RoadVitals

2004 Mercedes-Benz SL600 Owner Complaints

Reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers, shown in full

Data refreshed

Complaints on fileComplaints are reports submitted to NHTSA by owners and drivers. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a complaint does not establish that a defect exists. Volume is influenced by how many of a vehicle were sold, how long it has been on the road, and how much attention an issue has received.
4
Latest Dec 3, 2025
Crash or fire reportedComplaints whose submitter recorded that a crash or a fire occurred. These are the reporter's own answers on the NHTSA form, not verified findings.
0
Filed in the last 12 monthsReports filed with NHTSA in the trailing 365 days. Recent volume reflects attention and vehicle age as much as anything else.
1
Reports on file since Jul 7, 2010

What this page shows

Our database holds 4 NHTSA owner-reported complaints for the 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL600. Each one is a report filed by an owner or driver and published by NHTSA without most of them being verified. A complaint is not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. Narratives are shown exactly as filed.

Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.

Complaints, most recent first

Showing 1–4 of 4

BrakesElectrical
Filed Dec 3, 2025

The safety component that is covered under the SBC warranty is the entire brake master cylinder specifically the part that is bad is the brake pedal position sensor The car is undriveable without it, they have a 25-year warranty on it yet they have no parts and no way to fix it which is obviously unacceptable they've also refused to provide a loaner car until they come up with a way to fix my car leaving me on the side of the road with nothing to drive it's unacceptable! My safety and everybody's safety on the road is affected by this because the car won't stop if you drive it and you have really strong legs you can get it to slow down and eventually stop it's completely unsafe The brake pedal cannot tell the computer where it is in its travel which means the system doesn't know that you're applying the brakes which don't work. Yes the problem has been confirmed by two shops one of which has a snap-on scanner which I can attach the scan to showing the issue and currently the car is sitting at a shop that uses Mercedes-Benz only star system the same system that they use in the dealership there is no question at any level what is wrong with the vehicle. The car is not safe to drive to the dealership and now in the winter this $132,000 convertible isn't going to be driven in the salt just to get to a dealership to find out what they're not going to do for me I've already confirmed and share the scans and images and everybody I've spoken with at the dealerships agrees that it's ridiculous that Mercedes has a 25-year warranty on a part that they do not make do not have and cannot fix Yes there are two different brake malfunction lights that are on the dash you cannot clear them as though in a code way like you can on some things and the car is not to be driven, the problem first arose a couple months ago and we started diagnosing it until on the Facebook forum somebody told me that it's covered by a 25-year SBC warranty which when I contacted the dealer and Mercedes-

NHTSA ID
11702808
Incident
Oct 1, 2025
Electrical
Filed Nov 29, 2023

Mercedes SL600 BCM has electrical issues leading to a fire it is available for inspection. The car can burn down in a garage putting me and all others in or near the dwelling at risk. Yes the problem has been confirmed independently. No BCM issues lead to red light on dash.

NHTSA ID
11557421
Incident
Nov 29, 2023
Fuel system
Filed Jul 18, 2014

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2004 MERCEDES BENZ SL600. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING 50 MPH, THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHERE THE TECHNICIAN DIAGNOSED THAT THE FUEL TANK NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 40,000 AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 40,100.

NHTSA ID
10614504
Incident
Jun 12, 2014
Mileage
40,000 mi
Fuel system
Filed Jul 7, 2010

KNOCKING NOISE BEGIN TO APPEAR BEHIND THE DRIVER'S SEAT. AT FIRST, BELIEVED TO BE LOOSE ITEM IN THE TRUNK BUT CHECK AND CAN'T FIND. LOOKED AT FORUM AND FOUND THAT MANY 2003/2004 MERCEDES BENZ SL CLASS HAS THE SAME PROBLEM WITH DEFECTIVE GAS TANK BAFFLE. WHENEVER I BRAKE OR ACCELERATE, I HEAR THE KNOCKING NOISE, WHICH ALSO KNOCKS TWO OR THREE TIMES EVERYTIME I BRAKE OR ACCELERATE. IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING IS HANGING FROM A STRING OR FLOATING AND THEN BECAUSE OF INERTIA IT KNOCKS AGAINST THE SIDE OF A CONTAINER. THE HAZARD THAT I FEAR IS THAT THE FLOATING MATERIAL IN THE GAS TANK KNOCKS AGAINST THE TANK AND CREATE A SPARK THAT CAN IGNITE THE TANK CAUSING A FIRE. THE KNOCKING NOISE HAPPENS EVERYTIME THE CAR JERKS FROM BRAKING OR ACCELERATING. *TR

NHTSA ID
10341914
Incident
Jul 6, 2010
Mileage
86,000 mi

Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.

Data sources

Data on this page last refreshed .