2006 Mercedes-Benz ML350 problems
Owners have filed 236 complaints with NHTSA about the 2006 Mercedes-Benz ML350. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 22% of complaints. Next are drivetrain & axles (15%) and electrical system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 236 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 21 and 25
- Injuries and deaths
- 14 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 182 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 | 22 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 33 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 38 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 36 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 17 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 5 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 182 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 74,000 miles (40 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 21 complaints mention a crash; 25 complaints mention a fire; 14 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 85% 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 2006 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Mercedes-Benz ML350 with enough data (82 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.
About 2 minutes after turning on the driver's seat heater, the driver's seat caught on fire. A hole burned through the driver's seat and burned my back. Luckily, I recognized the problem quickly enough that I was only slightly burned. My husband and my 1 year old daughter were in the car with me. I was driving at the time, so my clothes could have caught fire. If we had turned on the seat warmer while warming up the car, the entire car could have gone up in flames.
I started the vehicle and as it was a cold morning I put my drivers seat heater on. Shortly after putting it on I felt a burning on the left side of my back, I pulled the car over and noticed a fire on the lower portion of the drivers seat(back wing). The fire burned through my jacket and burned my lower back.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 mercedes benz ml350. The contact stated that the seat warmer overheated and caused the coils to burn through. The contact mentioned that she sustained second degree burns. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the seat heater had malfunctioned and the seat needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 86,000.
I was driving with the driver's side electric seat heater turned on. I noticed a burning smell and felt a burning pain on my back. After exiting the vehicle I saw that the seat heater had burned a hole through the leather driver's seat and through my jacket.
I bought a 2006 mercedes 3 years ago thinking I would have a car for a lifetime boy did I go wrong. In the past 3 months I have had major problems and mercedes doesn't care. The first issue I had to replace the crank shaft $6000 plus for repair I almost went crazy so I started researching on the internet and found out there was a class action law suit for this issue so I phoned mercedes and they agree to pick up half of the repair.