NHTSA Upgrades Fire Probe on 253,000 Mercedes C-Class Models

Like they say, where there's smoke there's fire. After opening an investigation this past July on the 2008-2009MY Mercedes-Benz C-Class over 21 complaints alleging tail lights failures that could lead to fire due to shorts, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is upgrading and expanding its probe to include 252,867 C-Class cars from the 2008-2011MY.

The government agency said that in its expanded probe, it looked into 114 complaints, among which, there were five reports alleging fire including one injury allegation because of this issue.

"ODI has received a total of 114 complaints reflecting an ongoing and increasing trend," said NHTSA. "In each report, one or both rear light assemblies fail completely (i.e., all lights housed within the assembly extinguish, including the stop, tail, and turn signal functions) when the electrical ground connection is compromised as a result of high resistance and subsequent thermal over-heating."

Mercedes-Benz told the agency that the over-heating of the ground wire is "caused by corrosion between the connectors in the ground circuit to the tail light".

We'll keep an eye on the issue and bring you any updates as soon as they come in.

PHOTO GALLERY

Chrysler Recalling 2013MY 300, Charger and Ram 1500 Over 8-Speed Transmission Fracture Fears

A number of all-wheel drive Chrysler Group cars, including the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Ram 1500 equipped with a V6 engine and the 8-speed ZF 8HP45 automatic transmissions are being recalled because the company has detected that the transmission output shaft may fracture.

"Output shafts installed in some model-year 2013 vehicles were shaped using a two-stage forging method employed during early production," said the automaker in a statement. "The resulting components may be subject to fracture in rare circumstances."

Chrysler explained that, while it is unaware of any associated injuries or accidents, the transmission output shaft fracture could result in a loss of power on the move, and allow the car to roll when placed in 'Park' if the parking brake is not applied before exiting the vehicle.

The company said it has addressed the issue on newer transmission by replacing the two-stage forging method with a single-stage forging process.

As for the affected models, including 4,194 cars in the U.S., 1,424 in Canada and 45 outside the NAFTA region, the automaker will inspect and replace the transmissions, as necessary, free of charge, with the recall to begin in in January 2014.

PHOTO GALLERY