2015 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 — Complaint #1979160
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:FRAME AND MEMBERS filed March 29, 2024
NHTSA complaint #1979160 (ODI reference 11580056) concerns a 2015 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 and was filed on March 29, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 1, 2023. The vehicle had 103,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Virginia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:frame and members, 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 C300 cohort independently describe similar structure:frame and members 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 2015 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that while his girlfriend was driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The vehicle independently pulled to the left and crossed the yellow line into the direction of oncoming traffic. The vehicle was almost involved in a head-on collision due to the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, however the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact was informed that the repair would not be covered under warranty. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed with a fractured subframe and that the subframe needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to report the failure to the NHTSA Hotline. The contact was informed that the repair could not be covered under warranty. The failure mileage was approximately 103,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1979160 |
| ODI Number | 11580056 |
| Date Filed | March 29, 2024 |
| Failure Date | July 1, 2023 |
| VIN | 55SWF4KB6FU |
Similar STRUCTURE:FRAME AND MEMBERS Complaints for 2015 MERCEDES-BENZ C300
The contact owns a 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle for the State Inspection, the contact was informed that the rear subframe was rusted, and there was a hole o
The contact owns a 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that upon taking the vehicle to an independent mechanic for a routine maintenance check, the contact was informed that there was severe c
The contact owns a 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a dealer for routine maintenance and was informed that the rear sub frame was rusted and needed to be repla
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.