2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 problems
Owners have filed 95 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 24% of complaints. Next are fuel system (18%) and electrical system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 95 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 49,000 miles 60 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 | 17 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 13 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 10 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 60 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 49,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 42,000 miles (17 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Mercedes-Benz ML350 with enough data (36 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.
My indicators stopped working a month prior to accident, then they started working again. On March 10th the issue happened again where I turned my signal on and no light appeared and no light on the dash with the indicator sound either. Boom, I had sideswipe someone on a major road causing an accident. NHTSA needs to do something about this because corporate won’t do anything!
My VIN is not part of the takata recall, although similar models I.e ml350 4matic 2012 is. My car was involved in a high impact crash in which it was totaled. The airbags failed to deploy and resulted in serious neck and back injuries. The car was stationary on the highway as traffic slowed. A fast oncoming vehicle (70-80 MPH) failed to see my stationary vehicle and rear ended my vehicle without breaking causing it to crash in the car in front.
Took our 2012 mercedes-benz ml350 bluetec to the dealership numerous times due to an overpowering fuel smell and burned plastic in the cabin of the vehicle. We had to stop several times because we felt sick as if we were going to pass out and/or throw up. But, then it started to affect our children and we demanded that the dealership find the root cause. They finally determined that it was a fuel leak around the fuel injectors that completely charred components in the fuel injection cavity.
After being into authorized mercedes benz dealership only for an strong diesel fuel smell and oil leak 3 times in less than 4 months on our ml350 bluetec engine fuel smell is strong enough that we have a sever headache ,nauseous feeling and have to stop the car and get out for fresh air, opening windows only gets more of the smell in of fuel and burning plastic. This happens while vehicle is in motion ,both on city streets and on highways, more pronounced when driving.
The conrol to activate the windshield washer is a stalk mounted button on the left side of the steering wheel. Pressing this button will correctly cause the windshield washer to come on briefly, spray the windshield with water and follow up with a few strokes of the wiper to clear the windshield. The problem with this arrangement is that the similarity of the button on the end of the stalk on the right side, which places the transmission in park.