Model years Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2006 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
This year drew an ordinary 183 complaints for a Mercedes-Benz C-Class — the model's median is 280. What they were about is the unusual part: 35.5% of them mention shaft, against 11.9% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 183 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 280 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- shaft — 35.5% of this year's complaints, against 11.9% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: shaft, balance, balance shaft, class.
- 2006 mercedes — 24% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: 2006 mercedes, mph vehicle, c350, resolved.
- check — 22.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.9% across the model's other years (2.8×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
ACCORDING TO THE MERCEDES-BENZ M272 AND M273 ENGINE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, THESE ENGINES ARE EQUIPPED WITH DEFECTIVE GEARS IN THEIR BALANCE SHAFTS (IN THE CASE OF THE M272 ENGINES) OR WITH DEFECTIVE IDLE GEARS (IN THE CASE OF THE M273 ENGINES) THAT WEAR OUT [VI…
ENGINE DIAGNOSIS WARNING LAMP LIGHT UP, FAULT CODES 1200 AND 1208 STORED IN MOTOR ELECTRONICS CONTROL UNIT. CAUSE: BALANCE SHAFT SPROCKET (ENGINE M272) WORN SPROCKET DAMAGE PROFILE. ENGINE CHECK LIGHTS CAME ON AND B-SERVICE LIGHT WHILE DRIVING ON HIGHWAY.. ENG…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Mercedes-Benz C-Class? What happened to yours?
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