Mercedes Benz E500

Owners filed 460 complaints across 7 model years of the Mercedes Benz E500. The 2004 drew the most (142).

Model years7
Complaints460
Recalls13
Fires2
Deaths0

Which Mercedes Benz E500 years should you avoid?

No Mercedes Benz E500 year stands out. Across the 4 model years old enough to judge, none drew twice the complaints of a typical year (about 133), and none shows an unusual share of fires, crashes or deaths for its age.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →

Every Mercedes Benz E500 model year compared

Complaints per year
YearComplaintsRelative volumeRecallsFiresCrashesMost reportedStatus
20091
0——Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
20081
0——Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
20071
0——Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
200650
4—1Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
2005140
3—4Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
2004142
323Fuel/Propulsion SystemRoutine
2003125
3—4Service BrakesRoutine

Data: NHTSA complaint and recall files, October 2026. Complaints are unverified owner reports.