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Mercedes-Benz · NHTSA safety record

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 4Matic

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

Owners have filed 10 safety complaints about the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 4Matic with the US government. Of those, 3 mention a fire, 2 people were injured and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the seat belts.

The most complained-about system is the seat belts, named in 4 complaints, 40% of the total.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers December 2024 to October 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

10 complaints on file

10

Complaints

0

Describe a crash

3

Mention fire

2

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
SEAT BELTS 4 · 40%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 · 30%
SEATS 3 · 30%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 2 · 20%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 · 10%
ENGINE 1 · 10%
POWER TRAIN 1 · 10%
SERVICE BRAKES 1 · 10%
STRUCTURE 1 · 10%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 · 10%
WHEELS 1 · 10%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 10.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 5.

8 6 4 2
24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2024 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA has not crash tested the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 4Matic. Its New Car Assessment Program tests a selection of each year's vehicles and does not reach motorcycles, heavy trucks, motorhomes or most low-volume models, so an absence here says nothing about how the vehicle would perform. It is not a low score.

What owners have reported about this vehicle is below, and it is a different question: a crash test measures what happens to the people inside in a controlled impact, while a complaint records what broke during ordinary use.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

SEAT BELTS:REAR/OTHER

25V864000 · December 12, 2025

The defect
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2025-2026 GLE 350 4MATIC vehicles. The center rear seat belts may have been installed without the child seat protection function and fail to lock a child restraint properly. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection," and FMVSS number 209, "Seat Belt Assemblies."
The risk
In the event of a crash, an insufficiently restrained child has an increased risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the center rear seat belt assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 6, 2026. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning December 19, 2025. MBUSA's number for this recall is 2026010003.

Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC · up to 82 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

STRUCTURE:BODY

2 injured

On [XXX] We were driving our 2025 Gle350 fourmatic west on [XXX] between [XXX] and [XXX] @ 7:30 pm, driving at 70 mph in the right lane the panoramic sunroof exploded into shards of glass and rained down on the driver and passenger, it sounded like a gun went off as the front moveable roof panel blew apart. The vehicle had approximately 650 miles on the odometer. Nothing struck the car, no foreign objects were found in the vehicle cabin amidst the 1,000s of shards of glass inside the car. Upon taking the vehicle to Mercedes Benz of Novi for service, their comments were that we must be mistaken and a rock must have struck the vehicles roof. We have filed a claim with AAA insurance

NHTSA complaint 11628735, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEAT BELTS

fire

On XXX, at about 3:30 PM, my wife was driving our 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 (under 10,000 miles) home with our [XXX] son in the front passenger seat. Smoke began coming from the seat belt area and from under the front passenger seat, and the vehicle caught fire while being driven. The fire started under the passenger seat where my son was sitting; he got out in time and was not injured, but he could have been seriously burned. We called [XXX] and the fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle is a total loss. Mercedes-Benz USA opened case #XXX; after almost two months the case remains 'under review' with no findings, and the assigned case manager has not returned calls. We also

NHTSA complaint 11771809, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

fire

On XXX, at about 3:30 PM, my wife was driving our 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 (under 10,000 miles) home with our [XXX] son in the front passenger seat. Smoke began coming from the seat belt area and from under the front passenger seat, and the vehicle caught fire while being driven. The fire started under the passenger seat where my son was sitting; he got out in time and was not injured, but he could have been seriously burned. We called [XXX] and the fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle is a total loss. Mercedes-Benz USA opened case #XXX; after almost two months the case remains 'under review' with no findings, and the assigned case manager has not returned calls. We also

NHTSA complaint 11771810, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

fire

On XXX, at about 3:30 PM, my wife was driving our 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 (under 10,000 miles) home with our [XXX] son in the front passenger seat. Smoke began coming from the seat belt area and from under the front passenger seat, and the vehicle caught fire while being driven. The fire started under the passenger seat where my son was sitting; he got out in time and was not injured, but he could have been seriously burned. We called [XXX] and the fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle is a total loss. Mercedes-Benz USA opened case #XXX; after almost two months the case remains 'under review' with no findings, and the assigned case manager has not returned calls. We also

NHTSA complaint 11772326, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
In the past 1 year, my car has had about 6-7 incidents where the car abruptly breaks and seatbelts tighten. This has been at speeds of 30- 40mph more or less. NOTE: There was NO reason for the hard breaking as there were NO cars and NO pedestrians in sight. Most recently, I was almost rear ended by the car behind me - thankfully they swerved into the swale/shoulder. I have also had a few incidents while driving on I-75 at 70mph where the car quickly slows to 30mph. It seems the car may have interpreted a nearby exit. The BIGGER concern for me is the full-on hard breaking as that is certainly a safety issue. I have had passengers in my car during the several hard-stops. I just returned from

NHTSA complaint 11772983, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
I am submitting this complaint regarding my Mercedes-Benz GLE350 with VIN [XXX] . I have brought the vehicle in for service on multiple occasions—October, January, March, May, and November—due to recurring transmission-related issues. These issues include jerking, delayed acceleration, and irregular shifting. Each time, the dealer did not confirm a definitive fault but performed software updates or adaptations. While the symptoms temporarily disappeared, they repeatedly returned. I am concerned that the root cause remains unresolved, and I seek a proper resolution. Supporting documentation is attached. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA complaint 11718478. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE
I purchased my Mercedes-Benz new, and it currently has only 1,800 miles on it. My wife primarily drives the car, and we have experienced several alarming incidents where the vehicle suddenly shuts down while driving. 1.About two weeks after we purchased the car, it stalled at a stop sign. At the time, we ignored it. 2.On two separate occasions afterward, the vehicle suddenly slowed down and stopped while she was driving on the highway. 3.Most recently, two days ago, while driving to work early in the morning on the freeway, the car suddenly stopped in the dark. Thankfully, there were no cars immediately behind her. She attempted to restart the car, but it would not start immediately. After

NHTSA complaint 11686759, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 4Matic

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 6 3 —
2024 14 1 —

Other 2025 Mercedes-Benz models

Every Mercedes-Benz on this site — 232 vehicles.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst