2009 Mercedes-Benz ML350 problems
Owners have filed 105 complaints with NHTSA about the 2009 Mercedes-Benz ML350. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 38% of complaints. Next are seat belts (17%) and electrical system (16%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 105 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 38% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 2 and 8
- Injuries and deaths
- 4 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 56 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 | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 14 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 9 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 56 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 2 complaints mention a crash; 8 complaints mention a fire; 4 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 11th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Mercedes-Benz ML350 with enough data (22 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 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.
The contact owns a 2009 Mercedes-Benz ML350. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH in heavy rain, she observed smoke emanating from the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated that there may have been unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was steered to the side of the road and turned off. The contact stated that when the vehicle was restarted, multiple unknown warning lights illuminated.
Auto was in forward an at complete stop and driver placed in park but left engine running and exited the car. Car went into reverse and started to accelerate. Driver was knocked to the ground and run over by car. Car was stopped when it ran into building structure.
Takata recall. Received letter from dealer to say that they now have information as to the recall of the driver side airbag but haven't heard anything since. Its been nearly a year. I called dealer who says that its just that the bag inflates too fast and is not a big deal, but he is wrong about the defect. The defect is that the bag produces shrapnel when inflated that can and has caused deaths of drivers.
The rear seat belts do not retract once pulled out. Over the course of several days, they slowly work their way back up. No vehicle should have a seatbelt fail; it is even more ridiculous that this part failed in a car that is this expensive or that has had such a long history of safety. It isn't safe for anyone to sit in the back seats because the seat belts are out-stretched so far that a person would be thrown forward a ways before the seatbelts stopped them. That is dangerous.