AutoUtility currently tracks 24 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA. Driver Assistance & Safety Tech issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 9 complaints (37.5% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 2 report one or more injuries. The 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA belongs to the 2nd Generation (C118) platform.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 24 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (9 reports • 37.5% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (8), Visibility, Wipers & Glass (3)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 2 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
24
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
2
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 37.5% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

9 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
🩹 1 injury report entry
#2 Problem Area 33.3% of complaints

Electrical System

8 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 12.5% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🩹 1 injury report entry
#4 Problem Area 12.5% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 8.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11759627
Filed: 08/26/2026

"The turbo and turbo charger is going out on my car"

Incident Date: 07/31/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11730462
Filed: 04/10/2026

"The back-up camara is stuck open on the trunk for more than 30 days now. When I put it in reverse the camara will show for about 5 seconds and then go back to the home screen. I brought this to the attention of my advisor and he said that its a known issue. If Mercedes knows this is an issue with..."

Incident Date: 03/10/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: BACK OVER PREVENTION
Visibility, Wipers & Glass NHTSA ODI ID: #11728141
Filed: 03/30/2026

"While driving, the panoramic sunroof on my 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4MATIC shattered unexpectedly while fully closed. The interior sunshade was also closed at the time. There was no prior damage and no discernible impact. I did not observe or hear anything strike the vehicle. The fracture pattern..."

Incident Date: 03/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: VISIBILITY/WIPER
Visibility, Wipers & Glass NHTSA ODI ID: #11720510
Filed: 02/25/2026

"Front Windshield Wipers run randonly when they are not turned on manually. I would be driving and for no reason (no rain or water on the windshield) the wipers would come on and would not turn off when I used the switch. There was no warning message on my auto dash. It was startling and caused..."

Incident Date: 06/02/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: VISIBILITY/WIPER
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11686937
Filed: 09/12/2025

"My back up camera badge located at the trunk has been permanently stuck open for a few months now when I put car in reverse the screen shows my camera for 2 seconds then disappears and goes back to my Home Screen I brought to the dealer and they told me I need a new battery I replaced my battery..."

Incident Date: 04/09/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

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 46 2 10 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Mercedes-Benz CLA 51 4 6 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA Current Page 24 1 13 Current
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 →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 17 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION 4 0 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,EQUIPMENT 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 1 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 1 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 1 1 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (24). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

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.