DAB reception in new car is crap

[Mr Brownstone]

So I bought my first Merc a month ago (it's brilliant) C250cdi Coupe, but the DAB reception is utterly ****e! My last BMW had excellent reception and I even had a Ford Fiesta on loan earlier this year and DAB reception in that was better than the BMW.

Have Merc fcuked up the aerial or what as it is literally unlistenable

 

[R2D2]

I had DAB retrofitted by Comand Online and reception is very good (I now never listen to FM) If MB can't help ask Comand?

 

[Mr Brownstone]

I had DAB retrofitted by Comand Online and reception is very good (I now never listen to FM) If MB can't help ask Comand?

Ask Comand? Sorry but I don't follow.

 

[C36fan]

I asked them for a price to put dab on my 2012 vito and the price is horrendous !!
Instead I'm having a new pioneer head unit with dab,sat nav and many other features .
Ash at espec is doing the job couldn't ask for better and is only at a fraction of the dab upgrade price .

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[automaniaman]

I also suffer from intermittent DAB signal failure, my cure is to switch it off & just listen to the exhaust note...

 

[richard]

I asked them for a price to put dab on my 2012 vito and the price is horrendous !!

There's now an aftermarket fully integrated tuner which uses a windscreen antenna. This is not so "horrendous" as using the factory tuner etc.

R

 

[R2D2]

Ask Comand? Sorry but I don't follow.

See post 6 re Richard from Comand Online. They are experts in Mercedes electronics.

 

[Mr Brownstone]

I probably should have expanded my question. So the car is brand new (my own business on a business lease).

Taking it somewhere to have upgrades done is not an option. My question s are

"is there something wrong with the factory dab aerial"

"Has anyone else had problems with a new Merc and poor dab reception"

 

[Red C220]

Yes, the DAB on our new E Class is not good.

Constantly dropping and out and sounding as though it's a CD "skipping". The only bit of the car I'm not impressed with.

 

[Colin_b]

So I bought my first Merc a month ago (it's brilliant) C250cdi Coupe, but the DAB reception is utterly ****e! My last BMW had excellent reception and I even had a Ford Fiesta on loan earlier this year and DAB reception in that was better than the BMW.

Have Merc fcuked up the aerial or what as it is literally unlistenable

My C250CDI started out with DAB working beautifully. It is gradually getting worse, frequent drop outs and crunchy sound.

I;ll get MB to look at it at the next service in a month or so.

 

[lexman8]

I read last week that lots of owners are very unhappy with the DAB radios in their Mercs. One suggestion was that MB changed the supplier of the DAB units and the new ones are failing badly.

 

[richard]

They didn't recently (according to the parts list).

a) For NTG4 and before they used a Delphi tuner that seemed to be very good but only does DAB
b) For NTG4.5 they switched to a dual tuner capable of DAB+ also

I dont think the NTG4.5 tuner is as good in terms of reception quality as the older tuner, but not hugely different.

There is a *known* issue in certain models with the live-traffic function which is, in the UK, standard if you have COMAND in newer cars (MY2014 onwards I think) where the reception is being interrupted regularly by the live traffic transmission signals and apparently a new antenna amp is being developed for those. If your dealer checks TIPS they can find info on that.

Richard

 

[C250amg]

Agreed, c250 amg plus, 1 month old and the dab reception is unusable. It sounds like I will pop a speaker. i will get the dealer to check tips when I get a minute. What can they do about it?
I love the Google maps and live updates. The send to car feature is so easy to use

 

[Mr Brownstone]

What is TIPS?

 

[richard]

What is TIPS?

TIPS is one of the dealer's technical information system.
WIS is the full database of all the repair info and circuit diagrams for all models and updated monthly
TIPS is an online database with current issues

Richard

 

[markjay]

What is TIPS?

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/con...ionwide-dealer-network/technical-support.html

 

[Fudger]

I have to mention that I too get these 'drop outs' in my MY2014 S212. I assumed it was normal and perhaps it is from reading this thread.

My drop outs are 1 to 5 seconds, at a guess, and they seem to happen on every journey I take.

I can see this being a very easy issue for Mercedes to deny especially when it is clear and obvious that there will be no fault codes and the issue will not manifest itself when parked up in their service area.

I have got to the age where I will not get worked up about it as it is likely to be a losing battle which is typical of the motor trade in these situations

 

[MUGGY]

Agreed, c250 amg plus, 1 month old and the dab reception is unusable. It sounds like I will pop a speaker. i will get the dealer to check tips when I get a minute. What can they do about it?
I love the Google maps and live updates. The send to car feature is so easy to use

I have a C220 BT. Car is only one week old but so far so good with DAB. It has worked exactly as I would expect

I haven't discovered the Google maps and send to car feature. Will have to look into it

 

[DuncS3]

2013 c63 and DAB reception is useless so I just don't bother with it.

 

[omega1]

I know this doesn't add anything to the conversation, but noticed the title of the thread as :

"DAB reception in new car is crap"

Which could have been left as:

"DAB is crap"

Sorry, couldn't resist!