Bought this car off my uncle in 2007. No one drove the car fully until around 2011, when I started to practice driving. The car is cute, stylish and small...but don't even get me started about the problems I have had. The wiring harness was one of the largest things I had to repair. In July while I was driving on the freeway, right as I exit the freeway on my way to class, I feel the car uncontrollably shake. I pulled over, stopped the car turned it off and wait 1/2 hr. I turned it back on..no shaking. I put it in drive and it begins to shake again..I drive it to an empty parking lot and turn it off yet again. Turn it back on after another half hour and then it was working fine for about 30 seconds then it began to shake. Once I hit 30 mph the car was fine, but anything under that made it shake. I had no choice but to drive it 5 miles to class, instead of getting it towed I drove it to the mechanic another 5 miles away. It was still shaking. He told me the wires were cracking all over, and I would have to pay to get a whole new set of wires; because if i replaced just one the others may have the same problem. I have driven my car more times to the mechanic than anywhere else. I decided to sell it to a dealer for $1500...

This is a potential lawsuit waiting to happen. My single owner (me) well maintained 1995 C280 Benz was being driven by my son. Having just come off I-95 onto a slower paced road, the car began to lose power........fortunately he was able to get to safe ground. Had the car towed and mechanic said he never saw anything like it. The wire coatings of the entire harness are disintegrated into a powder like substance through out. He thought he could repair but it just keeps moving up the wire. My question; if it needs a new one from MBenz won't it have the same issues??? so what is the solution and what is MBenz saying about it?

This is related to a critical safety issue on Mercedes-Benz vehicles manufactured approximately from 1993-1997. All these vehicles have an acknowledged and widely known problem with the engine wiring harness that has caused fires, vehicle sudden stalls on highways and other incidents. The harness will fail on all these vehicles as it is defectively constructed with an unsuitable insulation that prematurely disintegrates over time regardless of usage or mileage. The harness is a critical element of the vehicles' operation as it directly affects ignition, fuel injection, timing, cooling, rpm, mixture and other critical functions of the engine.

The manufacturer is aware of the problem, and, absent involvement from the NHTSA or civil action, has refused to address it in a proactive and responsible manner. It is of the utmost importance that the DOT gets actively involved before a very preventable and regrettable fatal accident occurs as a result of this defect.

There is a large number of complaints on this problem that affects a significant number of Mercedes vehicles. The following web site has a quite lengthy list of furious MB owners that have been victimized as a result of this known defective design.

http://users.adelphia.net/~infoage1/complaints_nhtsa_mercedes_wiring_harness_failures_1991_1997.html