iphone 4 Bluetooth issue with APS 50 W212

[al2813]

There was a very long thread that described my issue in one of the entries, but as the title suggests a different issue (address book import) which I don't have, i decided to open a fresh one.

I drive a W212 with APS 50. I previously had an iPhone 3GS that worked perfectly with the Bluetooth kit - even after the upgrade to iOS 4.

Last month I bought an iPhone 4 and since than I've been experiencing the following issue:

- I authorise the phone on the unit - all well
- import contacts - all well
- Try to make a call - than problem starts. The screen shows phone calling, and than the Bluetooth connection is dropped and the screen shows "ready for Bluetooth telephony". The phone in the meantime continues the call, and I have to stop it manually. The experience repeats itself until at one stage a call does go through (more typically when someone calls me). After that first successful call, the problem disappears and I am able to continue making calls with no issue. That until the next drive when I try to use the phone in the car and get the same experience.

This is utterly annoying. In my Mercedes dealer (in Brussels) I was dismissed by saying it is a known Apple issue. The fact is that indeed this issue has been described on a couple of occasions by other users with the same configuration (iphone 4 and APS 50 on W212) including on this forum. Any ideas on how to solve this, would be appreciated as this is becoming a real problem

 

[mendicance]

Hi there, I have exactly the same problem. I have a 2009 E Coupe delivered in October 2009. I have made some progress, but am not at the solution yet.

This is absolutely an Apple problem. My iPhone 3gs worked perfectly with my car, as do other phones (Motorola and Sony Ericsson for sure).

If you check on Apple threads, you will find that the iPhone 4 has had all sorts of trouble with its bluetooth, mostly headsets. Given that there will only be a small number of owners of late model Mercedes cars and iPhone 4, I suspect our problem hasn't particularly registered.

iOS 4.1 and then 4.2 updates were supposed to fix the issues. I assume you have these. In addition, Mercedes has issued a bluetooth update specifically for the iPhone 4. I quote from an email received from Mercedes Customer Services:

"Thank you for contacting the Mercedes-Benz Customer Assistance Center with regard to connecting your Apple iPhone 4 to the above mentioned vehicle.

We are pleased to confirm that an update is now available from Mercedes-Benz Official Workshops. Please note that this is a chargeable update. We trust that should you contact Mercedes-Benz Chelsea they will able to agree a suitable date for the appropriate updates to be made via the STAR diagnostic tool."

(and by the way, if you want me to forward you this email for beating up your dealer, I will happily do so).

The update doesn't work, however, at least not for me. The problem still comes and goes, to the extent that I cannot rely on the bluetooth. Believe it or not, I forward my iPhone to a pay-as-you-go phone (paired to my car) when I'm driving long distances, and don't use it in town, in the car.

My Apple tech guy at the office is convinced that they used a new bluetooth chip in iPhone 4, and that it has been or will be quietly replaced shortly in newer iPhone 4 iterations. I have replaced my phone recently, however, with no joy.

So, I suggest you get the firmware update from Mercedes anyway. Let me know how you get on. I will keep you updated also.

Also by the way, I had a C class replacement car recently during a service, of almost exactly the same age as my car. iPhone 4 works perfectly with it.

 

[al2813]

Hi,

Many thanks for this. I was getting desperate nobody was answering my post...

Last weekend, i followed the advice provided by another user on another post. I deleted the phone from the APS 50 as well as the contacts, and than did a hard reset on the phone followed by a clean pairing. Not much of a result though.

The funny part is that once I manage to establish a call with the APS 50 (i.e. call someone without losing the connection while the call is initiated), the connection is retained throughout the drive, and I don't lose it again. The issue arrives only on the first calls made after starting my car - sometimes I manage to get this right on the 2nd call, and sometimes it takes more calls. Very strange.

My colleague who has a C Class with Command has no problems at all with his iPhone 4. So far only people with APS 50 on W212 have described the exact issue I am facing, so It is maybe an Apple issue, but it arrives only with a very specific model of the MB Bluetooth kit.

I will call my dealer on Monday nevertheless to ask for the update. Will let you know if I need the actual email. many thanks!

 

[Justin1600]

Try asking your dealer for a full software update on the Command system, it takes approx 4 hours to do and might solve your problem.

 

[Pedrodubois]

I have the exact same car and phone issue - very frustrating neither apple nor mercedes seem to accept that the issue exists.

Anybody had any result in getting a resolve ?

 

[al2813]

Things are getting worse as the problem is now even more frequent and happens also in the middle of a call

I'm expecting a call from my garage to schedule a check and possibly a SW update.

Attempts to do a clean install after a factory reset of the iphone also did not succeed...

 

[thebook]

Same problem here on E350 Coupe with NAV50, drives me insane. I now let calls go to voicemail when driving as the BT issue makes it too distracting to answer. Colleague has W212 with full Comand and iPhone 4 so will see if he drops connection or whether it is just NAV50/APS50 problem

 

[thebook]

It would appear that we are not alone...

Apple - Support - Discussions - IPhone 4 Bluetooth Issues ...

 

[al2813]

My iPhone4 died yesterday (funny enough it happened in the middle of a conversation using the APS50) and is now sent to Apple for replacement. In the meantime I bought another iPhone4 and......it has exactly the same problem.

Incidentally, there are numerous iPhone4s in our office and quite a few Mercedes drivers with the phone. Drivers with different versions of Command and Radio 20 on Class C and Class E DO NOT report this problem. My feeling is that the issue appears specifically on the APS50 unit on the Class E!!

 

[mendicance]

A couple of other observations:

If you navigate on the iPhone to the Bluetooth preferences, and select the car's Bluetooth, you will find an option to sync contacts. You can de-select this as the contacts are pre-synced to the car. I wonder if this interferes.

Secondly, I note that if I make a call immediately on getting in the car, it never works. If I leave it a while, it mostly does. I wonder whether there is some refresh cycle that finally finds the right hook up?

Either way, as the previous poster has rightly identified on a separate Apple thread, the iPhone 4 has all sorts of continuing Bluetooth problems. On the basis that I'm not changing the car to fix this, there seems to be only one option.....

 

[al2813]

True - the iPhone4 has a bluetooth issue. However, it does work OK with other Mercedes bluetooth systems. What annoys me the most is the fact that this issue seems to be specific to the APS50 on the W212. Checking further on the Internet, I found the following thread in a German forum (which I could more or less read thanks to Google Translate)

IPhone 4 über Bluetooth an APS 50 : Mercedes E-Klasse W207

There again - all drivers report exactly the same issue, with Mercedes (if I understood one of the posts correctly) more or less admitting that that APS50 is "not compatible" with the iPhone4.

This is not an exotic phone. it is one of the best selling phones in the world. Mercedes should be looking at a fix!!!

 

[al2813]

I'm reviving this thread just to see if anyone else has more feedback before I visit the Mercedes dealer next week to look at this issue.
By now, I am totally convinced this issue is specific to my model of APS (APS 50 on W212 Class E). I connected my phone to a radio 20 on W212 of a colleague and it worked with no issues. Same result with a Parrot 3100 installed on my wife's car.

It seems after long testing that the only way around the issue is to wait several minutes (I take 7) after the BT connection is established between my phone and the unit before making the first call. Any attempt to make a call before those 7 minutes have elapsed results in a dropped connection and failure to make any calls until the end of the trip. Of course if I happen to receive a call before the 7 minutes elapsed it's my bad luck as the result is the same. Unbelievable and frankly intolerable for a 45,000 Euro car.

As I said if anyone knows if Mercedes has recognized the issue or issued a fix to it, I'd be grateful as I can point this out to my dealer next week.

 

[Alfie]

There is an issue with IOS 4.3 and 4.3.1 with bluetooth which is affecting a few (very few in fact) Mercedes iphone 4 cradles. Its an Apple issue again sadly.

 

[al2813]

I understand, only that I don't have an iPhone cradle, and my issue is there since I bought the phone (so IOS 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3). Furthermore it works perfectly with the Bluetooth on Radio 20 in a W212. I am pretty much convinced it is a SW issue on the APS 50.

 

[richard]

There is a firmware update for W212 Audio-50-APS on W212. Came with March Star Diagnosis release, so you dealer should be able to install.

I don't know whether it helps your software issue though.

However, this is an Apple caused problem - they have changed the bluetooth address book transfer somehow in IOS 4.3 which breaks a number of bluetooth devices. Apple normally fix such issues after a couple of sub-releases. They have broken Bluetooth seriously twice before. I suspect the Audio-50-APS just has a different bluetooth chipset to the others, which is why that one gets the problem but others dont.

Richard

 

[al2813]

Well firmware update applied but issues are still there! Again to answer's Richard post, I have to emphasise that I have issue since the day I bought the phone on IOS 4.1 with consequent IOS upgrades not changing a thing - for the good or for the bad.

I don't think I can do much about this. Next company car I choose will certainly not be a Mercedes.....

 

[npuk]

Do you have the comfort phone option in your car?

 

[al2813]

Nope. I have APS50 plus media interface.

 

[al2813]

Today I called the dealer to see what can be done. The answer I got: The SW on the system is not adapted for such a new phone (!). I have two options:

1. Wait for a SW update from Mercedes to solve the problem.
2. Replace my phone

What can I say....

 

[geek]

Has anyone managed to resolve this?
It's taken the pleasure out of my otherwise brilliant car.