Total Complaints
1 filings
MERCEDES-BENZ S · model year
1 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2009MERCEDES-BENZS 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.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2009 S is latches/locks/linkages with 1 filings. 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.
NHTSA currently has 15 investigation files overlapping the 2009 S. 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
1 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | 1 |
WE TOW A 2009 SMART PASSION CAB BEHIND OUR RV, AS ALLOWED BY SMART AND IN WRITING WITHIN ITS OWNERS MANUAL. TWICE NOW, WE HAVE LOST THE HOOD (OR AS SMART REFERS TO IT, THE SERVICE FLAP) WHILE TOWING. THE HOOD COMPLETELY DISENGAGES FROM ITS LOCATION AND BASICALLY FLAPS AROUND UNTIL THE CAR IS PULLED OVER TO A STOP. DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED TO THE HOOD, AND THE FIRST TIME WE IMMEDIATELY REPLACED IT AT A SMART DEALER WHO STATED IT MAY HAVE BEEN OUR PROBLEM DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT WE MAY HAVE IMPROPERLY INSTALLED IT.. THE SECOND TIME IT OCCURRED (IN EXACTLY THE SAME MANNER) ANOTHER SMART DEALER TOOK IT TO THE MANUFACTURER WHO DECLARED THAT BY TOWING IT BEHIND THE RV WE HAD AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF TURBULENCE AND THEREFORE WAS NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY,NOR WAS THERE ANY 'FIX' FOR IT. MY CONCERN IS THAT THESE SAME TURBULENCE CAN BE FELT ON AN INTERSTATE BEHIND A LARGE VEHICLE OR IN A HIGH WIND. THEREFORE I FEEL THAT IT IS MORE OF A PROBLEM THAN THE MANUFACTURE WOULD CONFIRM. WE HAVE TWO O
Mileage: 4,000
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.