Consumer Complaint Detail

MERCEDES BENZ / 560 / 1989

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
Yes Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 007109412 Incident Date: Jun, 14 2007
Consumer's City: NORMAL Consumer's State: IL
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC
Model Name: 560 Model Year: 1989
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Electrical system:wiring:front underhood
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: Yes Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: WDBCA39E8KA Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jun, 19 2007 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Jun, 07 2007
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 8 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: many of the complaints i have read are about early 1990 w124, w126,w140,w201 and w202 models. my complaint was regarding an electrical meltdown that occurred on the 1989 560 sel w126 last friday. i recently bought a second car and noticed that the engine had a lump or a surge at idle and at operating speed. i thought since the car sat for a while before i bought it the problem was fuel related. i took the car to repair shop for a new fuel filter. two days after i bought it the car was returned and it was running fine until i started getting the lumpy idle and surge at speed. my mechanic told me that the car needed to be driven. i did just that, and took the car on the highway which did not cure the problem. i noticed that while i was driving the car seemed to black out temporarily, cutting ignition and fuel, but i thought it was a fluke and continued driving. when making a turn later into the gas station the car blacked out completely and smoke emerged from the right front of the car. i opened the hood and the wiring was on fire. i immediately put out the blaze and had the car taken back to the repair shop. as of now my mechanic was getting a wiring diagram of the car, and will be investigating what happened so i could report this to my insurance company. i am not sure what the cause e was, but we were leaning toward a faulty wiring harness. although it had over 150,000 miles, i have never seen anything like this happen. one would an engine or transmission problem, but not something like this. if i were on the interstate, where i was driving prior to the fire, i could have been seriously injured, and i could have lost the car altogether. i am not sure if state farm will cover this, but i plan to use this data when talking to the claim representative should i need to file a claim, which i will know after seeing an estimate of the repairs. *ak