AutoUtility currently tracks 46 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA. Electrical System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 12 complaints (26.1% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 2 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 2 report one or more injuries. The 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA belongs to the 1st Generation (C117) platform.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 46 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Electrical System (12 reports • 26.1% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Air Bags & Restraints (8), Engine & Cooling (8)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Electrical System
NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #22V365000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE
- Campaign #21V058000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE
Air Bags & Restraints
NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #19V892000 AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
- Campaign #17V627000 AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
- Campaign #18V514000 AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Engine & Cooling
Body & Structure
NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #21V197000 STRUCTURE:BODY:ROOF AND PILLARS
- Campaign #23V854000 STRUCTURE:BODY:ROOF AND PILLARS
Powertrain & Transmission
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"Panel flew off on the highway it was terrifying."
"After a hard impact car continued to go then when came to a stop the air bags deployed which resulted in injuring my left arm"
"Water coming into the car through the floor"
"The instrument cluster gauges start giving in accurate information and the whole dash start turning on and off. I found hundreds of people posting complaints about this issue with the 2018 mercedes cla 250 but mercedes refuses to acknowledge this issue and put out a recall probably out of greed and..."
"Corrosion of the fuel system (on a Flex Fuel rated vehicle that had used E85 blend regularly) causing sudden loss of power, misfires, lack of acceleration The vehicle experience sudden loss of power, multiple misfires, and potential damage to the engine. Had the vehicle been on the highway or..."
Complaint History for Mercedes-Benz CLA
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 158 | 9 | 7 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 66 | 5 | 9 | View 2016 Problems → |
| 2017 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 27 | 2 | 10 | View 2017 Problems → |
| 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA Current Page | 46 | 2 | 10 | Current |
| 2019 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 51 | 4 | 6 | View 2019 Problems → |
| 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 24 | 1 | 13 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2021 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 8 | 1 | 6 | View 2021 Problems → |
| 2022 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 4 | 1 | 0 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 6 | 2 | 1 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 1 | 0 | 0 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2026 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Mercedes-Benz CLA
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 23 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,COMMUNICATION | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel System NHTSA category: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC),ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,AIR BAGS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,SUSPENSION | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,SEATS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.