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What 44 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Mercedes-benz CLA

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (44)Crash / fire / injury (2)Electrical system (12)Engine (9)Airbags (7)Body & structure (6)Transmission & drivetrain (4)Fuel system (3)Communication (2)Seats (2)Steering (2)Electronic Stability Control (esc) (1)

1 of 44 complaints match · Electrical system · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

May 9, 2023Electrical systemFire

My car randomly caught on fire, it was parked in my apartment garage for a week while I was out of town. I came back to use my car and my car remote wasn’t unlocking the car so i unlocked it manually. When I opened the car it wreaked of smoke, the windows were covered in soot, the visors were bubbled up, the passenger seat had a chunk missing. It was investigated by a car shop for My insurance and the car shop Said they felt like the fire started from the wires under the passenger seat. Of course it was deemed a total loss and now I’m out of car. I hadn’t even had the car a year.

NHTSA ODI 11521136

Working with the data? Download all 44 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2018 Mercedes-benz CLA verdict →