Mercedes-Benz Amg Gle53, Mercedes-Benz Gle 350, Mercedes-Benz Gle 450, Mercedes-Benz Gle 580, Mercedes-Benz Gls 450, Mercedes-Benz Gls 580, model years 2020 to 2021. Filed by Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC and reported to NHTSA on 23 April 2021. 6,331 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2021 AMG GLE 53, 2020 GLE350, GLE450, GLE580, GLS450, and GLS580 vehicles. The air conditioner drain hoses may have been incorrectly installed, causing water to drain into the passenger compartment.
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.
Mercedes-Benz's own number for this recall: 2021040024. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 21V288 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 21V288 cover?
- Mercedes-Benz AMG Gle53, Mercedes-Benz Gle 350, Mercedes-Benz Gle 450, Mercedes-Benz Gle 580, Mercedes-Benz GLS 450, Mercedes-Benz GLS 580, model years 2020-2021.
- What is wrong with them?
- Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain 2021 AMG GLE 53, 2020 GLE350, GLE450, GLE580, GLS450, and GLS580 vehicles. The air conditioner drain hoses may have been incorrectly installed, causing water to drain into the passenger compartment.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- Water intrusion into the driver and passenger side foot wells may cause corrosion and/or short circuits to electrical components, increasing the risk of fire. In addition, the emergency call (eCall) feature may be disabled and the doors may not unlock, increasing the risk of injury.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Dealers will inspect and correct the air conditioner drain hoses, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 4, 2021. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. MBUSA's number for this recall is 2021040024.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Mercedes-Benz calls this recall 2021040024, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
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: “Water intrusion into the driver and passenger side foot wells may cause corrosion and/or short circuits to electrical components, increasing the risk of fire. In addition, the emergency call (eCall) feature may be disabled and the doors may…”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 21V288 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC |
| System at fault | Equipment:Appliance:Air Conditioner |
| Reported to NHTSA | 23 April 2021 |
| Model years | 2020-2021 |
| Vehicles named | MERCEDES-BENZ AMG GLE53, MERCEDES-BENZ GLE 350, MERCEDES-BENZ GLE 450, MERCEDES-BENZ GLE 580, MERCEDES-BENZ GLS 450, MERCEDES-BENZ GLS 580 |
What the notice says today
The consequence
Water intrusion into the driver and passenger side foot wells may cause corrosion and/or short circuits to electrical components, increasing the risk of fire. In addition, the emergency call (eCall) feature may be disabled and the doors may not unlock, increasing the risk of injury. Also, the engine may not start or may enter a limp-home mode, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and correct the air conditioner drain hoses, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 4, 2021. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372. MBUSA's number for this recall is 2021040024.
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 2,632 notices in the record whose component field names equipment. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 29 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Mercedes-Benz AMG Gle53 recalls: 19 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz Gle 350 recalls: 41 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz Gle 450 recalls: 41 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz Gle 580 recalls: 14 US campaigns
- Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 recalls: 21 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 21V288, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/21v288/
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.
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 21V288 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
65e35867 - Consequence
935373f0 - Remedy
bc9baa0f
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 21V288 · 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 AMG Gle53, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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