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What 3 owners told NHTSA about the 2025 Mercedes-benz GLA

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 (3)Crash / fire / injury (1)Brakes (2)Transmission & drivetrain (2)Electrical system (1)

2 of 3 complaints match · Brakes · clear filters

Mar 26, 2026BrakesTransmission & drivetrain

The contact owns a 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLA250. The contact stated that while his wife was stopped at a traffic light and attempting to depress the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The vehicle shut off unexpectedly, and the gear shifter ceased. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was towed to dealer, where it was diagnosed and it was determined that the ABS sensors and transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, and the ABS sensor was replaced. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle could be traded. The manufacturer requested a buyback, but the request was denied. The approximate failure mileage was 18,500.

NHTSA ODI 11727233

Mar 6, 2026Transmission & drivetrainElectrical systemBrakesCrash1 injury

I pulled into a parking space, cars on each side of me and car in front of me had pulled through the space to park. As I eased into the space, foot on brake, the car violently shook and surged forward, smashing into the rear of the car in front of me. The car continued to shake then moved to the left and crashed into the car in front of me to the left. The car that I hit in the rear was pushed into a car passing by them. So 4 cars involved due to this major malfunction. When the car stopped, I was able to put it in reverse and back up. I could not have done what happened on own. I had no control over the vehicle. Brakes were mush. My Mercedes also has a safety feature where if I get too close to a car, it will brake on its own. Red & yellow lights were flashing, the car shook during the entire event until it came to a stop. My insurance carrier, State Farm, had the car towed to the Mercedes dealership. The service technician saw no codes, therefore, they say nothing is wrong with the car. I know that cars do not always throw codes. I googled what my car did and it is a thing. The article gives suggestions as to what can be checked, but Mercedes refuses to check anything since no codes were there. State Farm asked to me ask for the black box info (Event Data Recorder), however, Mercedes refuses. The car is unsafe to drive. If it happened once, it will absolutely happen again. State Farm is having the car towed to a different body shop today, as Mercedes body shop is price gouging. I do not want to drive the car until they find out what happened and they keep telling me there's nothing wrong with the car. It is a safety hazard. Next time it happens, it could be a person in front, rather than a car. Can you help me? Photos show skid marks where the brakes were useless.

NHTSA ODI 11722491

Working with the data? Download all 3 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 2025 Mercedes-benz GLA verdict →