2025 MERCEDES-BENZ GLE 450E 4MATIC Complaints

On XXX at approximately 8:45 am , at the Life Time parking lot, [XXX] the registered owner of the vehicle was slowly pulling the 2025 Mercedes Benz GLE 450 e into a parking space and was actively applying the brake as she entered the space. While she was braking, the vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly accelerated forward. she applied the brakes forcefully and continued braking hard throughout the entire unintended forward movement in an effort to stop the vehicle. Despite her continuous braking effort, the vehicle continued forward, traveled across the raised concrete curb, through the landscaping and bushes, across the grass and paved pedestrian path and toward the wetland reed area. She ultimately brought the vehicle to a stop. The distance from where the unexpected acceleration began to where the vehicle finally stopped was subsequently paced off at approximately 15 yards (45 ft). after the sop a dashboard display was photographed showing the message :ATTENTION ASSIST-SYSTEM SUSPENDED. The photograph documents the message after the event; no conclusion is being drawn from that message regarding the cause of the unexpected acceleration. Photographs taken after the event show tire marks on the paved path, disturbed grass/landscaping, the vehicle near/over the concrete curb, debris /vegetation on the tire tread, the drivers pedal/floor-mat area, and the dashboard message described above. I have requested that Mercedes Benz preserve potentially relevant diagnostic, event, control-module and connected -vehicle data before it is overwritten or altered. I am submitting this complaint because the event warrants evaluation as a potential motor-vehicle safety issue. I am not asserting a specific technical cause. I opened a case # XXX with Mercedes Benz Corporate Customer Care Center in GA. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

When operating at 65-70 MPH on a limited access highway and encountering a rough road surface, the vehicle seemed to rather dramatically "skip" to the side. The GLE450e moved laterally while maintaining the intended forward direction. During two of these events the vehicle departed the marked lane and in one of I had to immediately seize full manual control to avoid striking a vehicle in the adjacent lane. (In all events I was driving in the right lane.) This has occurred four times; three of the times adaptive cruise was set; one time not. In at least three of the cases the road appeared to have ripples in the asphalt. I am not sure of the road surface in the 4th case. Regardless, no "holes" were encountered. Notes: The date listed was the approximate first date of the described occurrence. This occurred in two states, OH and FL. There was less than 10,000 miles on the vehicle when the events occurred. A question: I wonder if the relatively great weight of the rear of the vehicle was a factor in these incidents. The battery is located rearward and the rear tires require unusually greater pressure -- much more than the front tires.

Shortly after we took possession of the car, I noticed that the warning that I was not holding the steering wheel would light up when I was holding the wheel with both hands in the 10-2 position. Flipping my fingers while continuing to hold the steering wheel was sufficient to switch the warning off. Also I was frequently being advised that the steering assist was inoperative and that the stop and go assist was inoperative. On August 21, 2025 when I was driving in I95, the various warnings described above appeared on the screen. The hands warning sign would not go off although I was holding the wheel correctly. A warning chime began and then a message that the system was initiating an emergency stop. I accelerated briefly and the warning disappeared. On August 28, 2025 I took the car to the dealer for assessment. I was advised that the car required a software update (Invoice no. 118573). I picked the car up on September 2, 2025. The following morning I received a telephone call from Mercedes Benz advising me that “Germany” had indicated overnight that the steering wheel needed to be replaced and I would be advised when that was available. I took the car back on September 11 for the steering wheel to be replaced. The previously described problems recurred other than the warning that an emergency stop was being initiated and I took the car back on December 12, 2025. Another new steering wheel was fitted. The problems persisted and the car was taken back. On this occasion a software update was performed. In late March 2026 when I was driving an a busy two lane road, the typical problems recurred but flipping my fingers did not work and the initiating an emergency stop warning appeared. Acceleration was not an option and there was no immediate place for me to pull off. I removed both hands from the steering wheel and the warnings disappeared. I regard these two emergency stop warnings as representing a significant safety issue.

This has happened twice. They “fixed” it and returned it to me and it did it again. I was about to pull out into traffic, once on the interstate and another time on a 2 lane highway… right as I hit the gas to pull out the car lurches forward and dies. Comes to a complete stop. It won’t crank back up, it won’t go into neutral or drive or reverse. The electoral system goes crazy and all lights start going off. One car had to go in the median to avoid colliding with me. I’m waiting on a police report but this was so scary I’m terrified to drive my car. The first time 4 weeks ago they said total electrical failure and fixed it. I drove it another few weeks and it did it again. The cop told me that I could have killed aomeone because when it stopped it didn’t even roll. The break was locked. We couldn’t push it out of traffic. We had to call a wrecker.

The contact owned a 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450E 4Matic. The contact stated that while driving on the right shoulder of a two-lane road at 30 MPH, the vehicle's front passenger-side wheel went off the road into a drop-off by a few inches. The contact attempted to overcorrect, and in the process, the vehicle flipped and rolled over five times before coming to a stop. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed to a local junkyard. No warning lights were illuminated. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The contact received minor injuries all over their body; they were seated in the driver's seat. No injuries were reported outside of the vehicle. Medical treatment was needed for the contact's injuries. The local dealer was not contacted, and the vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000.

While using adaptive cruise control, the car automatically applies brake in full force eventhough there is no object in front of the car. Almost cause couple accidents where there are cars behind me. This happened multiple times in one trip (500 miles trip)

When accelerating in hybrid mode, the vehicle loses power and forcefully reduces speed. A "Performance extremely limited" message appears on the driver console. Sometimes it goes into "turtle" mode, limiting performance until the car it is turned off. Sometimes the "check engine" light comes on, with or without the "turtle" light. This is a safety issue when you are trying to accelerate onto a highway and the car reduces speed, thus increasing the risk of being rear-ended in heavy traffic. There are times when the car loses power and there is no emergency lane to move into. The car has been taken to the dealership's service department multiple times and the issue has been confirmed. They tried updating the software but it did not resolve the issue. This occurred for the first time about 4 months after purchasing the new vehicle. It had 3500 miles on it. There are many reports of this happening to others. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The vehicle loses power while driving and flashes "Performance Extremely Limited." We have had this happen in intersections and while getting on the highway almost causing an accident on more than one occasion. When this occurs the vehicle decelerates quickly, will not use the batter and basic functions like the air conditioning stop working.

Coolant hose was rubbing on the drive shaft and at 4,931 miles the coolant hose failed and the vehicle lost all coolant from the system. Fortunately the hose failed after the car was driven into our garage and not on the open highway. We had just returned from a 1,000 mile trip to Nashville, TN from Winston-Salem, NC. This is a PHEV and the coolant also effects the temperature of the EV batteries. This was a improper installation of the coolant hose. I have attached a picture that I took of the hose showing the rubbing on the drives shaft. I have also included a copy of the repair to the car that is properly installed. The repair was done under warranty. The vehicle had to be towed and according to Mercedes service department was not drivable even though the EV battery was fully charged.

GLE 450e Plug In-Hybrid. Car went into ‘Turtle Mode’ on Saturday March 8th for no known reason. Turtle Light and Check Engine warning lights came on and there was a warning message “Significant Reduction in Power”. My understanding this is a vehicle initiated precaution when something triggers the vehicle to go into reduced power mode. This all happened after the car had been driven on the highway for about 2.5 hours. It was running in gas engine mode since the battery power had been off for 1.5hrs. It was also about 30F in VT that day. The turtle mode came on as soon as we exited the highway. The vehicle was drivable, but there was almost no acceleration from 0-20mph. Once the car was above 25 mph and 2k RPM’s it could run 40-60mph but it had no brisk acceleration. When we stopped at lights, the poor acceleration continued all the way to our destination (so it ran 1.5 hours in Turtle Mode). But this is certainly a flow of traffic issue as the car pulls away from stops at a very slow and deliberate speed forcing other drivers to alter their driving. When we parked the car at our destination both the Turtle warning light and check engine light were still illuminated. Several hours later for our 4-hour return trip back from VT, when we started the car the check engine light was on but the Turtle warning indicator was off. The car appeared to run normally in ICE mode but we didn’t push it hard. Towards the end of our trip after we stopped for gas, the check engine light stayed off.