2008 Mercedes-Benz ML350 problems
Owners have filed 93 complaints with NHTSA about the 2008 Mercedes-Benz ML350. Steering is the most reported problem area, at 28% of complaints. Next are electrical system (14%) and brakes (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 93 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Steering 28% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 9 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 72,000 miles 72 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 | 5 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 5 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 21 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 11 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 10 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 72 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 72,000 miles. For steering specifically, the median reported mileage is about 56,000 miles (21 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 9 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 3 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 8th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Mercedes-Benz ML350 with enough data (34 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.
As I was pulling out of my driveway, my seat heater burned a hole through my seat, my shirt, and my pants. I saw a small flame and felt a burning on my back and immediately turned off the seat heater.
After starting up the car and turning on the seat heaters we noticed a strong burning smell. We had just entered a slip road and my wife (who was driving) felt a burning in her lower left side. Next thing... She was on fire! Her winter coat bust into flames and after pulling over I grabbed her out of the drivers seat and rolled her in the snow to extinguish the fire, we were amazed that the seat had a large burn hole through the leather and that there wasn't any safety shut off for the seat heater initiated by the…
Mercedes benz ml 350 2008 was involved in an incident in which the driver put the car into park to retrieve an item from the back seat. Driver stepped out of the vehicle to retrieve an item from the back seat of vehicle. Driver opened the back seat door and vehicle moved forward approximately 31/2 feet. During the movement of the vehicle drivers feet were run over by vehicle an pinned under left back tire. 911 was called police & fire department assisted to jack up car and pull driver out from under the tire.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercedes benz ml350. The contact was driving 50 MPH when a pop sound came from the sunroof. The contact then realized that the sunroof was shattered, but did not fall completely apart. The dealer inspected the sunroof and found no structural damage but advised that the sun roof had more than likely been struck by a rock. The contact stated that the vehicle was being driven on open road with no other vehicles around. The failure and the current mileage was 51,000.
I purchased a used 2008 mercedes benz ml350 VIN: [xxx] today, my power lift gate stopped operating. I can hear the motor running when I press the open/close button the driver's side door, and also on my remote, but the power lift gate doesn't operate. Upon doing some basic research, I understood that recalls were made on the 2009 and newer ml350 due to a faulty seal with the rear lighting assembly unit, which would cause water to leak into the spare tire assembly area and cause the power lift gate to stop working…