Total Complaints
1 filings
MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 · model year
1 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 2006MERCEDES-BENZML320 carries 1 consumer safety complaint 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 2006 ML320 is power train with 1 filings. 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 2006 ML320. 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
1 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
2006 ML350 WITH ONLY 112,000 MILES ON IT THE VEHICLE, WENT INTO LIMP MODE WHILE ENTERING A MAJOR INTERSTATE HIGHWAY NEARLY CAUSING A TERRIFYING ACCIDENT. MB USA RESTRICTS THE REPAIR OF THIS "MFG DEFECT" AND IT MUST BE REPAIRED AT AN MB DEALERSHIP ONLY, TYPICALLY AT A COST OVER $2,000. THE PROBLEM WILL NOT GO AWAY UNLESS REPAIRED. I MADE MB USA AWARE OF THE ISSUE AND THEY DENIED THAT ANY ISSUE EXISTS. I AM AWARE THOUGH, OF A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT OVER THE DEFECT IN THE 722-9-7GTRONIC-AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. THE LIMP MODE PREVENTS THE TRANSMISSION FROM UPSHIFTING OR DOWNSHIFTING. WHILE AT A STOP SIGN, IF THE TRANSMISSION GOES INTO LIMP MODE, THE ENGINE WILL RACE BUT THE CAR WILL NOT MOVE. I HAVE TO TURN THE CAR OFF, TAKE THE KEY OUT OF IGNITION, PUT BACK IN, AND START CAR. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME MANY TIMES IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERSECTION WITH OTHER CARS BLOWING THEIR HORN AT ME. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO OTHER THAN SHUT THE CAR OFF AND RESTART, THEN PUTTING IN GEAR. THIS IS HAPPE
Mileage: 121,000
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 2006 MERCEDES-BENZ ML320; 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.