Total Complaints
1 filings
MERCEDES-BENZ SLK320 · model year
1 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2004MERCEDES-BENZSLK320 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 2004 SLK320 is power train 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 2004 SLK320. 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 |
|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | 1 |
AFTER PULLING CAR INTO GARAGE FOUND THAT SHIFTER WOULD NOT MOVE PAST NEUTRAL FROM DRIVE POSITION. THOUGH IGNITION KEY COULD BE TURNED FAR ENOUGH COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FOR ENGINE SHUTDOWN IT STOPPED SHORT OF BEING ABLE TO BE REMOVED. AFTER PROBLEM DIAGNOSED REPAIR REQUIRED COMPLETE REPLACEMENT OF ELECTRONIC SHIFTER MODULE COSTING OVER $1,000. I FOUND MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS FOR SAME PROBLEM ON GOOGLE FROM OTHER MERCEDES OWNERS. FORTUNATE THAT FAILURE HAPPENED IN MY GARAGE. IF EPISODE HAPPENED ON OPEN ROAD MAJOR INCIDENT COULD HAVE OCCURRED. I DID CONTACT MERCEDES CAC (CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE CENTER) TO REPORT PROBLEM BOTH BY PHONE & LETTER. THEIR REPRESENTATIVE OFFERED ONLY EXCUSES & INDICATED FAILURE WAS RESULT OF 'NORMAL WEAR & TEAR' THAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED IN VEHICLE 10 YEARS OLD REGARDLESS OF HOW WELL MAINTAINED. AT AGE 63 I HAVE OWNED MANY CARS IN MY LIFETIME & NONE EVER HAD SUCH A FAILURE. I AM ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS VEHICLE PURCHASED NEW & WELL MAINTAINED. *TR
Mileage: 69,000
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.