M class - missing dash button?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

DavidL

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
1,003
Car
s203 C55, x218 CLS63
Can anyone help me out here. I've been vaguely looking for either a 420cdi or a 500 petrol 164.
I'm a little confused by one of the dash buttons.
Case in point. This car has parking sensors
2005 Mercedes Benz M Class 5.0 ML500 SE 7G Tronic 4x4 5dr Auto SUV Petrol Automa | in Greenford, London | Gumtree
but the button next to the drivers heated seat switch is blank (pic 16)
As far as I can see on this car which also has parking sensors
2009 Mercedes-Benz M Class 5.5 ML500 Sport 7G-Tronic 5dr | in Thrapston, Northamptonshire | Gumtree
the switch is live and appears to be the cancel button for the sensors, pic 15.
There is an age difference between the 2 cars but I've seen others where there isn't both with and withlout this button.
So what is it?
Also below the DSR button is a blank on both. Is there any option to go in here or is it just a blank on all of them?
Thanks
 
Yes it should be the button to disable the parking sensors.
 
Yes it should be the button to disable the parking sensors.
Thanks BD. I'm sure that is what it is for but what I can't work out is that the first car clearly has factory sensors but not this button. So can you not switch them off, which seems odd, is the button to do this somewhere else on some (maybe earlier) cars or is there another explanation.
I hadn't really planned on a 63 and I was trying to avoid yet another silver car as we already have 2 and I don't really like silver!
 
Thanks BD. I'm sure that is what it is for but what I can't work out is that the first car clearly has factory sensors but not this button. So can you not switch them off, which seems odd, is the button to do this somewhere else on some (maybe earlier) cars or is there another explanation.
I hadn't really planned on a 63 and I was trying to avoid yet another silver car as we already have 2 and I don't really like silver!
The ML63 is a great car, but not to everyone’s taste!

Perhaps the parking sensors are after market accessories?
 
You’re quite right - the parking sensor switch/button being blank means they’re aftermarket sensors - I’ve owned two W164’s (2006 420 and 2010 350 CDI) and they both had factory fitted parking sensors with that button/switch as a Parking Sensor
 
I'd find it hard to believe you could order an SE spec ML500 at that age and it not have parking sensors standard. Having said that our c55 doesn't have them.
 
I'd find it hard to believe you could order an SE spec ML500 at that age and it not have parking sensors standard. Having said that our c55 doesn't have them.
Neither does my C55, which I find odd on a car that was £50K new and the sensors were something like £500 factory option. I would really like to meet the first owner just to ask why they didn't tick that box. Let's face it when the C55 came out it was pretty loaded and there were not that many 'extras' boxes to tick. :dk:
 
A £50 quid system being priced at £500 on a £50k car.
:eek:
 
Neither does my C55, which I find odd on a car that was £50K new and the sensors were something like £500 factory option. I would really like to meet the first owner just to ask why they didn't tick that box.

Similar with my SL - it has adaptive damping which was a £3600 option back in 1997, but not heated seats (£365). If you are spending £84k on a convertible in the UK why would you not add them :dk:
 
Flyinspanner wrote: -
"A £50 quid system being priced at £500 on a £50k car."

Welcome to the wold of "Perceived Value"

The bells and whistles that are worth nothing on the resale market, but cost so much when you buy new. To the manufacturer, the difference between a healthy profit and scraping a living on the base model...
 
I agree Kid, but at the time of the £50K C55 the next model down in the same range maxed out at something like £37K , a massive leap in the same model range and one reason why C55's (particularly estate models) are rare . The 'added' available option list was tiny compared with today's offerings, something like Comand, parking sensors, rear blind (saloon) and not much else, so not going for parking sensors seems odd to me. mine could have been a company purchase though, so who knows ? :dk:.
 
Mine is the same. As far as I know the only 2 options were (on the estate) parking sensors and heated seats. I have one but not the other.
But it isn't just MB. I had a 996 turbo a few years back and I was looking for a car with comfort seats, heated seats and cruise. The latter were £500 options but the full list price when new of mine came to just six figures. So less than one percent of the cost price and the wotsits didn't tick the box. So no heated seats and no cruise!
 
Mine is the same. As far as I know the only 2 options were (on the estate) parking sensors and heated seats. I have one but not the other.
But it isn't just MB. I had a 996 turbo a few years back and I was looking for a car with comfort seats, heated seats and cruise. The latter were £500 options but the full list price when new of mine came to just six figures. So less than one percent of the cost price and the wotsits didn't tick the box. So no heated seats and no cruise!
The other was Comand (at £1500 ish !) and I believe different wheels styles as a no cost option ??, not sure how the interior was chosen, but Black with the alloy is the only one I like and I did not bother looking at any C55 with wood.
 
My W164 has Parking sensors but no way to turn them off.
It's not really been a problem...

It also had an aftermarket head Unit, but looked so similar to the Comand that I didn't know...
 
My W164 has Parking sensors but no way to turn them off.
It's not really been a problem...

So are they (sensors) factory or aftermarket? Logically they are AM but I'm still not absolutley convinced as there are so many MLs on the market with PS and no switch off button.
 
I've no way of knowing, but the sensors integrate with the vehicle Bus, so I can measure the sensor distances using a plug-in diagnostic scanner.
There are also displays on the dash and the rear headlining, so I'd be surprised if an aftermarket fitment would go to so much trouble.

Occasionally i get rainwater running off the bonnet in stationary traffic which will trigger the front sensors, but it doesn't last long, so not having a mute facility doesn't worry me.
 
The sensor button is most often used for disabling rear sensors when towing. Unless you have a Mercedes (or good quality) wiring integration kit, you need to disable them manually.
 
Did you check what the Datacard says? The VRM is not obscured in the photos so you could work-out the VIN.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom