AutoUtility currently tracks 27 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 8 complaints (29.6% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 2 cite a fire, 1 reports one or more injuries. The 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS belongs to the 2nd Generation / GL Facelift (X166) platform.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 27 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (8 reports • 29.6% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Suspension (5), Electrical System (3)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 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
27
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
2
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS

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

#1 Problem Area 29.6% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

8 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#2 Problem Area 18.5% of complaints

Suspension

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#3 Problem Area 11.1% of complaints

Electrical System

3 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
#4 Problem Area 11.1% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

3 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 7.4% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

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 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS

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

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11759595
Filed: 08/25/2026

"the vehicle suffered a sudden and catastrophic engine failure while being driven on the freeway at about 60mph. The engine seized and the vehicle lost propulsion creating a serious safety concern"

Incident Date: 08/06/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11745739
Filed: 06/22/2026

"The front vehicle hood keep saying it open but is lock keep getting a message saying is open I am afraid is might come out lock and cause me to an accident"

Incident Date: 05/21/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11739507
Filed: 05/22/2026

"I am reporting a serious safety defect in my 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS450. My vehicle experienced low oil pressure warnings and engine warning lights, which were diagnosed as a faulty oil pump solenoid valve. The repair required removing major engine components, resulting in a cost of $5,000 that I..."

Incident Date: 03/16/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11718210
Filed: 02/16/2026

"When I attempt to shift from park to to drive or reverse or even neutral the car wont respond. this has happened a couple of times in the last two months. I press on the brake in order to shift and it wont respond to any commands . I then have no choice but to turn off the car and then turn it back..."

Incident Date: 02/16/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11699347
Filed: 11/14/2025

"The panoramic sunroof spontaneously shattered while driving down the road. The glass blew out from the inside out. There didn't appear to be any issues with the sunroof before this. As far as safety, just the noise of the explosion was enough to surprise the driver causing a jerking of the steering..."

Incident Date: 11/14/2024 • 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 GLS

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2017–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS 41 1 8 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Mercedes-Benz GLS 22 1 4 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS Current Page 27 1 3 Current
2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS 38 3 24 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Mercedes-Benz GLS 37 2 12 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Mercedes-Benz GLS 15 2 10 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Mercedes-Benz GLS 10 0 5 View 2023 Problems →
2024 Mercedes-Benz GLS 0 0 0 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Mercedes-Benz GLS 0 0 0 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Mercedes-Benz GLS 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 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLS

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 16 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
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 3 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 3 0 1 0 0
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 2 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 2 0 1 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 2 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ENGINE,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE,AIR BAGS 1 1 0 2 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 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 (27). 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.