2005 MERCEDES-BENZ S430 — Complaint #1996719
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:WINDSHIELD:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed June 4, 2024
NHTSA complaint #1996719 (ODI reference 11592394) concerns a 2005 MERCEDES-BENZ S430 and was filed on June 4, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 1, 2024. The vehicle had 190,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New York based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element, 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 S430 cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:windshield:electrical heating element 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 2005 MERCEDES-BENZ S430 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2005 Mercedes-Benz S430. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, he became aware that the defroster was not working properly, affecting the visibility while driving. The contact also stated that the heater and the A/C were not working. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the failure was linked to NHTSA Campaign Number: 04V227000 (Electrical System); however, neither the VIN nor the model year was included in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired and remained with the independent mechanic. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 190,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1996719 |
| ODI Number | 11592394 |
| Date Filed | June 4, 2024 |
| Failure Date | January 1, 2024 |
| VIN | WDBNG83J65A |
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.