Fiat 500 vs Mercedes Benz E350

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Fiat 500	Mercedes Benz E350
Complaints on file	1,118	2,686
Model years covered	2011–2018	2003–2017
Worst model year	2012	2014
Best model year	2017	2004
Crashes reported	78	142
Fires reported	20	78
Injuries reported	50	112
Deaths reported	0	3
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Fuel & Propulsion
Share of complaints involving harm	13.2%	12.5%

Fiat 500 by year

2 537 215 172 141 27 19 5

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 393 35.2%

Electrical System 137 12.3%

Engine & Cooling 111 9.9%

Other & Unspecified 89 8.0%

Airbags 52 4.7%

Fuel & Propulsion 44 3.9%

Steering 38 3.4%

Brakes 35 3.1%

Mercedes Benz E350 by year

10 11 17 482 398 220 76 229 265 260 215 378 40 74 11

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 765 28.5%

Airbags 397 14.8%

Engine & Cooling 218 8.1%

Brakes 204 7.6%

Electrical System 166 6.2%

Other & Unspecified 134 5.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 124 4.6%

Suspension 117 4.4%