Car Problem DataNHTSA records

1998 Mercedes Benz SL320

Routine

Owners filed 3 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the air bags › frontal. No safety recall has been issued.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Power Train › Automatic Transmission › Park/Neutral Start Interlock Switch1
100
Electrical System › 12v/24v/48v Battery1
000
Air Bags › Frontal1
000

What owners reported

Newest filings
Electrical System › 12v/24v/48v Battery
Filed Nov 7, 2000VA

BATTERY "EXPLODED" TRYING TO START CAR. BATTTERY ACID WAS SPREYED ALL ABOUT, AND ACRID FUMES FILLED OUR GARAGE. WAS COMPENSATED $2500 BY MERCEDES AND THE DEALER OFFFERED A NEW VEHICAL "AT COST" WHICH WE ACCEPTED. WERE TOLD THIS WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME A BATTERY HAD EXPLODED IN A ML320. THESE BATTERIES AND/OR THE IGNITION SYSTEM NEED TO BE RECALLED. FORTUNATELY NO ONE WAS HURT IN THIS INCIDENT, BUT IT DID OCCUR IN A GARAGE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO GAS LINES AND PILOT LIGHTS FOR THE WATER HEATER AND HOME HEATING UNIT, WITH MY WIFE AND CHILDREN IN THE CAR. THANK GOODNESS THEY DIDN'T ALL BLOW UP WITH THE BATTERY! *AK

Power Train › Automatic Transmission › Park/Neutral Start Interlock SwitchCrash
Filed Apr 19, 2000GA

VEHICLE WAS SITTING ON SMALL INCLINE & SLIPPED OUT OF GEAR. ROLLED BACK, JUMPED A CURVE AND WENT INTO A STREET, REARENDING ANOTHER VEHICLE. DEALER WILL BE CONTACTED. *AK

Air Bags › Frontal
Filed Feb 1, 1999CA

DRIVER SIDE AIRBAG FAILED. YH PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG FAILED. YH

3 of 3 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 1995
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20001000Routine
19992000Routine
1998 — this page3000Routine
19976110Routine
19964000Routine
199516020Routine
19942000Routine

Compare every SL320 year →

Other Mercedes Benz models

All Mercedes Benz models →
C300 3,958E350 2,210E320 1,164ML350 951GLK350 904ML320 742C250 725C230 657GLC 300 650E500 460

Reading 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.