2021 Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class Electrical System Problems

The contact owns a 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLE350. The contact stated that while reversing, the back over prevention camera screen was black and there was no image displayed, causing a visibility hazard for the driver. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who indicated that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V354000 (BACK OVER PREVENTION, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 29,000.

Not sure vehicle was parked and caught on fire from the drivers side completely burning

Engine light came on at 44K miles

The contact owns a 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLE350. The contact initially stated that the air conditioner failed to function as needed and the vehicle was taken to dealer and was repaired. The contact stated that recently while driving 70 MPH, there was a burning odor coming from the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that when the vehicle was restarted, the burning odor was coming from the floor. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The vehicle was diagnosed with contaminated filters. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

Engine harness wires insulation is falling apart very early after 3 years. It’s causing arching inside the insulation. Issues is from overheating and can cause a fire. Isolation needs to be upgraded and wire harness needs replaced.

Vehicle unexpectedly lost power on a major highway. Limped into a service station, called for a tow truck. Several days later vehicle was repaired with a bill of $2800. Four weeks later, while driving, check engine light comes on. Contact dealership that completed repairs, brought car in. Now it’s the 48V Hybrid battery needs to be replaced, $4000. Based on some cursory research, this is a known problem in these cars. Mercedes Benz needs to be held accountable. The car was purchased brand new three years ago.

On Thursday, [XXX], I called Mercedes Benz of Naperville at 7:23 AM, 12:34 PM and missed the call 3:03 PM. I reported Sandy in service on Thursday morning. That I smelt a burning plastic smell on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30PM. While picking up my grandchildren from their schools. I came home and parked my car. Later on, Wednesday night My Daughter drove my car and then told me. My car smelt of plastic burning. I call Mercedes Benz Thursday morning. I told them to send me a tow truck. My call needs to be towed into their service department. I ask to speak with Kevin. My service agent of Mercedes Benz service department. Sandy told me he was with a customer. I spoke to Sandy three times. I then went and checked my car for any. Displays on my car dashboard. There were no displays, and I started the car and let it run. I did not smell any burning plastic. On Sunday [XXX]. I drop my car to family dollars and return back home. I did not smell any burning plastic. At 3:04PM Stacy Wright and myself were driving on the way to a meeting in Naperville, Il. At 3:14 PM my car started smelling like burning plastic. At 3: 16 PM heavy black smoke was coming through the vent. I immediately turned left on [XXX] in front of White Castle and stopped the car. At this time the front engine of the car was on fire and the car was full of thick black smoke. I told my passengers on the passenger side to get out of the car and run. It’s on fire. I ran towards White Castle leaving my driver's door opened. I turned around to take a picture of my car on fire burning severely at 3:18 PM. Fire was coming from the front hood of the car. At 3:20PM. The car was engulfed in flames and burning the entire car. The Blue Island Police and Fire Department got to the scene of the fire at 3:18PM. To put the fire out. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Purchased as a CPO directly from a local dealership. Vehicle has experienced multiple (10+), seemingly random failures of the Electronic Stability Control, Blind Spot Assist, Lane Keeping Assist and Active Break Assist under varied driving and weather conditions. On two separate occasions (one at 15+ mph and the other at 65+), these system failures were accompanied by a brief "limp mode" and immediate total loss of acceleration. The most recent loss-of-acceleration event occurred during lunch hour traffic on the highway, at highway speeds. The vehicle has been taken to the dealership to address these issues on 3 separate occasions. Visit #1: the communication fault codes were noted by the technicians, but they could not replicate the issues. The faults were cleared and the vehicle service was deemed complete. Visit #2 (3 days later and the first instance of acceleration loss): report from service department reads almost identical to that of Visit #1 except the notation that "...found several stored faults for communication with engine control unit." Again, the issues could not be replicated and the faults were cleared. Viewed as an unacceptable response by the consumer, the dealership retained the vehicle for further troubleshooting with the follow-on report noting, "Found no socket tension at Sockets 27 and 28 to PTCU. Removed and replaced sockets 27 and 28 at ME connector 6." The faults were, again, cleared and the vehicle was returned to the owner. Visit #3 (roughly 5 weeks after last visit and the second instance of acceleration loss, this time on the highway): The same complement of warning lamps illuminated, the car lurched, and there was zero acceleration. The vehicle was navigated to the highway's shoulder without incident and shut down. After 5+ minutes, the vehicle was restarted and acceleration functioning had returned. It was immediately driven to the dealership where it currently awaits repair.

Driving down a multi-lane highway at 70 mph, a 48V battery malfunction warning goes off as well as the yellow check engine light. A few seconds later a ‘coolant’ error alert pops up. SUV loses acceleration with power dropping from 70 mph to 55 mph to 35 mph. Another message displayed on screen warning me to “Pull over and turn the engine off.” Narrowly missing being hit from the back, I was able to coast to an upcoming exit into a store’s parking lot before the car stalled completely.

I reported multiple times to Mercedes USA that the vehicle was experiencing electrical issues as I was periodically loosing power and/or control over the vehicle. The vehicle was returned twice to the dealership but the problem always came back pretty much immediately. On the day of the accident, I was driving the vehicle on a straight road. The road was a little bit humid as it has been raining few minutes/hours before but it wasn't raining at the time I was driving. I was maintaining a speed of 55mph (speed limit on this portion of the road). The vehicle started to suddenly move by itself on the right side. A minute later, the vehicle moved a second time on the right without any apparent reason. The third time, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and made a sharp turn to the right. The turn to the right was so sharp that the vehicle made a 180 degrees turn and was projected on the side of the road. The vehicle stopped in a ditch and engine stopped. I wasn't braking or turning the wheel when the vehicle started to act-up. I didn't feel any movement in the steering wheel and I couldn't control the brake or direction. I restarted the engine and the brakes and directions were back up again. I contacted Mercedes who wants to inspect the vehicle but didn't set a date yet. Sheriff arrived on the spot less than a minute after the crash (was driving back home after his shift). He confirmed no collision with another vehicle, no marks of tires on the road, no standing water on the road or any other reason for the crash. No ticket was given to me by the sheriff.

The contact owns a 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLE350. The contact stated that the infotainment screen had gone blank and had failed to operate as needed. Due to the failure, the back-up camera failed to operate while the vehicle was in reverse(R). The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the contact was informed that an unknown liquid had spilled on the electrical unit connected to the infotainment screen. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and denied the contact’s claim to have the vehicle serviced under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 35,000.

We bought this GLE AMG 63 new, it has only 1100 miles and we have had two 48 V batters replaced; they just towed it again to the dealer 22 March because it needs yet another 48V battery; the techs say it’s a design problem but there is nothing they can do except get “approval” to have the 48V battery replaced. It has also shut down while driving causing us to pull over on freeway; We don’t five it (1100 miles) because we are concerned about safety issues from the 48V battery failing at unexpected times; firs, overheating and battery coolant issues…etc. We believe this falls under the Lemon law and should be recalled. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your feedback.

2021 MB GLE 53 AMG Coupe. Less than 7500 miles. Car wont start throws a red error saying see the operators manual. This is the second time in 5 months this has happened and is extremely frustrating given MB is fully aware of the issue. They say it is related to software but I just had my car at the dealer for another issue and all software was updated. This is a design flaw that MB needs to fix before someone dies. The issue can happen at any time, I have just been lucky enough that both times it was parked in my garage. I am now considering pursuing a full refund under lemon law, I no longer feel safe driving this car and each time it has been in the dealer for repair I am without a vehicle for 2 weeks. Very disappointing for a vehicle that cost almost 100k.

The contact owns a 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLE450. The contact stated that on two separate occasions the vehicle failed to start on the initial attempt. The vehicle was towed to dealer who diagnosed that the firmware needed to be updated. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred a second time approximately 90 days later. The vehicle was towed to the same dealer who diagnosed that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 13,525.

Car shut itself off in rush hour traffic. Slight Smokey smell. Dash light indicating a 48 Volt problem. Got vehicle towed to dealership.

2021 MB GLE 450 bought in April 2021, now approximately 8000 miles with two separate events of not starting. Cannot jump. Once 48V battery system updated (3 months ago), required tow to dealer. Now again at dealer with the same issue and recommended for battery change (last time was software update). Very unsafe, happened first time in public garage at night with no start, and second time in the morning when I was trying to go to work. Based on various blogs and class action law suit against MB in NJ, seems like MB is aware of 48V battery problem, and installed a bad batch of batteries. Frustrating to purchase $80000 car and learn that it is not safe at all, with possible malfunction at any time.

In the middle of driving it down the road when - without warning -- the instrument panel went black, the entire panel. My husband was on his way to the dealership to replace a tire when this happened. Though he was able to make his way to the dealer, we consider this event to be a serious safety issue, given that there was a partial power outage involving the components the driver relies upon to drive the car - for example, the driver's side instrument panel has indicator lights for the odometer, gas & oil levels and especially, the gear shift controls. My husband asked the dealer to look into the problem and was told a 10682 Electrical test was performed showing that the Head Unit had a fault. When tested again it showed no fault & no available software updates, so they cleared the Head codes and ran the test, which came up negative.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The digital dashboard (MBUX) screen that driver is dependent on, all of a sudden go blank with no access to heaters, no display, with no GPS and no dash heater. This screen is controlled by a control unit which is right under the passenger seat and is very sensitive even to few water droplets. Yes, the component is available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? With such a control unit that is sensitive to few water droplets, if a passenger sitting in the second row has wet shoes or shoes with snow or drops some water, can short circuit the unit and can result in blanking out the digital screen. On a cold day or during night on a highway, the digital dashboard screens all of a sudden go blank and the dash can get foggy, resulting in driving distraction and low visibility for driver. Heaters can be turned on manually but result in burning smell in the car. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes, the dealer has inspected the problem and have also confirmed other customers also had similar issues. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The vehicle has been inspected by the Mercedes Benz dealer service department (where I leased ) and they have confirmed that few water droplets have short circuited the control unit which resulted in blanking out the screen. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No messages or warning lamps or signs have been displayed prior to the failure. But we smelled something burning in the car before this happened. This appeared on Jan 9th evening 5 PM on our way from Pittsburgh to Columbus on the highway.

It is incredibly distressing to have experienced an issue that is widely reported in this database and online forums, and remains unaddressed by MBUSA. It also seems to be an entirely preventable issue that can be fixed via a software update. The issue relates to a malfunction of the 48V battery that made the vehicle inoperatable. It happened in the midst of winter and we would be been in a dire position if our family did not come to the rescue to pick us up. The vehicle had to be towed to a dealership. Here is the dealer summary: 48v software vehicle has no power, connected jumper, battery lights on in dash, towed into shop and connected battery charger, performed quick test, found codes in 48v- B183349 and B183371 , referred to Topic # LI54.10-P-069698 remedy #2, performed guided test for B1833349, as per guided test updated 48v software and commissioned, after completion vehicle started normally, performed extended test drive and multiple short test drives to verify vehicle now operating as designed again, lights no longer present in dash.

GLE53 would not start. The car threw an error stating 12v battery malfunction.(Impacted the 48V battery) This essentially disables the vehicle completely. This is 2021 GLE53 with less than 5000 miles. There is also an issue with the side-view mirror and wind noise.