AutoUtility currently tracks 20 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class. Seats & Interior issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 3 complaints (15% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 1 cites a fire.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 20 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Seats & Interior (3 reports • 15% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (2), Body & Structure (2)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 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
20
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class

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

#1 Problem Area 15% of complaints

Seats & Interior

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 10% of complaints

Electrical System

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 10% of complaints

Body & Structure

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 10% of complaints

Visibility, Wipers & Glass

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 10% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🔥 1 fire report
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 2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class

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

Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11731672
Filed: 04/16/2026

"Panoramic sunroof spontaneously shattered at some time between 2/4/26 and 2/5/26. Car was fine when I drove on 2/4/26 and parked at home at approximately 4:30p (still light outside). I got in car next day 2/5/26 at approximately 5:45p (when dark outside). Heard slight air/wind noise as pulled out..."

Incident Date: 02/05/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11686071
Filed: 09/09/2025

"water intrusion into the spare tire well compartment and the battery compartment affecting the battery and starter."

Incident Date: 09/08/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11646977
Filed: 03/07/2025

"Tailgate sometimes opens while driving. It sometimes takes many attempts to reclose it from the outside of car. It will not reclose using the electronic button on the door. The alert comes on on the dashboard and its extremely dangerous as luggage can fall out. This happened while highway driving..."

Incident Date: 03/03/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11582794
Filed: 04/13/2024

"Spontaneous shattering of anterior sunroof at highway speeds with no cars around and not near overpasses. Shattered glass rained all throughout the vehicle and passengers. Sounded like a gunshot and the glass appeared to be bowed out."

Incident Date: 04/13/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11565835
Filed: 01/16/2024

"Coolant Reservoir Hose Blew out on my 2016 GL450 Mercedes Benz."

Incident Date: 12/22/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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 GL-Class

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2016)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class 34 2 0 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class Current Page 20 1 1 Current
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 2016 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 13 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 5 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 3 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 2 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 1 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
Doors, Latches & Locks NHTSA category: LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 1 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 1 0 0 0
Visibility / Glass NHTSA category: VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 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 (20). 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.