A class rear view camera constantly opening at slow speed

[markjay]

..As he is in Australia the number plate design and size my be different to UK type.

Ah, of course, it's upside down!

 

[Albtay]

Just joined this group and have a question for A class owners. Bought a new 2023 A class 180 in April and I have an issue with the rear view camera. When I first set off the rear view camera opens then closes once you get to about 20mph. Thats no problem so far. What happens next is a problem though. Every time I slow down to 16mph the camera opens then closes again once I get back up to 20mph. It can do this for up to 10 times or even more before it stops doing it. It does this every time I start the car after it has been sitting for a while. The camera opening and closing is very noisy and extremely irritating. I took it into the dealer and after doing some tests and attempted software updates I was advised that this is normal operation on the new A class as it carries out a recalibration every time the car is started up. I was taken out for a test drive in another A class and it did indeed do the same thing. Anyone else on here experienced this issue?

I have just gone out to check my car and the camera is not obstructed by the number plate and operates freely so this will not fix my cars camera issue but thanks anyway for trying. It may be that in your car the problem was worse than mine due to the obstruction but it sounds as if you still have the same fundamental problem of constant camera calibration.

Sorry, this doesn't helped you. Yeah, the recalibration is still happening but certainly much less and minimal noise. The noise level is so low that unless I want to pay special attention to it, I wouldn't hear it. Just now, when I took the car out for lunch and back, I was just telling my wife 'it should be happening here and here' but it didn't. My camera was previously touching the plate slightly but was still operating ok, so not really a major obstruction. Maybe worth taking out your plate (though may be illegal) and go for a drive.

 

[JCW36]

No further forward - after 2 months with the dealer, car has returned with noise still present. Mercedes Benz Financial Services have said that the noise is not grounds for rejection and if dissatisfied need to go to the Financial Services Ombudsman. Mercedes Benz UK say my case is sitting with the customer advocacy team in Maastricht where it has sat since January and that they will not be doing anything more about the noise issue as it is not a noise, it is a characteristic! They have stated that I must deal with MB Financial Services. MB Financial Services have said that they won't deal with me now as I have complained to the Financial Services Ombudsman and that all correspondence must go through them. I even wrote to the MB UK CEO to complain about the poor communication and customer service however his assistant simply replied to say that I needed to deal with the Ombudsman and that there was not a fault or an issue - it was a characteristic. I've had another 2 of these cars which had neither a noise or this characteristic and on this basis my expectation was that this car shouldn't either. The dealer has also now washed their hands of me as they have said they have done all the can and that I will just have to wait to see what transpires.

 

[DonaldS]

No further forward - after 2 months with the dealer, car has returned with noise still present. Mercedes Benz Financial Services have said that the noise is not grounds for rejection and if dissatisfied need to go to the Financial Services Ombudsman. Mercedes Benz UK say my case is sitting with the customer advocacy team in Maastricht where it has sat since January and that they will not be doing anything more about the noise issue as it is not a noise, it is a characteristic! They have stated that I must deal with MB Financial Services. MB Financial Services have said that they won't deal with me now as I have complained to the Financial Services Ombudsman and that all correspondence must go through them. I even wrote to the MB UK CEO to complain about the poor communication and customer service however his assistant simply replied to say that I needed to deal with the Ombudsman and that there was not a fault or an issue - it was a characteristic. I've had another 2 of these cars which had neither a noise or this characteristic and on this basis my expectation was that this car shouldn't either. The dealer has also now washed their hands of me as they have said they have done all the can and that I will just have to wait to see what transpires.

No surprises here then unfortunately. Seems like we are just going to have to live with this “characteristic”. I wonder when a characteristic becomes a fault in design that requires rectification? Interested to hear what the Ombudsman says about it all. Are you even allowed to say Ombudsman these days - shouldn’t it be Ombudsperson?

 

[E55BOF]

Ombudsbod?

 

[oldguy57]

No surprises here then unfortunately. Seems like we are just going to have to live with this “characteristic”. I wonder when a characteristic becomes a fault in design that requires rectification? Interested to hear what the Ombudsman says about it all. Are you even allowed to say Ombudsman these days - shouldn’t it be Ombudsperson?

I wouldn't hold your breath on any complaint to the Ombudsman service. I have referred problems to 2 such services (1 on a very serious issue indeed) - both were utterly useless and had to issue formal apologies about the manner in which they had dealt with the complaints. Hope you have better luck than I did!

 

[markjay]

Ombudsbod?

Ombudshim/her/she/they/them

 

[alistairgd]

Just bought a 2024 A Class and it is doing the same thing. The camera deploys then hides again every time the car drops below 20mph.

Apart from the excess wear this will cause in moving parts, it is far too noisy. Everything about MB is smooth and quiet from wing mirrors to electric seats, then you get this camera clatter. Extremely poor from MB.

Also today there’s a camera error and no display on the screen. No wonder with all the clattering going on.

I have not read all 10 pages here but it sounds like a joint effort is required to get a proper acknowledgment from MB as to WHY it is doing this at every time at 20mph and WHY it’s not an option to switch it off and WHY it clatters like a brick coming through the letterbox.

 

[Dazzy983]

Bought a 2024 plate a180 last week and this issue is still present. I was convinced something was sliding around in the boot, it makes no logical sense for the camera to do this and can only contribute to increasing the wear and tear on it. Hopefully they come up with a solution soon.

 

[PinkMink]

I see there's some newbies who are also feeling the pain.

My sales chap at Mercedes has been fighting my corner for me, suggesting some routes to take. However, after seeing the comments above and chatting to others it seems a pointless task trying to progress this any further from a contract point of view. Ultimately, the powers that be at Mercedes say this process and the clicking should happen, so we're stuck. The car works, it drives, it does what it supposed to do...but the user experience is miserable.

I'm honestly so fed up with it. After being without the car whilst the tech team tried to the resolve the issue, it's come back sounding slightly louder and it now seems to take longer to calibrate in daylight hours. Every click makes me flinch!

I'm locked into a contract for another 3 years which fills me with misery, I'm hoping the equity situation works out so I can move to another car sooner rather that later.

 

[DonaldS]

I see there's some newbies who are also feeling the pain.

My sales chap at Mercedes has been fighting my corner for me, suggesting some routes to take. However, after seeing the comments above and chatting to others it seems a pointless task trying to progress this any further from a contract point of view. Ultimately, the powers that be at Mercedes say this process and the clicking should happen, so we're stuck. The car works, it drives, it does what it supposed to do...but the user experience is miserable.

I'm honestly so fed up with it. After being without the car whilst the tech team tried to the resolve the issue, it's come back sounding slightly louder and it now seems to take longer to calibrate in daylight hours. Every click makes me flinch!

I'm locked into a contract for another 3 years which fills me with misery, I'm hoping the equity situation works out so I can move to another car sooner rather that later.

I feel your pain! Just got my car back from its first service and I asked them if there was any update from the query they submitted on my behalf to MB as they were ignoring me. Their response was that, as far as MB are concerned, there is nothing wrong with the car - the camera is now programmed to constantly recalibrate itself, they can’t tell me why this is necessary and nothing is going to be done about it. It is clear that I am never going to get a written, detailed response from MB head office. It seems we are just stuck with it, unless we decide to sell the car early. I give up!!

 

[DonaldS]

Picked up my A class from its first service and received an update on the camera situation. The reason given for the requirement for calibration is that it is linked to the rear cross traffic alert safety system. Not sure how this is related but it sounds possible. At the moment there is nothing being done about it by MB as it is not considered a fault as such. There are a lot of people complaining about this and more new cars are coming out that include this camera calibration issue so the dealership has said all it can do is continue to raise complaints in the hope that MB may eventually feel it has to do something about it. In the meantime I will just have to live with it.

 

[DonaldS]

I have today received the following further response from MB. I should point out that this is the third different technical explanation that I have received although at the end of the day I am not really interested in the reason just the continual, noisy operation

The rear camera calibrates to get the right parameter to the control and so to work correctly when needed. (e.g. it can depend also by the level of suspension,: a vehicle loaded with two people or with baggage on the trunk is lower so the view of the camera will be different than the usual). This is not a malfunction, but an intended system behavior. During the calibration the cover on the camera is opened for max. 5 minutes in forward travel. The calibration can be performed as long as the vehicle speed is < 30 km/h and the steering wheel angle is < 10°. If these criteria are no longer satisfied before calibration is complete, the calibration sequence is aborted and the camera is retracted. The sequence is restarted when the criteria are met again. And that's why sometimes this behavior happen more than once in a single travel. However, if you still feel that there is something wrong with the vehicle it is advised that you book the vehicle in for evaluation in one of our Mercedes Benz Retailers.

I have replied to this message asking them what can be done to get rid of or at least reduce the noise that the camera makes and will post if I receive anything more.

 

[st13phil]

I have today received the following further response from MB. I should point out that this is the third different technical explanation that I have received

FWIW, my experience of these sort of things is that the "technical explanation" given is more often than not what a non-technical person who doesn't really know the answer thinks the person making the enquiry or complaint will think is plausible, or alternatively its that non-technical person's interpretation (embellishment?) of what they have been told the underlying reason is. Either way, it's usually garbled rubbish.

Hope you manage to get a satisfactory resolution, but I fear you may be in for a long haul...

 

[DonaldS]

FWIW, my experience of these sort of things is that the "technical explanation" given is more often than not what a non-technical person who doesn't really know the answer thinks the person making the enquiry or complaint will think is plausible, or alternatively its that non-technical person's interpretation (embellishment?) of what they have been told the underlying reason is. Either way, it's usually garbled rubbish.

Hope you manage to get a satisfactory resolution, but I fear you may be in for a long haul...

Totally agree with what you say and I doubt anything will be done to fix the underlying issue but that’s no reason to not keep trying. Hoping they might come up with some sort of sound deadening solution but I would think that might be unlikely as it would be an admission that there is a problem with noise that they can only bodge up a part solution to slightly mask the noise which does not sound like a great solution from MB. I would take it though of it helped.

 

[DonaldS]

Further update. I replied yet again to MB concerning their latest advice expressing concern about the noise and asked that, if they can’t / won’t do anything about the calibration requirement, could they at least look into what could be done to reduce the noisy operation. I said I didn’t think there was any point taking into my local dealer for an evaluation as they would simply say the camera is doing what MB say it has been designed to do and surely they would just go back to MB asking for a solution. Anyway, MB have replied stating that if I’m not happy with the camera operation I should take it into the dealer for an evaluation. Just going round in circles here - what a useless bunch!!!

 

[st13phil]

Anyway, MB have replied stating that if I’m not happy with the camera operation I should take it into the dealer for an evaluation. Just going round in circles here

In my experience, this is the modus operandi for the UK Customer Service arms of manufacturers.

I actually feel sorry for the dealers in these circumstances. They don't have the wherewithal to effect a solution because it requires engineering input from the manufacturer, but the local CS rep's just keep pushing the customer back to the dealer.

I've had a similar experience with BMW Motorrad CS regarding what is clearly a fundamental design issue that is rather more consequential than an irritating noise from a reversing camera (sorry, no intention to cause offence). My dealer has been fantastically patient with it all and I've worked hard to make sure they know their efforts are appreciated, but I've been persistent and have finally - after more than a year - received an "off the record" admission from BMW that they accept it's a significant issue affecting multiple models across their range but they don't have a fix either currently or planned. My background in engineering and manufacturing tells me that it would require a fundamental redesign and lots of changed parts to resolve it, so that didn't come as a great surprise. In recognition of the problem I have received a pretty substantial goodwill settlement though.

My advice would be to make sure that your dealer knows that you appreciate their help but to be persistent and not let the matter drop. you may not get a resolution, but you may end up with a sweetener.

 

[markjay]

Sadly, it seems like a repeat of the crabbing saga.... although the crabbing issue did (eventually) have a workaround.

 

[DonaldS]

If anyone reading this post is interested there is another post on the camera issue under - GLA reverse camera calibration which is worth a read although there is no solution there either I will warn you.

 

[DonaldS]

I have just watched a YouTube video by the Black Belt Barrister titled “An overly noisy ‘safety’ feature @ Mercedes Benz?”. Go and have a watch. He raises the problem with the noisy camera but unfortunately he hasn’t read through this post thread nor does he seem to understand what the problem is. He seems to believe that a noise has been added into the car as some sort of safety feature. He just goes on and on about the laws around rejecting a car so not really that helpful. Lots of comments from people but none from anyone who knows what this is really about or who owns a new MB car that has this issue. I have added a comment to set him straight but not sure if he will pick it up.