Total Complaints
5 filings
MERCEDES-BENZ E · model year
5 NHTSA complaints. A VIN lookup is required to determine whether a specific vehicle has an unrepaired recall.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2005MERCEDES-BENZE carries 5 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
The most frequently selected component label in reports for the 2005 E is fuel system, gasoline with 3 filings, followed by air bags (1) and service brakes (1). Complaint categories reflect owner reports and intake categorization; they do not establish a defect pattern or cause.
NHTSA currently has 15 investigation files overlapping the 2005 E. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should read the complaint-by-year trend as report volume, not a causal diagnosis. Use the related-complaint feed and the official recall lookup when researching a specific vehicle.
Total Complaints
5 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | 3 |
| AIR BAGS | 1 |
| SERVICE BRAKES | 1 |
FILLED FUEL TANK , CAME HOME ,PARKED IN GARAGE AND NOTICED A STRONG FUEL SMELL. FUEL WAS LEAKING ON FLOOR AND I HAVE TO LEAVE IT OUTSIDE NOW. *TR
Mileage: 55,000
I RECENTLY BOUGHT A USED 2005 MERCEDES E320 WITH 126.3K MILES. AT TIME OF TRANSACTION, CAR HAD HALF A TANK OF FUEL ONLY. COUPLE DAYS LATER, WHEN I WENT TO REFUEL, I FILLED UP TANK ALL THE WAY TO TOP, I DROVE HOME AND AS SOON AS I EXITED CAR, I COULD SMELL A VERY STRONG ODOR OF GASOLINE INSIDE CAR AND INSIDE LEFT REAR WHEEL WELL. I INSPECTED THE CAR AND AFTER LIFTING REAR SEAT CUSHION, I OPENED THE COVERS TO GAS TANK TO FIND THERE WAS A FUEL LEAK AT THE FUEL SENDING UNIT, DRIVER'S SIDE, ABOUT 1-2 OUNCES OF FUEL. TODAY I PURCHASED AN UPDATED NEW FUEL SENDING UNIT FROM MB DEALER AND WILL NEED TO GET IT INSTALLED. WHEN TANK IS THREE QUARTER FULL OR LESS, YOU DON'T SMELL THE ODOR AND NO SIGN OF LEAK IS PRESENT. THIS APPEARS TO BE A COMMON PROBLEM AMONG MERCEDES E-CLASS. I'VE LEARNED THIS THRU MY MOST RECENT ONLINE SEARCH. I'M SO DISAPPOINTED IN MERCEDES BENZ FOR THIS POOR MANUFACTURING. *TR
Mileage: 126,449
AFTER FILLING UP THE FUEL TANK WITH GASOLINE, I SMELL AN ODOR OF GAS UNTIL THE TANK IS DOWN TO ABOUT 3/4 FULL. *TR
Mileage: 33,130
WHILE DRIVING AT APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH, THE SBS SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT CAME ON ALONG WITH LOSS OF MOST BRAKING ABILITY. I MANAGED TO STOP THE CAR, TURN AROUND AND RETURN ABOUT 8 MILES TO MY HOME IN "LIMP HOME" MODE. THERE WAS NO WARNING WHATSOEVER. I THEN CALL THE MB DEALERSHIP WHICH SENT A TRUCK TO PICK UP THE CAR. THE SBS HYDRAULIC UNIT HAD FAILED AND WAS REPLACED UNDER EXTENDED WARRANTY AT NO COST. WHILE I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE COST (NONE), THE FAILURE COULD HAVE CAUSED AN ACCIDENT WITH THE LOSS OF BRAKE ABILITY. I TAKE ROAD TRIPS TO THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS AND IF THIS HAD HAPPENED THERE, I COULD HAVE SUFFERED A FATAL INJURY. THIS SYSTEM IS DEFECTIVELY ENGINEERED AND SHOULD BE REPLACED ON ALL MERCEDES CARS SO EQUIPPED. *TR
Mileage: 80,150
SRS SYSTEM MALFUNCTION. *TR
Mileage: 64,000
Data vintage: August 2026. 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.
Every figure on PlainCars is rendered directly from NHTSA complaint and safety data, no number is typed in by an editor. This year-specific record is rendered from NHTSA ODI, recall, and NCAP rows for the 2005 MERCEDES-BENZ E; no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.