Mercedes-Benz · E-Class · 2006
0
Recalls
536
Complaints
-
Not Rated
The 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has no recalls and 536 owner-reported complaints on file with NHTSA. Most reported issue: fuel/propulsion system (160 reports).
Source: NHTSA Public Records · Updated Apr 22, 2026
This page combines three types of NHTSA data: recall campaigns (official manufacturer or government actions), owner complaints (unverified consumer reports), and crash test ratings (where available). A vehicle with many complaints is not necessarily less reliable — complaint volume correlates with sales volume and vehicle age. Recalls indicate identified defects, not overall quality. To compare this model year with others, use the year navigation in the sidebar or return to the model overview page.
The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E500. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact became aware of a fuel leak, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. A diagnostic test revealed an Evaporative Emissions (EVAP) control system leak. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 77,000.
The contact's son owns a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E350. The contact stated that while his son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the sunroof detached and shattered on the roadway. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V918000 (Visibility) and 22V954000 (Visibility); however, the VIN was included in the recalls, but the vehicle had been repaired in 2023 and 2025. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 97,900.
The contact called on behalf of the owner of a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E350. The contact stated that while his mother was driving at an undisclosed speed and approaching a traffic light, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the brakes failed to function as intended. The brake pedal was depressed down to the floorboard. The contact's mother used the parking brake to stop the vehicle. The ABS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence and then to an independent mechanic. The vehicle was diagnosed with Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC) system failure. The contact was informed that the Sensotronic Brake Control system needed to be replaced. The vehicle remained with the mechanic unrepaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to report the failure to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 180,000.
Mercedes Benz issued a recall and extended a warranty on its 2003-2005 E Class SBC braking systems (recall # 2005110001) and extended the warranty to 25 years; the 2006 E Class models have the exact same SBC braking system but is not included in the recall. Mercedes needs to add the 2006 E Class models to recall # 2005110001. My 2006 is experiencing the same SBC issues the 2003-2005 models are known to have but because my vehicle is 2006 it is not covered by the extended warranty.
Reduce power braking depress brake fully keeps popping up on my dash and not letting me take it out of gear
My father and mother were driving back home on the evening of 1/29/25 when all of a sudden they heard a loud pop/explosion and their seat belts tightened. They were traveling at a speed of approximately 35 mph on local roads. There was no accident, collision, or warning signs, but the driver's side airbags, left side of the car, deployed. The message on the odometer said SRS Restraint system malfunction. The car is a 2006 Mercedes E500 with 58,900 miles having one owner and all maintenance performed on time. This is a high safety concern as it could have caused a severe accident and if the front airbags had deployed erroneously, this could have injured my elderly parents. I put a call into Mercedes corporate on 1/31/25 at 9:30 am but so far they do not appear to be taking this issue seriously. When my father contacted his local Mercedes dealer, they too do not want too deal with the issue.
I was driving my car and the inside started to smell like gasoline, and after that I noticed it was leaking from outside, and when I started to investigate, it started to come from it looked like my fuel pump on the drivers side, fuel started to leak out the fuel pump or fuel tank and leaking to the outside to the rear left side of the car
The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E 500. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds, she noticed arrows were pointing at the sunroof. The contact stated that the failure was due to NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V954000 (Visibility). The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined the failure was due to a shortage in the lights. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.
The engine in these cars are defective and can cause serious harm due to a part that was put inside the motor made of plastic. There was a lawsuit but if you didn’t get in on it you losses out for not knowing. I was recently at Mercedes dealership to fix recalls and they brushed me off. The car can catch fire and I’m already experiencing engine failure after only owning the car for a year. They don’t care because it’s an old car but it’s still being sold to unsuspecting buyers. I’m not the only one there are thousands of us who are at risk driving these cars because Mercedes won’t admit their off the showroom floor mistake.
Undergoing changing of front lights, wires under hood leading to the lights were found to be completely exposed in areas. The protective covering had disintegrated off, causing risk of fire or explosion from bare wires touching.
The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E350. The contact stated while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle would not stop when depressing the brake pedal. No warning lights were illuminated, however, the contact stated the entire instrument panel was illuminated in red. The vehicle was taken to a local independent mechanic where the vehicle's brake line, brakes, and rotors were replaced. The contact stated the failure recurred. The vehicle was driven to the contact's residence and was not repaired. The contact referenced the manufacturer recall 2005110001 Sensotronic Brake Control as a possible solution however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 149,000.
Certain Mercedes-Benz models 2005- 2007 M272 V6 and M273 V8’s have faced or are facing issues regarding the balance sprocket in which drives the camshaft and crankshaft of the vehicle. Mercedes-Benz had made a decision to make certain engine components out of soft metals, when such metals are not adequate in handling the stress of the engine. In particular, in many cases, the balance sprocket was made with inadequate materials and gradually deteriorated to the point in which it could not engage the timing chain and cause camshaft-crankshaft misalignment. I personally did not experience such failure yet but it is more of a concern as this is a common issue , the repair is quite substantial and the failure can damage the engine even more
Engine codes P0016 and P0017 reads cam shaft and crank shaft correlation it is everywhere on the internet and on the Mercedes Benz Forum.This is a know problem that Mercedes has ignored. its on all 2004 thru 2008 vehicles with the 3.5 engine. Calls for a balancer shaft replacement. This should definitely be a recall issue.The industry knows that is was poorly manufactured part. Your help with rectifying this issue would greatly help the and restore the reputation of Mercedes and restore faith in Mercedes Benz owners. My vehicle is a 2006 E350 4 Matic with only 113,634 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Mercedes-Benz E350. The contact stated that upon depressing the brake pedal, there was a beeping sound coming from the vehicle with a message stating "Stop, Reduced Braking Power, Depress Brake Pedal Fully" displayed on the instrument panel. The contact pulled over to shoulder of the road. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to the residence. The dealer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the vehicle was not covered under NHTSA Campaign Number: 05V133000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) which was linked to the failure. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and the contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 177,000.
PZEV fuel tank leaks at top but is not repairable. Replacement requires complete tank replacment which is not economically feasilble. This forces owners to continue to operate vehicle with fuel leakage since repair of the tank is not possible. In older models a simple gasket change would resolve such leaks, in the PZEV tank leaks can not be repaired and thus are left uncorrected. Many of these vehicles are now owned by minority owners who are unable to pay $5000 to repair a defective design. MB refuses to support owners.
I recently started smelling gas in my car after refueling. I was told by my mechanic that Mercedes was replacing fuel pumps and fuel tanks free of charge . Mercedes Benz customer care has advised this isn't so. This is an expensive repair and I am hoping Mercedes Benz can cover the cost of this repair and if not, offer substantial assistance.
We just purchased a 2006 Mercedes for our teenage sons and had a dealer look at it before we purchased it. They told us there were a couple of codes that were worth watching but that it wasn’t anything significant right now. After the car started jerking and shaking while driving it, we brought it in to dealership where they told us it had a common code for Mercedes in this timeframe P0016. Repair estimate is nearly $5000 to replace timing chain and balance shaft, or a new engine which would be roughly the same. After researching on my own upon being told this code, I found all of the information about the class action lawsuit and settlement, which of course we are too late to be a part of. The dealer said there is a potential that the car could just seize up at some point, so I don’t want my young sons to be out on the road when that happens. I am very frustrated and upset that this wasn’t a recall since it apparently affected a huge amount of vehicles manufactured within this time frame. There is a specific list of engines with known issues and ours is among them. Mercedes Benz should be held responsible for making this right because it was definitely a quality issue. Now we are stuck with an unsafe vehicle, or a massive expense due to defect.
In June 2017, I received a letter from Mercedes-Benz of America informing me that the warranty of the fuel system in my vehicle is extended to 15 years. In that same year, I had my whole fuel tank replaced by an authorized Mercedes Benz dealer in San Jose, California due to strong smell of fuel by the rear wheel well on the driver side of the car. The repair was fully cover by MB-America under this extended warranty. On November 3, 2022, I experienced the same fuel smell from the same place of the car (i.e., driver side rear wheel well) and was told that the repair will not be cover at all, even though the fuel system in my car is only 5 years old. I am writing to suggest that you impose a 15 years warranty on the fuel leak replacement parts. MB needs to stand behind their product if it was their OEM parts and done by their authorized dealer. In my case the new fuel smell was due to a cracked Fuel Pump Assembly (Part # 211 470 60 94) which was found in the brand new fuel tank installed in my car in 2017. My car is now repaired at a local shop at a fraction of the cost that MB-San Jose would have charged me. My hope is for you to help future similar customers who will experience similar issue avoiding this unjust expense. Thank you very much, [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Brake failure at 40 mph. RED CAUTION light on : "STOP Reduced braking power Depress brake pedal fully"
Driving the vehicle on several occasions on Interstate 66 and the vehicle spontaneously went into limp mode. Now we find out it's a balance shaft issue and is a known problem from Mercedes in the M272 engines for our 2006 E350 4-matic. They evidently used balance shafts with materials that were too soft, resulting in premature wearing of the balance shafts with all of the M272 engines produced during this time having the problem. There was a previous class action lawsuit, which Mercedes settled, however, the consumers were not adequately notified and no recall was ever issued for the cars. Now we have 2nd or 3rd owners having these problems that didn't get a notice and have no idea there is a huge expensive and dangerous problem with their vehicle. On I-66 traffic moves at 70 mph (regular lanes) or 75 mph (express lanes). Having the vehicle spontaneously go into limp mode because of this engine issue is dangerous and could have caused a fatal accident on multiple occasions for us. Mercedes should be recalling all of these engines and fixing them properly before someone gets injured or killed. When I spoke with Mercedes, they said because I was not involved in the class action suit at that time, they were not willing to fix the car or pay for any portion of the repair, which they quoted me as costing $16,228.96. The problem is the Mercedes went into limp mode on multiple occasions and there was no check engine light to indicate what the problem was for several months. We had no warning that this was going to happen which created a dangerous situation while driving. There were several incidents on different dates spanning months before a check engine light came on with codes and Mercedes could identify the problem specifically was the balance shaft failure.
Showing 1–20 of 25 complaints
The 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has 0 recalls recorded by NHTSA.
NHTSA has received 536 owner-reported complaints for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
NHTSA has not published a safety rating for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The most commonly reported complaint categories for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class are fuel/propulsion system (160 reports), fuel system, gasoline (105 reports), service brakes (50 reports).
NHTSA does not currently list any recalls on record for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. To verify the status of your specific vehicle, check nhtsa.gov/recalls with your VIN.
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This page summarizes publicly available data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaint counts reflect reports submitted to NHTSA by vehicle owners and do not by themselves prove defect severity or vehicle safety. Safety ratings may not be available for all vehicle-years. This site is not affiliated with NHTSA or any vehicle manufacturer. For official information, visit the official NHTSA page for this vehicle.