I purchased this Mercedes AMG CLE 53 on October 8, 2026. Five days later, I was driving in a parking lot of a shopping center going about 15-20 mph when suddenly, for no reason at all, the car jammed on its brakes and came to a complete stop almost immediately. The force of the seat belt holding me in place as it occurred hurt me for hours afterwards. The "Active Brake Assist" as it's known on this vehicle obviously interpreted that there was something I was going to crash into, but there was absolutely nothing there at all in front of me. It did occur as I was driving into a shadow from a nearby building, so perhaps it thought the shadow was another vehicle. This is a serious safety concern for several reasons. Had there been someone driving behind me, this "phantom braking" episode could have had someone crash into me from behind. Additionally, the force of the seat belt across my chest as the car came to the abrupt stop could certainly do damage to a driver or passengers in the car. I called the dealership I purchased the car from, and they said there are no known issues with the emergency braking system, but I did look online and I found several Mercedes owners complaining of the same issue. I truly believe this Mercedes emergency braking issue needs to be investigated.
2027 Mercedes-Benz AMG CLE53 4Matic Cabriolet
Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the automatic emergency braking. No safety recall has been issued.
Most common 2027 Mercedes-Benz AMG CLE53 4Matic Cabriolet problems
1 of the 1 complaints (100%) are about the automatic emergency braking.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Collision Avoidance › Automatic Emergency Braking · automatic emergency braking | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsAll 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Across model years
Worst on record: 2027Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.