Mercedes Hybrid Issues: Be AWARE

Motoring Issues From Genuine Complaints About Mercedes Hybrid Issues

Does Your Mercedes Benz Have Issues?

Mercedes Benz are one of the most popular cars on the road in most parts of Europe. Not for no reason as they are designed in 2022 to be reliable, comfy for long journeys and keep their value reasonably well.

However they do come with issues. Below we list the latest news and issues from Mercedes Benz owners so that you can check out to see if the Mercedes car you are looking to buy has issues here. We are mainly looking at the Mercedes plug in hybrid to start with as this has a very serious cost issue.

The most common problems with Mercedes-Benz hybrid vehicles are the failure of the power electronic module and the failure of the hybrid battery.

To fix either one of these problems at the dealership, it will cost you a mouth watering $9,000 to $12,000. That is a figure most people buying this car 2nd hand cannot afford.

Also a big issue here is the fact that there are not many people world wide who have the skills and the knowledge to repair hybrid batteries. Not even Mercedes Benz have dealers who are capable of carrying out the repairs.

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Mercedes Plug In Hybrid – E Class 

You could be looking at some serious headaches if you own or have bought a Mercedes Benz E Class Hybrid Model.

Check out this about a Mercedes Hybrid buyer who found out that the battery that was less than 10 years old was going to cost more than the value of the car to get it replaced as the current hybrid battery was completely dead.

Ranjit Singh from Leicester in the UK bought a Mercedes Benz from a mercedes dealership for £27,000. Now that in itself is no small amount of cash. He was buying into the electric car business thinking he was doing the right thing in lowering the Co2 emissions and moving into the greener alternatives.

This however turned into a nightmare when the Hybrid Battery on the 8 year old Mercedes failed. He was quoted £15,000 for a replacement. Yes you read that right £15,000 to replace a HYBRID Battery.

The car itself is only 8 years old, and is worth far less than the cost of a replacement battery. How does an 8 year old car become unsaleable and unusable. We have cars from the 1950, and 1960s that are still running today, and cost far less to maintain than our current crop of electric and hybrid cars. What does the future actually look like with these VERY expensive repairs.

There are many E-Class owners with complaints about the hybrid model, but that doesn't mean the problem is unique. If you look at the forum posts and comments, you will see that there are many owners with worries based around the hybrid batteries.

The main reason why so many people have problems is because Mercedes has done a poor job of communicating with the owners about the issues and they have been unable to resolve them.

A couple of years ago, a Malaysian owner of the hybrid model shared a repair bill on social media that showed Mercedes charging RM120,000 (equal to around $28,000 at today’s exchange rates) for the battery alone.

After the ruckus, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia issued a statement announcing a new recommended retail price of RM50,000 or about $12,000 for the E300 hybrid and RM65,000 or $15,600 for the S400 hybrid.

Reading through the facebook post you can see other disgruntled owners with different cars suffering problems with hybrid batteries.

Throw Catalytic Converter Thefts Into The Equasion

When you add into this problem the thefts of Catalytic converters, which are also fitted to Hybrids, you can see that a bigger picture of expensive problems are always around. It takes a catalytic thief around 3 or 4 minutes to cut the cat off your car with his angle grinder.

I personally was the victim of a new catalytic converter theft some years ago on a petrol Peugeot 7 seater car. They cut the exhaust straight through the manifold which meant a costly repair over the value of what the car was worth which meant the car was scrapped.

They now target carparks and large metro areas, stealing as many as they can in one go.

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Mercedes Plug In Hybrid – C Class

We have not heard of any horror stories from the batteries of the Mercedes C Class Hybrid, however the battery will be just as expensive as the E Class Hybrid, so unless you have one within warranty and or very deep pockets, this also looks like a car to avoid when it gets beyond a certain age.

Growing range: All current Hybrid and Electric Drive vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Cars worldwide

After the E300 BlueTEC HYBRID, S400 HYBRID, S300 BlueTEC HYBRID, C300 BlueTEC HYBRID and S500 PLUG-IN HYBRID, the C350e is the latest hybrid model to come from Mercedes Benz.

In the years to come the main emphasis will be on plug-in hybrids. The company is also a leading player in the field of purely electric mobility.

2012: Smart electric drive
2012: E300 BlueTEC HYBRID
2013: SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive
2013: S400 HYBRID
2013: S300 BlueTEC HYBRID
2014: C300 BlueTEC Hybrid
2014: B-Class Electric Drive
2014: S550 PLUG-IN HYBRID
2015: C350e

Questions & Answers

Would worries over repair costs put you off buying a used hybrid? Leave a comment and let us know.