Mercedes A-Class saloon - Reliability & safety

The Mercedes A-Class is often one of the UK’s best-selling cars, but reliability only received a mediocre score in our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. If any teething problems should arise, at least you'll be covered by the three-year warranty and roadside assistance Mercedes includes as standard.

Mercedes A-Class saloon reliability

The Mercedes A-Class finished 39th out of the top 75 cars in our 2023 Driver Power survey, which is nine places down from the previous year. This time around, reliability seems to be a worry, with the A-Class coming in a disappointing 41st place for this category in the survey. 

Mercedes as a brand finished 25th out of 32 brands ranked in 2023 – it’s placed quite low in recent years so this is a disappointing result for the premium German marque. Mercedes trailed behind most competitor brands except Audi, which finished in a lowly 30th place. A worrying 28% of owners reported a fault with their cars within the first year of ownership, which is higher than average.

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Safety

Independent crash-test body Euro NCAP has awarded the A-Class hatchback the full five stars, so the near-identical saloon should be just as safe. The Mercedes is fitted with an array of safety systems, both active (to help prevent a crash) and passive, (protecting occupants should the worst happen). Autonomous emergency braking and active lane-keeping assistance are fitted as standard, along with a system designed to detect drowsiness in the driver.