1999 MERCEDES-BENZ S420 — Complaint #1689654
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TRUNK LID:LOCK filed September 3, 2020
NHTSA complaint #1689654 (ODI reference 11352984) concerns a 1999 MERCEDES-BENZ S420 and was filed on September 3, 2020. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 25, 2020. The vehicle had 121,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Connecticut based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as latches/locks/linkages:trunk lid:lock, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same MERCEDES-BENZ S420 cohort independently describe similar latches/locks/linkages:trunk lid:lock failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1999 MERCEDES-BENZ S420 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1999 MERCEDES BENZ S420. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE ATTEMPTING TO EXIT THE VEHICLE, THE ELECTRICAL AND VACUUM SYSTEM BECAME INOPERABLE AND HE WAS UNABLE TO OPEN THE DOORS. THE CONTACT STATED THAT HE WAS LOCKED INSIDE THE VEHICLE AND WAS NOT ABLE TO EXIT THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT HE EXITED THE VEHICLE THROUGH THE PASSENGER'S SIDE WINDOW. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO MERCEDES-BENZ OF DANBURY (100 FEDERAL RD, DANBURY, CT 06810) AND WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE VACUUM PUMP FAILED AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT YET REPAIRED. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE SAME DEALER THREE TIMES FOR THE SAME FAILURE WHERE THE DEALER HAD REPLACED THE VACUUM PUMP WITH A USED PUMP HOWEVER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE CONTACT ALSO MENTIONED THAT VEHICLE TRUNK OPENED AND WAS UNABLE TO BE SECURELY SHUT. THE CONTACT TAPED THE TRUNK SHUT. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 121,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1689654 |
| ODI Number | 11352984 |
| Date Filed | September 3, 2020 |
| Failure Date | August 25, 2020 |
| VIN | WDBGA43G8XA |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.