Mercedes-Benz SL-Class — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 1,042 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Electrical system166 (15.9%)Official recall records for this system: 17, covering model years 2003–2026.
• Brakes148 (14.2%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2003–2005.
• Suspension146 (14.0%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2019.
• Fuel system94 (9.0%)Official recall records for this system: 9, covering model years 2020–2024.
• Engine78 (7.5%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1996–2007.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)58 (5.6%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2019.

Other / uncategorized: 18 classifications (1.7%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (738 records, model years 1995–2023) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, brakes and suspension.
• Safety recalls (89 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, air bags (restraint system) and equipment & accessories.
• Transport Canada recalls (58 records, model years 1997–2024) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, fuel system and air bags (restraint system).
• Manufacturer communications (2,543 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, engine and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 530reports included a mileage
• 69,496average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 54 records for 1995 54
2. 1996 36 records for 1996 36
3. 1997 45 records for 1997 45
4. 1998 41 records for 1998 41
5. 1999 27 records for 1999 27
6. 2000 29 records for 2000 29
7. 2001 38 records for 2001 38
8. 2002 9 records for 2002 9
9. 2003 157 records for 2003 157
10. 2004 127 records for 2004 127
11. 2005 109 records for 2005 109
12. 2006 87 records for 2006 87
13. 2007 95 records for 2007 95
14. 2008 67 records for 2008 67
15. 2009 97 records for 2009 97
16. 2011 43 records for 2011 43
17. 2013 108 records for 2013 108
18. 2014 88 records for 2014 88
19. 2015 82 records for 2015 82
20. 2016 90 records for 2016 90
21. 2017 78 records for 2017 78
22. 2018 107 records for 2018 107
23. 2019 104 records for 2019 104
24. 2020 96 records for 2020 96
25. 2022 237 records for 2022 237
26. 2023 233 records for 2023 233
27. 2024 170 records for 2024 170
28. 2025 69 records for 2025 69
29. 2026 50 records for 2026 50

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 38mention a crash
• 44mention a fire
• 40mention an injury
• 2mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 89
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 2,543
• Investigations NHTSA 16
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 58
• Owner complaints NHTSA 738

Explore the underlying evidence records