NHTSA Complaint #11497585 — 2012 MERCEDES-BENZ CLS550

The rear subframe rusted from the inside out causing structural failure of the subframe. This lead to twisting of the chassis under hard braking causing difficulty in controlling the vehicle. As you can imagine, controlling a vehicle when needing to abruptly stop is very important. The rear end felt like it was getting loose and it was very difficult to keep the car moving straight. This type of rust isn't typical on a 10 year old car with only 85,000 miles on it. This is a known issue on other Mercedes Benz models, notably the W204/C Class, to the point where it was recalled in Canada and covered under the European corrosion warranty. However, nothing is covered in the US even though this issue is known by Mercedes in other countries. This has been repaired at my expense. There were no warning messages. This vehicle has been dealer-serviced for most, if not all, of its life and this was missed on every single multi-point inspection done to the vehicle. Had I not been cognizant of how my car should drive and handle or not been able to afford the repair out of pocket, this would escalate and worsen to a bigger issue that could have eventually lead to my own injury or death or that of others.