FaultScore

FaultScore report

2017 Mercedes Benz E350 problems

Owners have filed 11 complaints about the 2017 Mercedes Benz E350 with NHTSA between 2019 and 2020. The largest single group is the other & unspecified. Across this model's run it ranks 10 of 15 worst.

C

FaultScore 52/100

Higher is worse. Measured against the other years of the Mercedes Benz E350.

How this is worked out

The numbers

11

Complaints

1

Crashes reported

3

Fires reported

1

Injuries reported

18,700 mi

Median mileage at failure

Half of reported failures happened before this

100%

Failed under 36,000 miles

Inside a typical bumper-to-bumper warranty

What kind of bad

The letter says how bad. This says what kind — whether this year drew an unusual number of complaints, unusually dangerous ones, or failures that arrived unusually early.

Complaint volume 3 vs 50 Severity 100 vs 50 Early failure 100 vs 50
The dashed ring is 50 — the national norm. Further out is worse.
Complaint volume — 3
Against the median year of the Mercedes Benz E350. 50 means typical for this model; 100 means roughly double.
Severity — 100
45.5% of these complaints involved a crash, fire, injury or death, against a national rate of 9.7%.
Early failure — 100
100% of failures with a mileage on record happened under 36,000 miles, against a national rate of 29%.

How 2017 compares with every other Mercedes Benz E350

Click any bar to open that year's report.

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

What breaks on a 2017 Mercedes Benz E350

Every complaint is filed against a part. Follow any row for the complaints about that part alone.

Other & Unspecified 3 27.3%

1 crashes, 0 fires · median 18,700 mi

Fuel & Propulsion 2 18.2%

Median failure at 27,500 miles

Engine & Cooling 2 18.2%

0 crashes, 1 fires

Acceleration & Cruise Control 1 9.1%

Median failure at 18,700 miles

Body & Structure 1 9.1%

0 crashes, 1 fires

Brakes 1 9.1%

Median failure at 18,700 miles

Electrical System 1 9.1%

0 crashes, 1 fires

When owners complained

A spike years after the car went on sale usually means a part wearing out on schedule across the whole fleet — the kind of pattern no single owner can see from inside their own car.

Jun 2019 peak 3 Nov 2020

NHTSA investigations into the 2017 Mercedes Benz E350

An investigation is the step before a recall: the agency has seen enough complaints to look into a pattern itself. An open one means it thinks something may be wrong and nothing has been fixed yet.

1 investigation is still open.

EA21002 Opened 17 Sep 2021 Still open AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 Blomquist Report at www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.C...

Complaints that involved harm

Reports where the owner recorded a crash, a fire, an injury or a death.

Dallas, TX Crash 1 injured

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

ON SUNDAY 9/13 DRIVING AT 55 MPH ON THE HIGHWAY I HEARD WHAT SOUNDED LIKE A GUNSHOT AND THEN GLASS JUST FELL ON ME FROM EVERYWHERE CAUSING ME TO SWERVE ALL OVER THE ROAD AND I THOUGHT IT HAD TO BE SOMETHING I FELL OFF THE 18 WHEELER TRACTOR TRAILER NEAR ME AND I CHASED HIM DOWN AND HE ALMOST RAN ME OFF THE ROAD AND KILLED ME WE GOT INTO AN ALTERCATION ONLY TO FIND OUT IS A DEFECT FROM MERCEDES. IF SOMEONE COULD PLEASE CALL ME [XXX]OR EMAIL ME AT [XXX]. THANK YOU INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA complaint #11362285 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

STRUCTURE:BODY

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

ENGINE

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

The most recent complaints

In the owners' own words, exactly as filed with NHTSA.

at 35,000 miles NEW Canaan, CT

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

STRONG FUEL SMELL IN THE CABIN WHEN I START THE CAR IN THE MORNING. I'M SEEING THIS AS A COMMON ISSUE IN THREADS ONLINE. CAR OUT OF WARRANTY SO NEED HELP MAKING THIS A RECALL ITEM GIVEN THE DANGER OF FUEL LEAKS. SOLUTIONS POSTED ARE BELOW: 1) QUOTE FROM MY INVOICE: CONFIRMED FUEL LEAK WAS COMING FROM LINE TO HIGH PRESSURE PUMP. REMOVED LOWER PANEL OF TRANSMISSION TO GAIN ACCESS TO LINES. REMOVED HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP COVERS, REMOVED AND INSTALLED FUEL LINES, AND INSTALLED IN REVERSE ORDER TO CORRECT. RAN ENGINE TO VERIFY NO LARGE FUEL LEAKS. FOUND GOOD AT THIS TIME. 2) HAVE YOUR DEALER REPLACE THE TWO FLEXIBLE FUEL LINES FROM THE FUEL FEED LINE TO THE HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP.THERE IS NO OFFICIAL BULLETIN ON THIS BUT THIS IS THE FIX.

NHTSA complaint #11375685 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Elgin, IL

ENGINE

I AM IN AN MBFOURM AND I AM STARTING TO HEAR OF ENGINE FAILURE AT AN EARLY AGE. I HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED THIS, YET. BUT, FROM WHAT I AM READING IN THE FORUMS, A LOT OF PEOPLE WITH THE SAME MODEL ENGINE I HAVE IN MY 2017 MERCEDES E300 ARE HAVING ISSUES WHERE THE PISTON CRACKS AND THEY NEED A NEW ENGINE. MERCEDES ISN'T PAYING FOR ENGINE REPLACEMENTS AND IT IS ALL OUT OF POCKET COST. I AM WORRIED THAT ONCE MY WARRANTY IS OVER AND MY ENGINE BLOWS BECAUSE OF MERCEDES DESIGNS FLAW, I WILL END UP SPENDING 9-10K FOR A NEW ENGINE BECAUSE OF A DESIGN FLAW. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE FORUM: HTTPS://MBWORLD.ORG/FORUMS/E-CLASS-W213/798120-2018-MERCEDES-W213-E300-NEEDS-NEW-ENGINE-23K-MILES.HTML HTTPS://MBWORLD.ORG/FORUMS/C-CLASS-W205/731642-W205-C300-STAY-AWAY-PISTON-CRACKED-65-K-MILES.HTML

NHTSA complaint #11372488 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Dallas, TX Crash 1 injured

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

ON SUNDAY 9/13 DRIVING AT 55 MPH ON THE HIGHWAY I HEARD WHAT SOUNDED LIKE A GUNSHOT AND THEN GLASS JUST FELL ON ME FROM EVERYWHERE CAUSING ME TO SWERVE ALL OVER THE ROAD AND I THOUGHT IT HAD TO BE SOMETHING I FELL OFF THE 18 WHEELER TRACTOR TRAILER NEAR ME AND I CHASED HIM DOWN AND HE ALMOST RAN ME OFF THE ROAD AND KILLED ME WE GOT INTO AN ALTERCATION ONLY TO FIND OUT IS A DEFECT FROM MERCEDES. IF SOMEONE COULD PLEASE CALL ME [XXX]OR EMAIL ME AT [XXX]. THANK YOU INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA complaint #11362285 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

at 18,700 miles Minneapolis, MN

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

AT AROUND 2.15 PM CST, I WAS DRIVING MY MERCEDES WESTBOUND ON I-694 TOWARDS MINNEAPOLIS AT ROUGHLY 70 MPH WHEN SUDDENLY MY E300 STALLED AND BY THE TIME I COULD FIGURE WHAT WAS WRONG, I LOST ALL POWER IN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE MERCEDES BRAKE ASSIST TRIGGERED A HARD BRAKE AND MY CAR STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE LANE ON THE FREEWAY. THE CAR BEHIND ME NEARLY MISSED ME AND AT THIS POINT EVERY LIGHT IN THE DASHBOARD LIT UP (I HAVE ATTACHED THE PICTURE BELOW). I TRIED HITTING ON THE IGNITION MULTIPLE TIMES BUT GOT NO RESPONSE. AT THIS POINT, I DECIDED NOT TO SIT IN THE CAR SINCE IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS WITH FAST ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND IT WAS ONLY GOING TO BE A MATTER OF TIME THAT SOMEONE WOULD REAR END ME. I STEPPED OUT OF MY CAR AND WHILE MULTIPLE CARS WERE APPROACHING ME AT HIGH SPEED FROM BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT LANES I FOUND A VERY SMALL WINDOW OF TIME (2-3 SECONDS) TO SPRINT FROM THE MIDDLE LANE OF I-694 TO THE SHOULDER. MY WORRY WAS STILL FAR FROM OVER AS MY CAR WAS STILL SITTING IN MIDDLE OF THE INTERSTATE AND NOW I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF OTHER FOLKS WHO WERE TRAVELING IN MY DIRECTION. I SAW 12 TO 15 CARS ALMOST REAR END MY CAR. WHILE THIS WAS HAPPENING, I REALIZED MY PHONE WAS DEAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO CALL 911. I CONTINUALLY WAVED AT THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC TO ALERT THEM OF MY CAR AND REQUESTED THEM TO CALL 911. ABOUT 7 TO 9 MINUTES LATER, THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL SHOWED UP AND BLOCKED TRAFFIC TO ASSIST ME WITH MOVING MY CAR TO THE SHOULDER. THESE 7 TO 9 MINUTES WERE THE MOST TRAUMATIC I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. I FELT HELPLESS, ANXIOUS, AND EXTREMELY STRESSED OUT.

NHTSA complaint #11360136 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

at 18,700 miles Minneapolis, MN

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

AT AROUND 2.15 PM CST, I WAS DRIVING MY MERCEDES WESTBOUND ON I-694 TOWARDS MINNEAPOLIS AT ROUGHLY 70 MPH WHEN SUDDENLY MY E300 STALLED AND BY THE TIME I COULD FIGURE WHAT WAS WRONG, I LOST ALL POWER IN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE MERCEDES BRAKE ASSIST TRIGGERED A HARD BRAKE AND MY CAR STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE LANE ON THE FREEWAY. THE CAR BEHIND ME NEARLY MISSED ME AND AT THIS POINT EVERY LIGHT IN THE DASHBOARD LIT UP (I HAVE ATTACHED THE PICTURE BELOW). I TRIED HITTING ON THE IGNITION MULTIPLE TIMES BUT GOT NO RESPONSE. AT THIS POINT, I DECIDED NOT TO SIT IN THE CAR SINCE IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS WITH FAST ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND IT WAS ONLY GOING TO BE A MATTER OF TIME THAT SOMEONE WOULD REAR END ME. I STEPPED OUT OF MY CAR AND WHILE MULTIPLE CARS WERE APPROACHING ME AT HIGH SPEED FROM BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT LANES I FOUND A VERY SMALL WINDOW OF TIME (2-3 SECONDS) TO SPRINT FROM THE MIDDLE LANE OF I-694 TO THE SHOULDER. MY WORRY WAS STILL FAR FROM OVER AS MY CAR WAS STILL SITTING IN MIDDLE OF THE INTERSTATE AND NOW I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF OTHER FOLKS WHO WERE TRAVELING IN MY DIRECTION. I SAW 12 TO 15 CARS ALMOST REAR END MY CAR. WHILE THIS WAS HAPPENING, I REALIZED MY PHONE WAS DEAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO CALL 911. I CONTINUALLY WAVED AT THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC TO ALERT THEM OF MY CAR AND REQUESTED THEM TO CALL 911. ABOUT 7 TO 9 MINUTES LATER, THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL SHOWED UP AND BLOCKED TRAFFIC TO ASSIST ME WITH MOVING MY CAR TO THE SHOULDER. THESE 7 TO 9 MINUTES WERE THE MOST TRAUMATIC I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. I FELT HELPLESS, ANXIOUS, AND EXTREMELY STRESSED OUT.

NHTSA complaint #11360136 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

at 18,700 miles Minneapolis, MN

SERVICE BRAKES

AT AROUND 2.15 PM CST, I WAS DRIVING MY MERCEDES WESTBOUND ON I-694 TOWARDS MINNEAPOLIS AT ROUGHLY 70 MPH WHEN SUDDENLY MY E300 STALLED AND BY THE TIME I COULD FIGURE WHAT WAS WRONG, I LOST ALL POWER IN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE MERCEDES BRAKE ASSIST TRIGGERED A HARD BRAKE AND MY CAR STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE LANE ON THE FREEWAY. THE CAR BEHIND ME NEARLY MISSED ME AND AT THIS POINT EVERY LIGHT IN THE DASHBOARD LIT UP (I HAVE ATTACHED THE PICTURE BELOW). I TRIED HITTING ON THE IGNITION MULTIPLE TIMES BUT GOT NO RESPONSE. AT THIS POINT, I DECIDED NOT TO SIT IN THE CAR SINCE IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS WITH FAST ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND IT WAS ONLY GOING TO BE A MATTER OF TIME THAT SOMEONE WOULD REAR END ME. I STEPPED OUT OF MY CAR AND WHILE MULTIPLE CARS WERE APPROACHING ME AT HIGH SPEED FROM BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT LANES I FOUND A VERY SMALL WINDOW OF TIME (2-3 SECONDS) TO SPRINT FROM THE MIDDLE LANE OF I-694 TO THE SHOULDER. MY WORRY WAS STILL FAR FROM OVER AS MY CAR WAS STILL SITTING IN MIDDLE OF THE INTERSTATE AND NOW I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF OTHER FOLKS WHO WERE TRAVELING IN MY DIRECTION. I SAW 12 TO 15 CARS ALMOST REAR END MY CAR. WHILE THIS WAS HAPPENING, I REALIZED MY PHONE WAS DEAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO CALL 911. I CONTINUALLY WAVED AT THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC TO ALERT THEM OF MY CAR AND REQUESTED THEM TO CALL 911. ABOUT 7 TO 9 MINUTES LATER, THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL SHOWED UP AND BLOCKED TRAFFIC TO ASSIST ME WITH MOVING MY CAR TO THE SHOULDER. THESE 7 TO 9 MINUTES WERE THE MOST TRAUMATIC I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. I FELT HELPLESS, ANXIOUS, AND EXTREMELY STRESSED OUT.

NHTSA complaint #11360136 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Ledgewood, NJ

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

CAR SHIMMERING ABOVE 5/60 MPH. AFTER MANY VISITS I WAS CHARGED $839.39 TO REPLACE THE ROTORS. CONTACTED MB CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THEY SAID THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO FOR ME BUT TO DOCUMENT MY ISSUE. MB FACTORY WOULD NEED TO ISSUE A RECALL.I EXPLAINED THAT THERE A A LOT OF OTHER CUSTOMERS AROUND THE WORLD ON A MB FORUM AND THEY SAIT THEY WOULD NEED TO REPORT THE ISSUE AS WELL PROBLEM PERSIST AND I WAS TOLD IT WAS THE TIRES I PURCHASED FROM COSTCO. RETURNED THE TIRES TO COSTCO AND PURCHASED 4 NEW TIRES ON 12/30/19 AND ISSUE STILL PERSIST

NHTSA complaint #11322350 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

at 20,000 miles Passaic, NJ

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

WHEN STARTING THE CAR, IN THE FIRST 20 MINUETS THE CAR HAS A VERY STRONG FUEL ODOR IN THE CABIN CAUSING DIFFICULTY BREATHING AND EYE IRRITATION, I NEED TO LEAVE THE CAR RUNNING FOR 20 MINUTES WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN BEFORE I CAN GET IN AND DRIVE, I WENT TO THE DEALER AND WAS DISMISSED AS IF EVERYTHING IS GOOD, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT.

NHTSA complaint #11297187 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

STRUCTURE:BODY

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Aventura, FL Fire

ENGINE

CAR CAUGHT FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY WHILE PARKED. A TOTAL LOSS.

NHTSA complaint #11220151 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.