Total Complaints
7 filings
MERCEDES-BENZ AMG E43 · model year
7 NHTSA complaints, and 1 active recall for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2018MERCEDES-BENZAMG E43 carries 7 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 2 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2018 AMG E43 is forward collision avoidance: automatic emergency braking with 2 filings, followed by wheels (1) and steering (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 1 active recall campaign, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle — the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.
NHTSA currently has 15 investigation files overlapping the 2018 AMG E43. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
7 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING | 2 |
| WHEELS | 1 |
| STEERING | 1 |
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
| ENGINE | 1 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 |
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2016 - 2021 CLA-Class, GLA-Class, GLE-Class, GLS-Class, SLC-Class, A-Class, GT-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, CLS-Class, SL-Class, B-Class, GLB-Class, GLC-Class, and G-Class vehicles. Please refer to the Part 573 report for specific vehicle mod
The emergency applied braking system was applied while driving the 2018 Mercedes-Benz E43 AMG on a city street, with no other car or obstacle in the way of the car. Fortunately, there was no other vehicle behind us when this happened. I had the vehicle inspected by a certified mechanic who found no fault codes in the OBD system. He did update the system software of the car at that time.
On August 12, 2023, my husband pulled into the E43 into the garage with my two kids. When my son got out of the car, he noticed smoke coming out of the front of the car and notified my husband. He popped the hood and tried to put it out with the fire extinguisher but the smoke got overwhelming and he called 911. Fire department came and put out the fire. After the incident we did a search to see if there was a recall we missed but we only found an article published by Mercedes in December 2021 acknowledging their cars may catch on fire but no recall was done.
On August 12, 2023, my husband pulled into the E43 into the garage with my two kids. When my son got out of the car, he noticed smoke coming out of the front of the car and notified my husband. He popped the hood and tried to put it out with the fire extinguisher but the smoke got overwhelming and he called 911. Fire department came and put out the fire. After the incident we did a search to see if there was a recall we missed but we only found an article published by Mercedes in December 2021 acknowledging their cars may catch on fire but no recall was done.
For several years, the vehicle has had issues when shifting from drive to reverse or reverse to drive. I took to the dealer for repair and they claimed it was fixed. Because it is an intermittent issue, it was difficult to pinpoint when and if the issue would happen again. The vehicle is available for inspection and has been taken back to the dealer. On several occasions, since the car would not shift from drive to reverse or reverse to drive, I would have to turn off the vehicle and restart to reset. In some instances, I did not notice the car had not shifted and only after I accelerated and headed in the opposite direction. Car is at the dealer and requires a shifter module due to a steering column module error. Mercedes Benz of USA has been difficult to manage and the dealer has apparently made attempts to fix the car. That being said, I doubt that this is an isolated incident, as the E class was previously recalled for the same issue, but not this vehicle year. Power train:
I bought this 2018 e43 amg at 24k miles ,still under warranty ,and when I first told by dealer that there's a crack on my wheel I have to replace it ,I thought it was my driving even though I can't think of getting in a pothole whatsoever,so I shop around and found a random shop ,they showed me a picture of the exact same car of same year with the same problem on the same size 20in wheel ,crack on the oem wheels , I was thinking this is strange ,but I choose to trust the mb quality. Later on there's a noise coming from back seat ,I went to dealer and try to find out ,they did a good job found out they need to replace the whole rare end,and also found 2 wheels bent including the new wheel I just replaced,and another crack on one of the rare wheel which I think caused by the rare end issue ,and they did ,but the very second day I got my car back ,the noise is still there and getting worse ,Itried to contact the advisor to find out what's going on ,but he hangout on me and never call back
I bought this 2018 e43 amg at 24k miles ,still under warranty ,and when I first told by dealer that there's a crack on my wheel I have to replace it ,I thought it was my driving even though I can't think of getting in a pothole whatsoever,so I shop around and found a random shop ,they showed me a picture of the exact same car of same year with the same problem on the same size 20in wheel ,crack on the oem wheels , I was thinking this is strange ,but I choose to trust the mb quality. Later on there's a noise coming from back seat ,I went to dealer and try to find out ,they did a good job found out they need to replace the whole rare end,and also found 2 wheels bent including the new wheel I just replaced,and another crack on one of the rare wheel which I think caused by the rare end issue ,and they did ,but the very second day I got my car back ,the noise is still there and getting worse ,Itried to contact the advisor to find out what's going on ,but he hangout on me and never call back
WHEN DRIVING ON AN OPEN 2 LANE COUNTY ROAD AT APPROXIMATELY 35-40 MPH THE AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING ENGAGED AND FULLY STOPPED THE CAR FOR NO REASON. THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE ROAD, I DID NOT HAVE CRUISE CONTROL ON. THE VEHICLE JUST STOPPED AND BEEPED. THERE WERE NO OTHER CARS AROUND, SO THANKFULLY I WAS NOT REAR ENDED, BUT THERE WERE NO IMPEDIMENTS IN THE ROAD TO CAUSE A BRAKING EVENT.
Mileage: 12,000
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.