2017 Mercedes-Benz GLC
This year drew an ordinary 230 complaints for a Mercedes-Benz GLC — the model's median is 121. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.8% of them mention smell, against 0.5% across the model's other years.
| Complaints filed | 230 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 121 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- smell — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 0.5% across the model's other years (15.3×). Owners wrote it as: smell, gasoline, smell gas, replace engine.
- heard — 9.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the model's other years (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: heard, belt latch, activated seat, belt light.
- caught — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the model's other years (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: caught, vehicle motion, entered.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
While driving vehicle, the seat belt pretensioner is activated and the seat belt light and alarm is activated. This cycle occurs throughout the drive, regardless of speed. Seems as though the seat belt latch does not sense that the seat belt is activated. This…
I smell gas in my car. There is a recall for the fuel parts on the 2019. I have a 2017 with the same issue.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Mercedes-Benz GLC was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLC? What happened to yours?
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