (12%) and electrical system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 76 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 32% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 31,000 miles 58 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 18 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 0 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 58 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 30,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 66,000 miles (22 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 1 injury reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2003 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 9 model years of the Mercedes-Benz C230 with enough data (52 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 mercedes benz c230. The contact stated that he was driving approximately 30 MPH when he crashed into a tree that had fallen in the street. The air bags did not deploy and he suffered four broken bones as a result; the vehicle was also destroyed. He was told by the manufacturer that the secondary thresholds were not exceeded to deploy the air bags. An independent inspector stated that the air bags should have deployed. The vehicle identification number was not available.
The 2003 mercerdes benz 300c engine suddenly caught on fire while driving it to work. The car stalled, flames shoot out the front hood, the car would not restart, so I coasted to the firm. I opened the hood to see blue flames shoopt 20 feet in the air. A passerby tried to put out the firwe unsucessfully with a fire extiquisher. The flames got hotter and shot 60 feet in the air, and police and fire department responded and were finally able to put out the fire .
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 mercedes benz c230. The contact stated that there was an excess of smoke coming from the tail pipe, blinding the contacts view of vehicle following. The vehicle then began to lose power abnormally and was moved from the roadway where it was towed to the dealer. The dealer advised that an engine valve had melted into two pieces and a piece of the valve was found in the manifold. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage and current mileages were 90,000.
I bought my mercedes c230 kompressor 9 days ago. It has only 380 miles on it. 2 days in a row when the car is placed into drive the entire vehicle shakes violently. Mercedes is going to attempt to fix the problem. Ss.
At 178,000 miles the timing chain tensioner failed while the car driving approximately 25 MPH and allowed the timing chain to skip several teeth leaving the car stranded and potentially causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to the engine internals. The car was dealer serviced since new and always had maintenance on time.