GLA 200 Reverse Camera calibration every time you start

[Hollington]

@Hollington Yes of course, it’s booked in for Tuesday next week.
Last Saturday we dropped into the Dealer we purchased from and complained to the (Area or District?) Manager who was involved when we purchased.
His amenable attitude was oh dear, we want you to be happy, haven’t heard of that before, you must be the only customer - until I showed him the Xentry report - but unfortunately he pointed out that it is dated 2017 and would have been for the previous model pre 2020 so there could be updates. Has anybody got an updated Xentry report?
Absolute rubbish of course but the first step for us has to be to let them have a go at it first.

The problem as I see it is that it is a designed in and essential calibration of the camera and therefore Mercedes are not, as yet, treating it as a fault.
Totally unnecessary and unrealistic calibration as I have already said on here and it’s impossible to meet those terms in the real world.

Earlier this morning I drove just a few miles into town. It was clunk, clunk all the way as it tried and failed to calibrate. But even if it had calibrated it would have started all over again for the return journey, as indeed it it did clunk, clunk, clunk.

Somebody on here mentioned they had been told calibration was required for the ‘cross traffic’ option.
I think I am correct in that you will have cross traffic if you have the ‘blind spot’ option (the red dot on side mirrors).
I have that and I wondered if you can stop calibration by turning off blind spot, if you can, but I haven’t tried yet.

I can’t imagine who dreamt this one up, bet they don’t drive one!

Anyway for the moment we feel as a first pass we have to give them an opportunity to address it. I’ll report back.

Good morning, Just having yet another run through everything on here. Although the Xentry report is dated 2017 the customer service people are still trotting out exactly the same advice "Drive in a straight line for about a minute at less than 18mph" etc etc etc, so the Xentry document is bang up to date. Regards

 

[fourwheels]

Good morning, Just having yet another run through everything on here. Although the Xentry report is dated 2017 the customer service people are still trotting out exactly the same advice "Drive in a straight line for about a minute at less than 18mph" etc etc etc, so the Xentry document is bang up to date. Regards

Good Morning. I don’t doubt the Xentry report is still current practice but he was correct in pointing out it was dated 2017 and pre facelift.
If others are correct and camera calibration is being rolled out across the range I would imagine there is a calibration update, even if it’s only an amendment or date change. I wonder where we could get a recent copy.
My situation is the same. Fed up with it but as a new car I’ve got to let the Dealer have a stab at it first.

 

[Hollington]

Good Morning. I don’t doubt the Xentry report is still current practice but he was correct in pointing out it was dated 2017 and pre facelift.
If others are correct and camera calibration is being rolled out across the range I would imagine there is a calibration update, even if it’s only an amendment or date change. I wonder where we could get a recent copy.
My situation is the same. Fed up with it but as a new car I’ve got to let the Dealer have a stab at it first.

Just had a look at another forum A Class Club .co.uk and found this recent entry.

Did not know of this problem when I bought my wife a new a class, having had it for a month now the camera opening and closing is really annoying, so much so I have rejected the vehicle and asked for a full refund, credit to mercedes they have said no problem return the vehicle will refund in full.

They just be aware of the issue just to say return the car

 

[fourwheels]

I haven’t looked into the implications of returning the car but I believe you lose out on the purchase VAT. Think I read somewhere someone saying he lost £7k.
Back in 2015 I bought a new model Jaguar Xe. Loads of issues that Jaguar should have addressed before marketing it as a new car. Bad boot lid alignment, steering rack, faulty paint work, faulty door seals. To be honest I’ve forgotten most of it now. But the final blow was when it came back from the Jaguar paint shop with 20d signage rearranged to read po2.
I had allowed it all to get to me. I didn’t return it but sold it just a year later, and yes I lost a packet on it.
So I’m a little more cautious now.

 

[DonaldS]

Good morning, Just having yet another run through everything on here. Although the Xentry report is dated 2017 the customer service people are still trotting out exactly the same advice "Drive in a straight line for about a minute at less than 18mph" etc etc etc, so the Xentry document is bang up to date. Regards

If MB are advising people to follow the Xentry procedure they are just plain mad - yes it will work as I have verified for myself but surely they must realise that it is totally impractical, if not impossible, to follow this procedure every single time you start the car, plus it won’t work at all in the dark. If they provided this advice before you purchased the car you would think they were having a laugh wouldn’t you and you certainly wouldn’t buy the car. It’s complete bollocks!!

 

[rf065]

If MB are advising people to follow the Xentry procedure they are just plain mad - yes it will work as I have verified for myself but surely they must realise that it is totally impractical, if not impossible, to follow this procedure every single time you start the car, plus it won’t work at all in the dark. If they provided this advice before you purchased the car you would think they were having a laugh wouldn’t you and you certainly wouldn’t buy the car. It’s complete bollocks!!

Well, in my experience I've followed the procedure almost everyday over a few weeks or more and it never worked in all in that time.
So it's possible to follow the Xentry procedure to the letter, and it will change nothing at all which makes me believe there is another fault at work here despite what Mercedes state.

 

[DonaldS]

Well, in my experience I've followed the procedure almost everyday over a few weeks or more and it never worked in all in that time.
So it's possible to follow the Xentry procedure to the letter, and it will change nothing at all which makes me believe there is another fault at work here despite what Mercedes state.

MB are adamant that there is no fault and that the camera has now been programmed to require a new calibration every time the car is started. This seems to be backed up by the number of people who are reporting this. The Xentry procedure was produced back in 2017 to deal with an occasional calibration requirement for a camera that was not programmed to require calibration every time the car was started. The problem is that MB have, for some reason, decided that this constant calibration is now required but have clearly not considered the effect on customers of the noisy operation or worked out what to do with it. Nothing will be done until MB start to lose sales due to this becoming more widely known about but how is that going to happen?

 

[markjay]

... Nothing will be done until MB start to lose sales due to this becoming more widely known about but how is that going to happen?

There's always the Daily Mail....

 

[Hollington]

Email from MB customer services on 30/04/2024 I trust that my email finds you well. As per your enquiry, please be informed that this is not a malfunction, but desired system behavior: The calibration of the rear camera is performed. To do this, the cover of the camera is opened for a maximum of 5 minutes when moving forward. The calibration can be carried out as long as the vehicle speed is < 30 km/h and the steering wheel angle is < 10°. If these criteria are no longer met before the calibration is complete, the calibration sequence is aborted and the camera is retracted. The sequence will start again as soon as the criteria are met again. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us with your case reference 06516644. Yours sincerely, Andie

Customer Service UK 00800 9 777 7777 (international freephone) 0207 660 9993 (charged at national rate)

 

[fourwheels]

Email from MB customer services on 30/04/2024 I trust that my email finds you well. As per your enquiry, please be informed that this is not a malfunction, but desired system behavior: The calibration of the rear camera is performed. To do this, the cover of the camera is opened for a maximum of 5 minutes when moving forward. The calibration can be carried out as long as the vehicle speed is < 30 km/h and the steering wheel angle is < 10°. If these criteria are no longer met before the calibration is complete, the calibration sequence is aborted and the camera is retracted. The sequence will start again as soon as the criteria are met again. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us with your case reference 06516644. Yours sincerely, Andie

Customer Service UK 00800 9 777 7777 (international freephone) 0207 660 9993 (charged at national rate)

So we are basically - stuffed !

I suspect I will get the same response when mine goes in this week (you are ahead of me and this is a first pass for me so we feel we have to follow through).

There was a vague suggestion from the Dealer Manager when I initially took mine in that under consumer law we could reject the car but with other issues at home I haven’t investigated that.
However I think you lose out on VAT paid and the cost of special treatments and wheel insurance etc that you may have paid for.

As Mark says, the Daily Mail might be a good option
A friend of mine had good results (on a BMW I think it was) by writing to Whatcar and his letter was published. BM soon contacted him to resolve the issue.

Auto Express might be another.

Maybe it’s time for some serious letter writing.

 

[Hollington]

Until now I had not contacted Brooklands Mercedes, where I bought mine, apart from a brief off the record chat to one of the staff there, who told me they were aware of this problem. But this morning I have Emailed the sales chap that I dealt with and filled him in with all the twaddle that M/B customer services have sent me. I have said that before I escalate this I would like his comments and indeed those of his sales manager.
Will see how it goes over the next few days otherwise I think the next step will be letters to various car magazines and indeed the Daily Mail.
Such a shame as I do like the car.

 

[fourwheels]

Ok we are on the same track, you are just little ahead of me.

My wife just made valid points.
We test drove a new GLA at Mercedes Guildford in early January. The sales guy accompanied us but over half an hour we didn’t hear any of this.
In March we again both drove a new GLA at Mercedes Chichester during one of their VIP days, again the sales guy accompanied us but we didn’t notice any of this calibration noise.
As it was a VIP day the District Manager got involved and located the car that we subsequently purchased.
Over the following couple of days we had a bit of a wobble and dropped into Chichester again fortunately seeing the same Manager.
He said ‘we want you to be happy, how about test driving the demo car on your own for the rest of the day, return it before we close.
We had a list of chores to complete so we took him up on his offer. Despite stopping and starting several times we didn’t have any of these calibration problems.
So wifeys questions are
Why didn’t the demo cars have problems?
Do all GLAs have this problem, or do some struggle and become noisy?
How many are they likely to have sold worldwide?
and like you we are generally happy with the car because it meets our needs now but this has taken the shine off it.

 

[markjay]

Ok we are on the same track, you are just little ahead of me.

My wife just made valid points.
We test drove a new GLA at Mercedes Guildford in early January. The sales guy accompanied us but over half an hour we didn’t hear any of this.
In March we again both drove a new GLA at Mercedes Chichester during one of their VIP days, again the sales guy accompanied us but we didn’t notice any of this calibration noise.
As it was a VIP day the District Manager got involved and located the car that we subsequently purchased.
Over the following couple of days we had a bit of a wobble and dropped into Chichester again fortunately seeing the same Manager.
He said ‘we want you to be happy, how about test driving the demo car on your own for the rest of the day, return it before we close.
We had a list of chores to complete so we took him up on his offer. Despite stopping and starting several times we didn’t have any of these calibration problems.
So wifeys questions are
Why didn’t the demo cars have problems?
Do all GLAs have this problem, or do some struggle and become noisy?
How many are they likely to have sold worldwide?
and like you we are generally happy with the car because it meets our needs now but this has taken the shine off it.

Do you remember if the reverse camera actually worked on the demo car, I.e. when reversing into a parking space etc?

 

[fourwheels]

Do you remember if the reverse camera actually worked on the demo car, I.e. when reversing into a parking space etc?

We went to a garden centre and would have reversed out of the parking bay.
We went home and on leaving did a three point turn, somehow that often becomes a 5 point turn.
So yes absolutely reverse camera worked on demo car.
We also went to several other places and each time parked the car for a while so each would have been a new start.

 

[fourwheels]

Thanks for the Mercedes email update.

Quick update from me.

Car into Mercedes today who reported back that it is a necessary calibration with respect to the 360 deg camera view.

However I think, genuinely, it was the first time they had come across the problem and were surprised how noisy it is, and how impossible the procedure is.

They have asked to keep the car a couple of days to investigate further. We also made clear our response if they can’t improve on it.

 

[Hollington]

Thanks for the Mercedes email update.

Quick update from me.

Car into Mercedes today who reported back that it is a necessary calibration with respect to the 360 deg camera view.

However I think, genuinely, it was the first time they had come across the problem and were surprised how noisy it is, and how impossible the procedure is.

They have asked to keep the car a couple of days to investigate further. We also made clear our response if they can’t improve on it.

Thanks for the update.
Having complained to the sales team at Brooklands Mercedes about this fault, my car is now booked into their workshops at 8am on Monday, but to quote the proverbial "I will not be holding my breath" I think they are just going through the motions and will come up with the same as your people at Chichester, necessary calibration.

I am now fast coming to the opinion that their service workshops are not capable of solving this fault and that the manufacturer is not prepared to do anything and will just dig their heels in until it goes away. Oh well, having been a Mercedes client for many years I'm afraid this will be my last one, I will be looking at other makes from now on.

 

[fourwheels]

Mines still with them for investigation.
I’m no longer working but in my business life I had experience of tough meetings. All good experience as yesterday involved Sales, Service, and Diagnostics Managers who have emailed me today that they are in contact with Mercedes. I can only wait with bated breath but as you say, I won’t hold it.
Has yours got the 360 deg camera?
I’m forming the opinion that this has all got to do with that (whatever other reason they quote).
If so we are in a minority as I don’t believe the more standard spec. car suffers this problem.

 

[Hollington]

Mines still with them for investigation.
I’m no longer working but in my business life I had experience of tough meetings. All good experience as yesterday involved Sales, Service, and Diagnostics Managers who have emailed me today that they are in contact with Mercedes. I can only wait with bated breath but as you say, I won’t hold it.
Has yours got the 360 deg camera?
I’m forming the opinion that this has all got to do with that (whatever other reason they quote).
If so we are in a minority as I don’t believe the more standard spec. car suffers this problem.

My car is the bog standard GLA 180 sport edition and there are no cameras on the mirrors, so I think I can safely say I do not have the 360 deg camera. I do have the Park Assist button with the little picture of a camera but I am yet to prove if that is operational.

 

[fourwheels]

My car is the bog standard GLA 180 sport edition and there are no cameras on the mirrors, so I think I can safely say I do not have the 360 deg camera. I do have the Park Assist button with the little picture of a camera but I am yet to prove if that is operational.

Interesting. We didn’t specify 360, it was just there but today they were attributing this problem to high spec cars.
Anyway they phoned me a short while ago.
No surprises.
A designed in necessary calibration which is required because of the parking features I.e. the red boundary line and yellow road width line you see on the screen when reversing.
Mercedes see no reason at this stage to modify it.
They pointed out that in the likes of a C-Class you have a more substantial parcel tray and seat backs, all absorbing noise.
The C-Class camera is also physically further away from the driver (ignore back seat passengers apparently).
All true of course but when I ask why it has to calibrate on each start, only to fail, I’m just told ‘because it has to’.
So I said I will soon drive out of your dealership on to a main road where I have to drive at whatever speed other cars are driving. It will try to calibrate and fail.
I then slow at the roundabout and it will try to calibrate, but fail because I will join moving traffic.
Exactly the same will happen at the next three T junctions and by the time I reach home it won’t have calibrated but it will have been exceedingly noisy.
All I get to that is agreement.

We have talked about rejecting the car before this gets out of hand and they are looking into that but it’s a dilemma for us. We like the car, don’t believe the noise should be acceptable, but do we want to get into the merry go round of finding something else.

As an aside why couldn’t they mount the camera on rubber bushes or something, or perhaps inside an insulated box?
Very poor foresight.

 

[Hollington]

Interesting. We didn’t specify 360, it was just there but today they were attributing this problem to high spec cars.
Anyway they phoned me a short while ago.
No surprises.
A designed in necessary calibration which is required because of the parking features I.e. the red boundary line and yellow road width line you see on the screen when reversing.
Mercedes see no reason at this stage to modify it.
They pointed out that in the likes of a C-Class you have a more substantial parcel tray and seat backs, all absorbing noise.
The C-Class camera is also physically further away from the driver (ignore back seat passengers apparently).
All true of course but when I ask why it has to calibrate on each start, only to fail, I’m just told ‘because it has to’.
So I said I will soon drive out of your dealership on to a main road where I have to drive at whatever speed other cars are driving. It will try to calibrate and fail.
I then slow at the roundabout and it will try to calibrate, but fail because I will join moving traffic.
Exactly the same will happen at the next three T junctions and by the time I reach home it won’t have calibrated but it will have been exceedingly noisy.
All I get to that is agreement.

We have talked about rejecting the car before this gets out of hand and they are looking into that but it’s a dilemma for us. We like the car, don’t believe the noise should be acceptable, but do we want to get into the merry go round of finding something else.

As an aside why couldn’t they mount the camera on rubber bushes or something, or perhaps inside an insulated box?
Very poor foresight.

I have never heard of any other make behaving like this, although very often the camera does not retract. A pal of mine has a fairly new Hyundai Kona SUV and of course on that vehicle the camera is exposed all the time, just needs a little wipe if it gets dirty.
After your experience I'm sure I will get the same result at Brooklands on Monday, so I am wondering if I'm wasting my time, better things to do rather than spend several hours there.
Funnily enough, we went on a little trip out yesterday and my wife announced that she was starting to get used to the "Kerchunk" and it was not bothering her so much
Another thought, I wondered if I could fix some foam Insulating material behind the camera location, I might have a little dabble with that. Shouldn't need to do that of course in a car costing 30/40k.