2002 MERCEDES-BENZ S CLASS — Complaint #644896
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM filed November 5, 2007
NHTSA complaint #644896 (ODI reference 10207906) concerns a 2002 MERCEDES-BENZ S CLASS and was filed on November 5, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 5, 2007. The vehicle had 85,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:springs:air suspension system, 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 S CLASS cohort independently describe similar suspension:front:springs:air suspension system 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 2002 MERCEDES-BENZ S CLASS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
2002 MERCEDES BENZ S500 SPORT. AFTER VEHICLE WAS SHUT OFF A VERY LOAD GROWL CAME FROM UNDER THE HOOD ON THE RIGHT SIDE. IT WAS APPARENTLY THE AIR COMPRESSOR AND IT WOULDN'T SHUT OFF. THE GRUMBLE OR GROWL SHOOK THE CAR AND SMELLED OF ELECTRICAL. THE HEIGHT OF THE CAR DID NOT CHANGE. THE GROWL STOPPED AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES. I HAVE PARKED THE CAR OUTDOORS AS TO NOT TEMPT FATE WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF A CAR FIRE IN THE GARAGE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A FAILURE IN THE AIR RIDE SYSTEM. WHILE I REALIZE EVERYTHING MECHANICAL HAS THE CHANCE TO FAIL I AM DEEPLY CONCERNED THAT THIS COMPONENT WAS RUNNING AND HAS A CHANCE TO START A FIRE WITH THE IGNITION IN THE OFF POSITION. IF THIS COMPONENT FAILS WHILE DRIVING AND DROPS THE VEHICLE RIDE HEIGHT ON THE HIGHWAY THE RESULTS COULD BE CATASTROPHIC. *TR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 644896 |
| ODI Number | 10207906 |
| Date Filed | November 5, 2007 |
| Failure Date | November 5, 2007 |
| VIN | WDBNG75J52A |
Similar SUSPENSION:FRONT:SPRINGS:AIR SUSPENSION SYSTEM Complaints for 2002 MERCEDES-BENZ S CLASS
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.