2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450 problems
Owners have filed 162 complaints with NHTSA about the 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450. Seats is the most reported problem area, at 25% of complaints. Next are electrical system (17%) and drivetrain & axles (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 162 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Seats 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 46
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 83,000 miles 142 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 17 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 24 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 22 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 22 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 15 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 12 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 142 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 83,000 miles. For seats specifically, the median reported mileage is about 80,000 miles (39 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 46 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 98% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2007 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 7 model years of the Mercedes-Benz GL450 with enough data (60 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
2007 mercedes gl . Turned on seat warmer, minutes later, both people in car started coughing because of fumes. Driver felt something burning, seat heater burned a hole in leather seat, driver's shirt and on body.
Driving on hwy with my 3 children in car, I felt as if I had a sticker in my pants. Something was poking me. Then we all smelt something burning, which cdf was parked on the side of hwy so we didn't think anything about it. Then my oldest said "mom there's smoke in the car" I looked back in my review mirror and saw the back of the car full of smoke. I immediately pulled off the side of the hwy and we all exited the car. Upon doing so, I grabbed my personal and important belongings.
I turned on my ignition and the driver's side heated seat and immediately started to drive. I traveled about 500 feet and started to smell something burning. I thought it was my neighbor's fireplace, so drove less than 1 mile before I felt intense heat on my left side and saw smoke coming out of the seat. Upon exiting the car, I saw that my seat was on fire.
Driving in new jersey on route 80 west for 1-2 miles there was a strong odor of burnt wires that smell so bad and have noticed that the smoke was coming from underneath the passenger seat. It went on for few minutes where the wires actually caught on fire and melted together. Stopped the car, shot the engine off, with windows open and tried to pull the wires apart to prevent further damage.... But could not separate the wires from each other.
The contact owns a 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, he felt a sharp pinch coming from the driver’s side seat. Upon further inspection, the contact’s husband noticed an abnormal hole with smoke coming from the driver’s side seat. There was no visible fire present. No medical attention was sought. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost.