2001 Mercedes-Benz S Class problems
NHTSA has received 46 complaints about the 2001 Mercedes-Benz S Class, and 50% of them involve electrical system. Next are lighting (15%) and suspension (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 46 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 50% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 79,000 miles 41 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 9 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 9 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 41 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 79,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 80,000 miles (22 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a fire; 1 injury reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 83% 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 2001 ranks 1st most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Mercedes-Benz S Class with enough data (25 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 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.
When tapping the brakes, the throttle acellerator hesitates for one moment. Dealership is aware of problem. On one occasion the vehicle surged, causing damage to the vehicle, consumer states that since he is a two foot driver, this car is a challenge to him with the brake light activated throttle interrupt feature. *slc
Mercedes s-class w220 (2000 and up)instrument cluster failed including spedometer, flashers, signal control, engine temperature, and other information critical to safe vehicle operation. Upon investigating it was determined that this is an extremely common problem caused by a series of defective transistors which the manuafacturer has since discontinued and replaced with a similar model. Inadequate heatseaking for the transistors coudl also explain the problem.
Vehicle is a 2001 s-500. Almost word for word the same issue(s) as odi id number : 10100807. Same car, same problems, same sentiment. Replacing fuses only results in flickering instrument cluster lighting, and even then the backlight is still non-functional. Gauge needles flicker as well, until they too go out completely. Fuses last only for a couple of days, whereupon the entire instrument cluster remains entirely black.
Lighting (instrument cluster) on the dashboard of my 2001 mercedes benz s500[xxx] flickered for a couple of days then went out completely. It affected my automatic door locks and side mirror signal indicators. I cannot view the gauges/speedometer and use the preset buttons on the steering wheel while operating this vehicle. Updated 07/12/2012
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 mercedes benz s-class. The contact was driving 55 MPH when the instrument panel lights failed to illuminate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the dealer confirmed that the illumination cluster needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileages were 108,976.