46 of the 438 complaints filed about the Mercedes Benz GLA 250 are about the transmission — 11% of everything owners reported. The worst model year for it is 2015.
46
Complaints
11%
Share of all complaints
3
Crashes
0
Fires
POWER TRAIN
See attached document for complaint
NHTSA complaint #11758450 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated that while his wife was stopped at a traffic light and attempting to depress the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The vehicle shut off unexpectedly, and the gear shifter ceased. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was towed to dealer, where it was diagnosed and it was determined that the ABS sensors and transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, and the ABS sensor was replaced. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle could be traded. The manufacturer requested a buyback, but the request was denied. The approximate failure mileage was 18,500.
NHTSA complaint #11727233 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
I pulled into a parking space, cars on each side of me and car in front of me had pulled through the space to park. As I eased into the space, foot on brake, the car violently shook and surged forward, smashing into the rear of the car in front of me. The car continued to shake then moved to the left and crashed into the car in front of me to the left. The car that I hit in the rear was pushed into a car passing by them. So 4 cars involved due to this major malfunction. When the car stopped, I was able to put it in reverse and back up. I could not have done what happened on own. I had no control over the vehicle. Brakes were mush. My Mercedes also has a safety feature where if I get too close to a car, it will brake on its own. Red & yellow lights were flashing, the car shook during the entire event until it came to a stop. My insurance carrier, State Farm, had the car towed to the Mercedes dealership. The service technician saw no codes, therefore, they say nothing is wrong with the car. I know that cars do not always throw codes. I googled what my car did and it is a thing. The article gives suggestions as to what can be checked, but Mercedes refuses to check anything since no codes were there. State Farm asked to me ask for the black box info (Event Data Recorder), however, Mercedes refuses. The car is unsafe to drive. If it happened once, it will absolutely happen again. State Farm is having the car towed to a different body shop today, as Mercedes body shop is price gouging. I do not want to drive the car until they find out what happened and they keep telling me there's nothing wrong with the car. It is a safety hazard. Next time it happens, it could be a person in front, rather than a car. Can you help me? Photos show skid marks where the brakes were useless.
NHTSA complaint #11722491 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
unkown available for inspection cylinder misfiring ,stalling loss of power while driving, jerking during accelerations rough unstable idle intense vehicle vibrations yes took in for service A and D no other lights appeared beside service A and D
NHTSA complaint #11718290 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLA 250. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission inadvertently shifted to neutral(N), causing a loss of drive power. The check engine warning light was illuminated, and the message "See Dealer" was displayed. The vehicle was restarted and driven to the residence. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V033000 (Power Train); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 39,000.
NHTSA complaint #11708296 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 70 MPH, several unknown warnings illuminated on the instrument cluster. The contact stated that upon depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond while the engine revved. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and turned the vehicle off. Upon restarting the vehicle, no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to the destination without further incidents. The contact stated that the vehicle had been experiencing the failure intermittently. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed, and determined that the spark plugs and coils needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact had called an independent mechanic, who advised that the failure was related to the transmission. Upon researching online, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V033000 (Power Train); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and referred the contact back to the dealer for assistance. The failure mileage was 145,495.
NHTSA complaint #11707506 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
I was driving my vehicle and it shifted into neutral and would not go back into gear until I pulled over to side of the road, turned it off and back on. A check engine light came on when I restarted the vehicle and I took the vehicle to the dealership for diagnosis. They told me they couldn't find an issue and reset the check engine light. A week later, I was driving on the freeway and it shifted into neutral again at 70 miles an hour. Luckily, I was in the right hand lane and was able to coast to the side. At that point I started looking online to see if others had this issue and came across this: Campaign No. : 2021020038 NHTSA ID: 21V033 Campaign Desc. : Replace Transmission Control Unit 21P5495403 Which is exactly what is happening to my vehicle
NHTSA complaint #11703689 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Rear differential is faulty. This is the second time it has failed. The first time was in October 2021 the mileage was 44,812 and it was repaired. More recently it was making a noise and I took it back to Mercedes Benz dealership for repair. It was not properly diagnosed over an 8 week period and now it has completely failed. After the fact, I discovered many more Mercedes Benz owners have had the same problem with this happening but there is no recall. I am reporting it so it can be noted that this is an on going issue with these vehicles and hopefully a recall of faulty equipment will be issued
NHTSA complaint #11673669 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Check engine light received a diagnosis from Mercedes dealership that the crankcase ventilator line is malfunctioning and it’s a very common issue with this model. The transmission stalls during driving, the gears do not jump properly and the car cannot reverse, extremely dangerous at intersections and on the highway. Car needs to be turned off, cooled and restarted. This issue first appeared within a month of owning the vehicle from a certified Mercedes dealership. Refused to help during COVID, and by the time they were taking appointments again (two to three months after warranty expiration), warranty expired, would not honor and refusing to offer any help currently, expensive repair.
NHTSA complaint #11634299 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated while his mother was driving 45 MPH, the message that reverse was not available was displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle shifted into neutral independently and the ABS inadvertently engaged. The contact diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the wheel center and transmission needed to be replaced. The wheel center was replaced; however, the transmission was not repaired or replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V033000 (POWER TRAIN); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was 59,762.
NHTSA complaint #11627247 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
I was driving on the freeway and the transmission shifted into neutral and the car lost power. The Red malfunction lights came on and said transmission malfunction, DO NOT SHIFT, STOP driving immediately, contact dealer. There is a class action lawsuit and a RECALL on the 2019 GLA 250 transmission of this car (mine is 2018 GLA 250) Mercedes customer service is telling me that my VIN is not included and I would like it to be included The NHTSA recall number for the 2019 cars is #21V033000 I was told by Mercedes that for this to be considered as part of the recall i would need an NHTSA inspector to see the car BEFORE i have any repair work done
NHTSA complaint #11625915 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the transmission unintendedly shifted to neutral. No warning light was illuminated; however, the message "Transmission Error" was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken back to the residence. A dealer was not contacted, and the vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 40,000.
NHTSA complaint #11622356 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
My Mercedes Benz GLA250 has a faulty rear differential and began shuddering and driving poorly when it had 44K miles on it. This is a very premature failure as diagnosed by two repair shops and is happening to thousands of this model Mercedes Benz. The damage can be catastrophic if continued to be driven as the differential metal continues to deteriorate and possibly have metal shavings travel into the engine. I was told initially by Mercedes Benz it was bad tires! I replaced the tires and the shuddering became worse. I searched for the problem myself on the internet as the problem continued to worsen and countless people are complaining, saying it’s the rear differential. The cost is between $4K and $5K to replace.
NHTSA complaint #11618120 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated while attempting to accelerate, the vehicle hesitated before accelerating. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle was lagging with a loud rumbling sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal excessively to stop the vehicle from hesitating. The failure had become more persistent. The contact stated that the sunroof failed to open, as well. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer. The vehicle had not been diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 133,277.
NHTSA complaint #11615183 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Transmission from drive well sometimes shift to neutral while it is at a stand still usually waiting for a light to turn green, after which it takes its time to shift back into drive. While this happened a warning light appeared malfunction take straight to dealer. Yesterday seems as if ABS kicked in while driving, threw me into the steering wheel than stopped shaking within 1-2 sec, and let me accelerate off. Was passing in an individual at the time. Don’t know what to make of it.
NHTSA complaint #11610643 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Good Afternoon, the status of my vehicle is simply UNKNOWN. I purchased my vehicle on the 26th last year of January. That same day I drove it back home my car was jerking. So I went back the following day to see if I could get into another vehicle because this one was malfunctioning they didn’t want to do anything for me. I tried so many different options to get out of this car I had a few scares driving this car the week of ownership. About sis times my car cut off completely during traffic and I have some recorded videos. Theirs a leakage somewhere I can fill up my gas tank to full and drive maybe two blocks away from my house and the gas meter is say that I have half a tank. Now my car is overheating, it’s not cranking it just tells me on the dashboard that 4MATIC is unavailable.
NHTSA complaint #11610274 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
there is a known issue with the mercedes benz GLA 250 rear differential. it is defective and need to be replaced many times during the life of the vehicle. i have not had an accident that i can relate to this defect but i feel it need to be reported and investigated by your office. the cost of the repair is over $6000. you can read more about this issue in this forum [XXX] i started reporting the issue before the warranty expired, the dealer was never able to find the problem, after the warranty expires they "discovered" what the issue is, the rear differential need to be replaced. of course they deny any wrongdoing but this is a well documented manufacturing defect that should be addressed. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11608450 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
In December 2023, the check engine light came on. The dealership said it was the rear differential. The dealership fixed the problem under warranty. In July 2024, the problem returned. The dealership said it could repeat the procedure from December, but that eventually the rear differential will need to be replaced. The dealership said that only replacing the rear differential will fix the problem for good. Obviously, MB recognized the problem and upgraded the software and whatever else was wrong with the current rear differential. The car is now out of warranty. Clearly, MB knew of the problem and chose to direct it's dealerships to use stop-gap measures that do not fix the problem, until the rear differential must be replaced, at the owner's expense, with an upgraded rear differential. It is dangerous to drive the vehicle with a faulty rear differential.
NHTSA complaint #11607211 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Noise in rear differential, had dealership where I purchased vehicle flush & change the fluid in rear differential. Tech stated it will need to be replaced. Vehicle has 75,000. Research has numerous problems with this issue.
NHTSA complaint #11595588 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
POWER TRAIN
Rear differential has failed/malfunctioned. The vehicle is available upon request. It is a road safety issue as it will stall/ hesitate when accelerating and has a jerking effect. It has been confirmed by an independent service center. It had not been inspected by anyone, other than an independent service center mechanic. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.
NHTSA complaint #11594191 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.