2011 MERCEDES-BENZ ML550 — Complaint #871087
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BACK UP LIGHTS filed August 2, 2011
NHTSA complaint #871087 (ODI reference 10416657) concerns a 2011 MERCEDES-BENZ ML550 and was filed on August 2, 2011. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 1, 2011. The vehicle had 8,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:back up lights, 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 ML550 cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:back up lights 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 2011 MERCEDES-BENZ ML550 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
YESTERDAY, I WAS DRIVING OUR 2011 MERCEDES ML550 ON A CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY, AND SUDDENLY LOST MY BRAKE LIGHTS, TURN SIGNAL LIGHTS AND REVERSE LIGHTS, DUE TO A RODENT EATING THE WIRING OF THE CAR. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR A RODENT HAS EATEN THE WIRING OF THIS CAR. 4 MONTHS AGO A RODENT ATE THE MAIN WIRING LOOM AND THE REPAIR COST $1000. WE HAVE OWNED 5 DIFFERENT MERCEDES BENZ MODELS OVER THE LAST 7 YEARS. THE WIRING FOR EACH OF THESE CARS HAS BEEN EATEN BY RODENTS MORE THAN ONCE AND CAUSED US THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF DAMAGE (OBVIOUSLY NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY). IN MOST CASES THE CARS WERE GARAGED. THE CARS WERE PARKED IN VARIOUS PLACES AROUND THE COUNTRY, INCLUDING LOCATIONS WHERE NO ONE ELSE WITH OTHER BRAND CARS HAS HAD RODENT DAMAGE. EVERY TIME WE BRING THE CARS IN TO BE REPAIRED THE MERCEDES DEALERSHIPS TELLS US "2 OTHER PEOPLE HAVE BROUGHT THEIR MERCEDES IN TODAY WITH RODENT DAMAGE". I HEAR FROM ONE OF THE MB REPAIRMEN MERCEDES HAS CHOSEN TO USE A MATERIAL FOR THE I
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 871087 |
| ODI Number | 10416657 |
| Date Filed | August 2, 2011 |
| Failure Date | August 1, 2011 |
| VIN | 4JGBB7CB2BA |
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.