Mercedes C Class: the report card
What 32.8 million MOT tests and five years of police collision records say about the Mercedes C Class — reliability at the test bay and what happens to the people inside when things go wrong.
The short answer
The Mercedes C Class carries a Band B real-world safety grade: 13.75% of occupants injured in one were killed or seriously injured over five years of records.
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MOT first-time pass rate
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vs the national average of 71.4%
B
Real-world outcome band (13.75% serious-outcome share)
Top 41%
Safer occupant outcomes than 59% of graded models
Reading the Mercedes C Class’s numbers
On safety, the Mercedes C Class carries a Band B real-world outcome grade: of the 3,892 people injured while travelling in one over five years of police records, 13.75% were killed or seriously injured — a better outcome share than 59% of the 129 models we grade. This is a real-world measure shaped by who drives the car and where, not a crash-test score — check its Euro NCAP rating alongside.
Full methodology, source files and downloadable data: how we build these numbers. Compare every model on the MOT pass-rate table and the safety grades table.
Keep this car on your driveway
If it has keyless entry, it can be relay-stolen from your hallway in under a minute — and dashcam footage settles the disputed incidents that cost owners their excess. Each guide explains the exact problem it solves.
Our pick · best £-for-risk
Faraday key box / pouch
Keyless 'relay' theft is the fastest-growing way cars are stolen — thieves amplify your fob's signal from outside the house. A signal-blocking box shuts the method down.
from ~£10 · Full guide →
Steering wheel lock
A visible deterrent that works: thieves at a car park choose the car without one. Sold Secure Diamond-rated bars resist attack for minutes thieves don't have.
~£40–£70 · Full guide →
Dashcam (parking mode)
Evidence for theft attempts, vandalism and car-park hits while parked — and after a collision, footage that turns a contested account into a documented one.
~£50–£150 · Full guide →
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