Mercedes Benz CL500 owners have reported 5 exterior lighting related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common exterior lighting problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's exterior lighting (5 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting problems |
Driving at highway speed, the instrument panel went black and has not come back on. This includes the speedometer, the fuel gauge and all the other engine gauges. The cruise control does not work. Searching online, this appears to be a prevalent problem and that was confirmed by my mechanic. I don't understand why this is not a safety recall for this vehicle and the many others affected. The vehicle has about 100,000 miles on it (I can't see exactly how may with the dash black).
Instrument cluster doesn't illuminate.
I purchased this car June 2016. Enroute to vacation, in early August, the driver side electrical panel stopped operating. Mid-way to vacation, while stopping for gas the instrument panel when completely dark. I was unable to gauge how much gas, speed, etc. , also at that time while sitting in the car, the jumped as if someone hit the car. Later I learned that it was the suspension. This continued to happen throughout the vacation. Upon reaching my vacation destination, the next day the car would not start and I had to call to get my battery jumped. Two days later the battery died again and I had to call for a jump. After returning from vacation, a week later, the battery died again and I had to call for a jump again. In my opinion this car is not safe to drive. I reached out to the recall representatives and was told that the instrument panel is not under recall.
I was driving down the highway at night and it was raining had the wipers and the high beams on. Then all of sudden the high beans went out and the dash went black black causing limited visibility. This is the reason I'm filing a complaint because it almost caused a accident with the light dimming and the cluster going blank.
While I was driving hwy 1 to monterey CA. Cluster dash lights blacked out. Now don't know how fast I'm going down the road and can see information from it.