2013 Mercedes-Benz E550 problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Air Bags (8) · Suspension (3) · Wheels (1)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Mercedes-Benz E550 model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
Safety recalls (5)
Communication 2019-11-01 · campaign 19V787000 · 24,226 vehicles
Defect: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2013-2017 vehicles due to a software fault that may cause the date and time for the emergency call system (eCall) to differ from the actual date and time, potentially relaying an inaccurate vehicle location. For a full list of the affected models visit: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2019/RMISC-19V787-4620.pdf
Risk: An inaccurate vehicle location may delay emergency responders, increasing the risk of injury.
Fix: MBUSA has initiated an Over the Air (OTA) remote update. MBUSA will also notify owners, and dealers will check software for a successful OTA or update the communication module software as needed, free of charge. The recall began December 23, 2019. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. MBUSA's number for this recall is 2019120008.
Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2019-01-09 · campaign 19V010000 · 288,779 vehicles
Defect: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2014 C250, C300 4Matic, C350, C63 AMG, E350 4Matic Coupe, E350 Cabrio, E350 Coupe, SLS AMG Cabrio, SLS AMG Coupe, 2014-2015 C250 Coupe, C350 4Matic Coupe, C350 Coupe, C63 AMG Coupe, GLK 350, GLK250 BlueTec 4Matic, GLK350 RWD, 2015-2017 E400 4Matic Coupe, E400 Cabrio, E400 Coupe, 2014-2017 E550 Cabrio, and 2014-2016 E550 Coupe vehicles sold, or ever registered, in the states of AL, CA, FL, GA, HI, LA, MS, SC, TX, PR, AS, GU, the MP, and VI or "Z
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the passenger or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began March 29, 2019. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372.
Air Bags:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2018-01-10 · campaign 18V043000 · 132,167 vehicles
Defect: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2013 C250, C250 Coupe, C350 Coupe 4Matic, C300 4Matic, C350, C350 Coupe, C63 AMG, C63 Coupe, E350 Cabrio, E350 Coupe, E550 Cabrio, E350 Coupe 4Matic, E550 Coupe, GLK350 4Matic, GLK250 Bluetec 4Matic, GLK350, SLS Coupe, SLS AMG GT Coupe, and SLS Roadster vehicles sold, or ever registered, in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag module, free of charge. Mercedes issued an interim notification to owners on February 23, 2018. A second notice will be mailed when remedy parts are available. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-877-496-3691.
Air Bags:frontal 2017-10-06 · campaign 17V627000 · 495,290 vehicles
Defect: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. (MBUSA) is recalling these vehicles: 2014-2018 CLA250, CLA250 4Matic, CLA45 AMG 4Matic, 2015-2018 GLA250, GLA250 4Matic, GLA45 AMG 4Matic, C300 4Matic, C63S AMG, 2012-2014 C250, C350, C300 4Matic, E550 4Matic, 2013-2014 C63 AMG, 2012-2015 C250 Coupe, C350 Coupe, C63 AMG Coupe, 2013-2015 C350 4Matic Coupe, GLK250 4Matic BlueTec, GLK350, GLK350 4Matic, 2016-2017 C350e, C43 AMG, 2015 C400 4Matic, 2016-2018 C63 AMG, GLC300, GLC300 4Matic, 2017-2018 C300 Coupe, C300 4Matic Cou
Risk: If the driver air bag inadvertently deploys, it can increase the risk of injury and a crash.
Fix: MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will add sufficient grounding to the steering components, free of charge. The recall began in December 6, 2017. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-877-496-3691.
Structure:body:hood 2015-02-13 · campaign 15V088000 · 147,224 vehicles
Defect: Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. (MBUSA) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 E350 Sedan, E350 4Matic Sedan, E350 4Matic Station Wagon, E400 Hybrid Sedan, CLS 550 CGI, and CLS550 4Matic, 2013-2014 E550 4Matic Sedan, 2013 E63 Sedan, E63 Station Wagon and CLS63, 2014-2015 CLS63 4Matic, E63 4Matic Sedan, E63 4Matic Sedan "S", and E63 4Matic Station Wagon, 2015 CLS400, 2015 E400 Sedan, E400 4Matic Sedan and CLS400 4Matic and 2014 CLS63 "S". The affected vehicles have a rubber seal at the back of the en
Risk: If the rubber seal falls into the engine compartment, it may contact parts of the exhaust system, increasing the risk of a fire.
Fix: MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will attach four additional retaining clips to the rubber seal, free of charge. The recall began March 6, 2015. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-201-573-5339. MBUSA's number for this recall is 2015020001.
Service bulletins (141)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Service Brakes 2026-09-22 · LI42.10-P-078779 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
complaint repeat workshop visit for vehicle vibration while braking from 60mph. note: although the symptom is similar to a tire or wheel vibration, it is usually readily noticeable that it is distinctly different if it happens at all times or only while braking. cause although the cause of the vibra
Structure:body 2026-09-14 · LI82.62-P-078631 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
complaint clanking noise from the area of the speakers in the doors. cause under analysis. remedy to narrow down the cause, first of all remove the door trim. • if the noise continues to occur even with the door trim removed, then continue the diagnosis working towards the speaker and if necessary,
Electrical System 2026-08-06 · LI82.85-P-079087 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
complaint a popup is seen on the hu with the message "data connection temporarily not available". potentially affected functionalities in ntg4.5, ntg5 1.weather 2.local search 3.ip radio 4.send2car 5.speech detection service 6.navigation 7.iheartradio 8.traffic cams cause mb apps is sundowned for al
Structure:body 2026-08-06 · LI82.62-P-078631 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
complaint clanking noise from the area of the speakers in the doors. cause under analysis. remedy to narrow down the cause, first of all remove the door trim. • if the noise continues to occur even with the door trim removed, then continue the diagnosis working towards the speaker and if necessary,
Power Train 2026-07-14 · LI35.30-P-058566 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
single throttle lift-off clunking noise from the side shaft when moving off (audible at the outboard end). the noise is heard once in each instance when changing direction of travel. note: sound file in attachment cause if the complaint is eliminated by experimentally loosening the outboard collar n
Electrical System 2026-05-26 · LI82.85-P-080507 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
complaint after successful commissioning of the hermes control unit (n112/9) with xentry diagnosis dvd 03/2026, the message "sos - service not activated" appears on the instrument cluster. in addition, the following two conditions are also met: • hermes (n112/9) control unit: event code b15ce00 is a
Showing the 6 most recent of 141 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2024-03-12 · Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking · 20,800 mi“the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550. the contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph and depressing the vehicle brake pedal, the vehicle failed to immediately stop. during the failure, the "forward collision avoidance" feature had malfunctioned. the contact stated that the failure had occurred on two separate occasions. the vehicle was…”
2023-04-23 · Suspension“while under a hard stop the vehicle’s rear end started to swing back and forth suddenly causing loss of control of the vehicle. mercedes benz diagnosed the problem as a rusted through subframe which they’ve said is a “known issue” and extended the warranty on the part. the part is unavailable and there’s no eta from mercedes which means that the ve…”
2023-04-14 · Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:engine Control Module (Ecu/Ecm) · 89,000 mi“the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550. the contact stated that upon taking the vehicle to the dealer for servicing, the dealer diagnosed that oil had leaked from the cam adjusters to the wiring harness and had reached the ecu. the dealer replaced the camshaft position sensors, the camshaft solenoid and the ecu. the vehicle was repaired. the ma…”
2022-09-07 · Structure:body · 92,000 mi“rear frame and brake line damage due to rust and corrosion problems identified by euro motorcars devon (car dealer) car will not pass safety inspection outside manufacturer warranty considerations outside extended warranty considerations …”
2020-11-30 · Air Bags“tl* takata recall. the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 19v010000 (air bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. a dealer was not contacted. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer w…”
2020-01-08 · Air Bags“tl* takata recall. the contact owns a 2013 mercedes- benz e550. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 18v043000 (air bags) however, the part for the recall repair was unavailable. the contact stated the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. a dealer was not contacted. the manufacturer was…”
2019-06-06 · Air Bags“tl* takata recall. the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550. the contact stated that the recall notice for nhtsa campaign number: 18v043000 (air bags) was received. after contacting the dealer (mercedes benz of sarasota, 4754 clark rd, sarasota, fl) and the manufacturer, the contact was informed that the parts needed for the recall remedy were st…”
2019-02-13 · Air Bags“tl* the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550c. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 19v010000 (air bags). the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. mercedes-benz of oklahoma city (14240 broadway extension hwy, edmond, ok 73013, (405) 236-1224) was contacted and conf…”
2019-01-11 · Air Bags“tl* takata recall. the contact owns a 2013 mercedes-benz e550. the contact received a recall notification for nhtsa campaign number: 18v043000 (air bags) and stated that the manufacturer failed to repair the vehicle within a reasonable amount of time. mercedes-benz of walnut creek (1301 parkside dr, walnut creek, ca 94596) confirmed that parts were…”
2018-11-03 · Air Bags · 24,000 mi“tamara recall. i learned today that mb sent notices supposedly in february of 2018 about cars that were now or ever have been in the state of georgia. mine was sold in atlanta. i bought it as a certified preowned in 2014. i have received no notices. i also owned a 2011 ml 350 bluetec that i bought new in dec 2010. i have periodically received not…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.