Mercedes Benz Sl550, Mercedes Benz Sl63, Mercedes Benz Sl65, model year 2013. Filed by Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. and reported to NHTSA on 1 November 2013. 130 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes) is recalling certain model year 2013 SL63, SL550, and SL65 vehicles manufactured January 16, 2013, through April 30, 2013. The affected vehicles are equipped with an occupant classification system (OCS) that may not detect a very light person sitting in the front passenger seat.
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 13V542 cover?
- Mercedes Benz SL550, Mercedes Benz SL63, Mercedes Benz SL65, model year 2013.
- What is wrong with them?
- Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes) is recalling certain model year 2013 SL63, SL550, and SL65 vehicles manufactured January 16, 2013, through April 30, 2013.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- If the OCS does not detect a very light person sitting in the seat, the passenger side air bag would be turned off. In the event of a crash necessitating side air bag deployment, the passenger would be at an increased risk of injury.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Mercedes will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger side seat cushion including the OCS. The recall began on December 20, 2013. Owners may contact Mercedes at 1-201-573-0600.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “If the OCS does not detect a very light person sitting in the seat, the passenger side air bag would be turned off. In the event of a crash necessitating side air bag deployment, the passenger would be at an increased risk of injury.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 13V542 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| System at fault | Air Bags:Side/Window |
| Reported to NHTSA | 1 November 2013 |
| Model years | 2013-2013 |
| Vehicles named | MERCEDES BENZ SL550, MERCEDES BENZ SL63, MERCEDES BENZ SL65 |
What the notice says today
The consequence
If the OCS does not detect a very light person sitting in the seat, the passenger side air bag would be turned off. In the event of a crash necessitating side air bag deployment, the passenger would be at an increased risk of injury.
The remedy
Mercedes will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger side seat cushion including the OCS. The recall began on December 20, 2013. Owners may contact Mercedes at 1-201-573-0600.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 846 notices in the record whose component field names air bags. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 46 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Mercedes-Benz SL550 recalls: 7 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz SL63 recalls: 7 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz SL65 recalls: 3 US campaigns
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 13V542, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/13v542/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Mercedes-Benz notices we hold
- 26V481: 2020-2021 CLA, 2019-2022 A-Class, 2022-2023 C-Class, 2024 CLE, 2020-2026 GLA/GLB, and 2023-2024 GLC
- 26V281: 2024-2026 AMG GT, C-Class, E-Class, SL, CLE, and GLC
- 26V278: 2026 CLA 350 4MATIC (EV) and CLA 250+ (EV)
- 26V198: 2025 G580
- 26V176: 2009-2020 Setra S417 and 2012-2019 Setra S407
- 26V172: 2026 AMG GLC43 4MATIC, GLC 300 4MATIC, GLC 300, and GLC 300 4MATIC Coupe
- 26V134: 2026 GLA 250
- 26V073: 2023-2024 EQB 250+, 2022-2024 EQB 300 4MATIC, and EQB 350 4MATIC
All 391 Mercedes-Benz campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 13V542 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
e5be94f0 - Consequence
3cf1b62b - Remedy
a74fecb0
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 13V542 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Mercedes-Benz SL550, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
Put this notice on your site
A small badge that links here and names the register's reference. It costs one line of HTML and needs no key.
The badge is free to use. It links to this page and nowhere else, and it never shows advertising.
Owners of these cars
No register publishes what happens after the letter. Owners do: tell us, in two taps.
Anonymous: no account, no cookie, nothing you type is stored beyond these choices. Figures appear once 3 owners have answered, and are published with the record under CC BY 4.0.