Mercedes Says Park Outside, Your High Voltage Battery May Catch Fire

For owners of the Mercedes-Benz EQB, the latest recall contains the one phrase that has become the modern nightmare of EV ownership: "Park outside and away from structures."

Mercedes-Benz USA has issued a recall for 11,895 electric vehicles, including the 2023-2024 EQB 250+, along with the 2022-2024 EQB 300 4MATIC and EQB 350 4MATIC, due to a critical defect in the high-voltage battery that could lead to a fire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is advising owners to park their vehicles outdoors immediately, regardless of whether they are plugged in or not.

According to NHTSA's documents, the problem is due to an internal failure within the battery pack itself, which is present in 100% of the recalled population.

When a high-voltage cell fails internally—often due to separator degradation or manufacturing defects—it can trigger a thermal runaway event, where the heat from one failing cell cascades to its neighbors. Dealers are being instructed to replace the entire high-voltage battery assembly free of charge, a massive undertaking that suggests the pack’s internal architecture cannot be trusted to remain stable.

This new campaign replaces two previous recalls (25V050 and 25V894), meaning that even if you have already taken your EQB in for service under those prior notices, your vehicle is still at risk and requires this new fix. Until the replacement packs are available and installed, Mercedes is advising a strict charging limit of 80 percent capacity. By capping the state of charge, the thermal stress and energy density within the cells are reduced, theoretically lowering the probability of spontaneous combustion.

Interim notification letters are scheduled to hit mailboxes by February 27, 2026, with a second notice to follow once parts are allocated to dealers.

This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.

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