Everyone who has had this problem please call the NHTSA at 888-327-4236.

A recall is issued on vehicles when the defect can cause loss of control or loss of safety equipment on the vehicle.

As we know Mercedes is in denial of this problem, follow through is key. I would suggest also writing to your state representatives and let them know that the NHTSA waits until they see a trend before they investigate the problem, and that your safety on the road should be paramount.

This can work, I watched my mother wage a one person campaign against Renault in 1988, and won. Writing to everyone who can do something, return the NHTSA complaint form with a letter. Writing is always more effective than a phone call.

Remember- Safety issues such as vehicle surging, loss of engine power, fire hazard, loss of lighting, loss of brake power.

To get state representatives go to www.congress.org

To make it easy, here's the link:

NHTSA complaint form

I fillied mine out. Make sure you stress the safety aspect of this design flaw. The NHTSA doesn't care about monetary consequences, they're just interested in protecting the public.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

send in those NTHSA complaints! just a few minutes to do. ONLY if we ***** enough will we get resolution and protect our lives and the value of our cars. The 'known' unofficial wiring harness problem is having MAJOR negative impacts on trade-in and resale values.

Who wants to own a fire trap that doesn't work?

What specific models are involved? Is there further reports available on the web?

TIA
Bob

My notes tell me the engine wiring harnesses on all 1993-1995 M104, M111, and M119 engines are bad. This includes C280's, 300E (3.2's and 2.8's), E320's, S320's. There may be more.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

Go for it! Hopefully with enough complaints something will happen. Unfortunately, many of us are outside the USA so the organisation you mention will not be of much help to us. I can only hope that if you get results in the US then the same may eventually apply to other countries and that it will not be too late to submit claims for harnesses replaced here in Australia over the last couple of years (including my father's '93 E320 coupe at 120,000km). We are getting many faulty ones showing up now mainly in late six cylinder (M104 with HFM) W124s and early W140s (M104 and M119). Off the top of my head, I can't recall any four cylinder W124s (M111) or any W202s (M111 or M104) that have suffered the problem here (that's not to say there haven't been any). Note that since we are right hand drive, we did not get V8 (M119) W124s. The problem did not seem to surface here as early as it did in the US, probably because the majority of our MBs don't seem to cover the distance yours do (most here average 8,000 to 20,000km (5,000 to 12,000 miles) per year). Obviously with a much smaller population we don't have near as many MBs on the road to start with. I will follow this with interest.

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.