Mercedes A-Class hatchback - Reliability & safety

The Mercedes A-Class’ reliability seems no better than average at the time of writing, but the A-Class boasts a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. The car’s seemingly excellent build quality looks to be offset by the sheer number of electronics to go wrong..

Mercedes A-Class reliability

The Mercedes A-Class finished 23rd out of the top 75 cars in our 2021 Driver Power survey, which is a strong result for the German hatchback. Its infotainment was highly rated, along with styling and how it drives. Owners were also pleased with its interior design and sturdy build quality.

Mercedes itself finished 13th out of 29 brands ranked, far ahead of BMW and Audi this year. Almost 19% of owners reported a fault with their cars within the first year of ownership, which is very slightly higher than average.

Safety

This A-Class has been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, achieving a five-star rating. All models get a good level of sophisticated safety kit as standard: automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, Mercedes' ‘ATTENTION ASSIST’ system that looks for signs of drowsiness in the driver, speed-limit assistance and cruise control all feature. Adaptive Brake Assist incorporates hill-hold and hill-start systems, while all models have an electronic handbrake.

There’s also an active bonnet that pops up in a collision to help minimise pedestrian injury. Optional equipment that helps improve safety includes adaptive LED headlights and Mercedes’ Parktronic with front and rear parking sensors and automatic parking ability.