2013 Mercedes-Benz C300 Airbag Problems

Which parts fail

• Frontal › Driver clockspring/spiral cassette
  1

Components named in complaints (front, side and curtain air bags, sensors and inflators).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  526%
• 25k–50k
  421%
• 50k–75k
  15%
• 75k–100k
  211%
• 100k–150k
  737%
• 150k+
  00%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

The contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated while pulling into a parking space and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that while the vehicle was approaching a building ahead, she veered to the right and hit the front bumper of an occupied vehicle. The vehicle then drove over the sidewalk. The contact stated that while approaching the end of the sidewalk, she veered to the right and the vehicle stopped after approximately 200 feet. The air bags did not deploy. There was no injury sustained. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an auto collision repair shop. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. …

The contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that the fuel tank was leaking after refueling. The fuel had leaked out to half tank. The Fire Department was called, but no assistance was provided. The contact stated that there was a puddle of fuel in the driveway. Additionally, the passenger's air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the sensor in the module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. Additionally, the dealer confirmed that the leak was coming from the filler tube entering the fuel tank. The dealer recommended replacing the fuel tank. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed that there were no recalls on the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated on the instrument panel. Upon taking the vehicle to the dealer, they discovered corrosion underneath the rear subframe. The corrosion caused 2-inch sized holes to be formed on the passenger's side of the rear subframe. The dealer also discovered corrosion on the wire of one of the seats which resulted in the air bag warning light being illuminated. The manufacturer had been notified of the failure and agreed to cover 50% of the cost for repair of the vehicle. The vehicle had yet to be repaired and remained in the possession of the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 119,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light and the check engine warning light intermittently illuminated and then turned off independently. Additionally, the "Service Air Bags" message was displayed. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in the recall and that the front passenger's side air bag was previously replaced. The failure mileage was 127,328.

I had just gotten off the highway it was a rainy day and pulled into my driveway when airbag deployed on its own. I am lucky to be alive. I purchased this vehicle about 2 yrs or so ago and ran carfax that showed recall was fixed by manufacturer. I contacted Mercedes corporate office and it's been almost two weeks with me calling and emailing w no call backs or any resolution. I don't have a car and could have been seriously injured. Please help.

Tl* the contact owned a 2013 Mercedes Benz C300. The contact stated that she had taken her vehicle to Mercedes-Benz of west chester dealer (1260 wilmington pike, west chester, pa 19382) to be serviced for NHTSA campaign number: 19V010000 (air bags). Due to the parts being unavailable at that time, both her driver and passenger side air bags were turned off. The contact was informed at the time that the dealer's policy was to have the air bags turned off until the part became available. On July 19,2020, the contact suffered a seizure while driving at approximately 35 MPH. Due to the seizure, the contact side swiped a telephone pole and drove into a flower bed. Once she ran over the flower bed, the vehicle catapulted into the air and the vehicle landed on her driver side. The side curtain air bags, which were still activated, did not deploy upon impact. …

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. While at a stop light, another vehicle crashed into the rear of the contact's vehicle. The air bag failed to deploy. The contact sustained whiplash that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle. In addition, the contact heard a ticking noise coming from the steering wheel. The steering wheel seized and the power steering warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Mercedes-Benz of s atlanta (3775 royal s pkwy, ga 30349, phone: [phone]), but the cause of the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was repaired. The VIN was included in NHTSA campaign number: 17V627000 (air bags). The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 Mercedes-Benz C300. While driving 44 MPH, the vehicle was involved in a head on crash. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a police impound. A police report was filed. There was one injury that required medical attention. The medical examiner diagnosed that they did not see any broken bones; however, there were some bruises on the knees, hip, upper back, right shoulder, and neck. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

I received two safety recall notices from daimler ag (dag) regarding air bag issues since October 2017, both of which indicate that "remedy not yet available." the most recent one (issued January 2018) is related to the Takata recall: "according to Takata, in the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the air bag cushion material, which May result in injury or death to vehicle occupants" the first recall, issued October 2017 relates to: "daimler ag (dag), the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, has determined that on certain b-class electric, c-class, e-class and cla, gla, glc, glk-class vehicles (242, 204, 205, 207, 212, 117, 156, 253 platform) an electrostatic discharge, when combined with a broken steering column module clock spring and an insufficient grounding of the steering components, could lead to an inadvertent deployment of the driver airbag. …

I received a recall inovember 2017 and am unable to get mb to make an appointment to fix an insufficient grounding component in the steering wheel which May causes an electrostatic discharge which deploys the Takata airbag with resultant accident occurrence. I am in fear when driving. Mb has not responded to my request. They have not provided me with a safe car; they have ignored requests; they have given no answer to my letter and phone calls to ceo exler in atlanta or any person in manhattan main office. They have devalued the worth of my car if I tried to sell it. They have ripped off the system, while spending millions on marketing. Cars they produced for 2018 were sold with recalls. There are millions on the road from 2012 through 2018 that I have found so far from government published lists of recalled Mercedes Benz models. …

Related recalls

NHTSA investigations

Airbag complaints in other C300 years