parking assist

[Fununcle]

Isn't the button for disabling the parking sensors? Or does the OP has a different button? Also keeping in mind that only the ACTIVE park assist was removed, but the PASSIVE version should still be there?

On mine the button activates the park assist and the cameras so that is probably why the button is still there.

 

[TommyTroot]

Looks like park assist was disabled on your car at build Tommy Troot.

this is the (helpful if true) reply I got from Mercedes CS to my query about whether a park assist disable would be applied during a recall on a unrelated issue:


Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz Customer Service. I am writing in response to your enquiry regarding an outstanding recall on your car and whether it relates to Active Parking Assist Parktronic.


In an effort to provide an appropriate response for you I have consulted with our Technical Team and they have advised the Active Parking Assist is not related nor impacted by the recall.

With regards to the information you state in which the functionality of the Active Parking Assist is disabled at Mercedes-Benz Retailers. Active Parking Assist, the assisted manoeuvring into and out of parking spaces, is being discontinued as part of PARKTRONIC, and as the Active Lane Change Assist part of the Driving Assistance Package. The reason for this is due to a 2021 revision in UN R79, relating to automotive standards and safety. Your vehicle does not relate to this process. In addition, the feature is not removed from vehicles that have this existing system but rather removed while still under assembly.

If you wish to discuss this and have further assurance, I would refer you to the Mercedes-Benz Retailer who you have contacted to arrange the recall to be completed

hth

Hi Markjay, totally agree with your findings, but all that withstanding Mercedes should have informed their dealerships that they were removing the function before selling the car(s), Grimsby Mercedes seemed to be completely unaware it had been removed and in fact had me driving around the streets trying to make it work. The Motor Ombudsman doesn’t seem to see this as mis-selling as Grimsby were unaware of the UN directive at the point of sale. So apparently ignorance IS a defence, my case is still with The Motor Ombudsman as I did not accept their findings.

 

[markjay]

I think that another pertinent point might be that MB would have learnt about the UN Directive at the same time as other car manufacturers, which is typically a couple of years before it comes into force, so they had ample time to get their act together and inform dealers and customers in advance of any changes in specifications (or amend the affected systems to comply with the regulations etc), as opposed to keep selling the cars as if nothing changed and for customer to become aware of the omission only when they tried to use the feature for the first time.

I am not sure if you are considering taking them to court (if the Ombudsman appeal is unsuccesful) over the estimated value of the omitted option, but if you do, then I would also include lost-of-earnings for the time spent at the dealer trying to diagnose the non-existent 'fault'.

If anyone does end-up taking the dealer or MB UK (or both) to court over this, then doubt that MB will want to risk a court ruling on the issue, so they'll probably settle out-of-court in the last minute, and the higher your starting point (as long as you can factually back-up any financial claim), the better the settlement figure would be. But this is only an educated guess on my part.

 

[TommyTroot]

I think that another pertinent point might be that MB would have learnt about the UN Directive at the same time as other car manufacturers, which is typically a couple of years before it comes into force, so they had ample time to get their act together and inform dealers and customers in advance of any changes in specifications (or amend the affected systems to comply with the regulations etc), as opposed to keep selling the cars as if nothing changed and for customer to become aware of the omission only when they tried to use the feature for the first time.

I am not sure if you are considering taking them to court (if the Ombudsman appeal is unsuccesful) over the estimated value of the omitted option, but if you do, then I would also include lost-of-earnings for the time spent at the dealer trying to diagnose the non-existent 'fault'.

If anyone does end-up taking the dealer or MB UK (or both) to court over this, then doubt that MB will want to risk a court ruling on the issue, so they'll probably settle out-of-court in the last minute, and the higher your starting point (as long as you can factually back-up any financial claim), the better the settlement figure would be. But this is only an educated guess on my part.

Good point however I won’t be taking it any further as it’s difficult to quantify any losses, I told the Motor Ombudsman I would settle for £5000 but it was a totally random figure, I saw the auto parking as a toy which I would probably hardly ever have used but it was a toy I thought I paid for but didn’t get, it just annoyed me at how blasé Mercedes were about they situation.

 

[DonDom99]

Hi to all, I'm new here. Can anyone help me please. 4 weeks ago I took my car to MB of Doncaster for diagnostic of DISTRONIC (WARNING: Distance sensor dirty) not big deal,working ok until that message pop's on dash then press ok and wait couple minutes to be operative again, a bit pain in the back on long journeys. Everything else work as it should. MB said that 2 radars in front bumper are faulty and need replacing. Ok let's get this sorted I said. After two weeks car was ready to collect, unfortunately problem was still there. MB charge me £999 for labour they said that I don't need to pay for radars as they shipped them back to factory. Here's where problems start. On way back home I've noticed that many functions was disabled and erased from car's menu. (Lane assist, steering assist, cooling seats,blind spot assist God knows what else) MB technician answer to that was " your car has lower spec control unit fitted and all functions above would never work on this car. WHAT!!!!????? All worked fine until they put hands on it. Any advice please.

 

[whitenemesis]

try a search and read the threads, this topic has been covered extensively.
A UN directive has forced MB to disable certain functions on certain models as the systems do not comply with the new regulations.

 

[DonDom99]

try a search and read the threads, this topic has been covered extensively.
A UN directive has forced MB to disable certain functions on certain models as the systems do not comply with the new regulations.

Thanks for quick reply.
If it's new law that's "fine" law is law , but do they have right to tell me that they never worked on my car. This is what I can't understand.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Hi to all, I'm new here. Can anyone help me please. 4 weeks ago I took my car to MB of Doncaster for diagnostic of DISTRONIC (WARNING: Distance sensor dirty) not big deal,working ok until that message pop's on dash then press ok and wait couple minutes to be operative again, a bit pain in the back on long journeys. Everything else work as it should. MB said that 2 radars in front bumper are faulty and need replacing. Ok let's get this sorted I said. After two weeks car was ready to collect, unfortunately problem was still there. MB charge me £999 for labour they said that I don't need to pay for radars as they shipped them back to factory. Here's where problems start. On way back home I've noticed that many functions was disabled and erased from car's menu. (Lane assist, steering assist, cooling seats,blind spot assist God knows what else) MB technician answer to that was " your car has lower spec control unit fitted and all functions above would never work on this car. WHAT!!!!????? All worked fine until they put hands on it. Any advice please.

Shocking that . You'd expect to get it back they way they got it. Its your property at the end of the day , in theory they have now broken it.

 

[whitenemesis]

Thanks for quick reply.
If it's new law that's "fine" law is law , but do they have right to tell me that they never worked on my car. This is what I can't understand.

The way MB have handled the whole affair and how they have treated their customers is far from what one should expect.
Any retrospective adjustment really should be with the customer's full understanding and agreement. If one were never to go to a dealership one would still be 'enjoying' what one paid for. It's my understanding that once these changes have been made, they cannot be reinstated..
The removal of these systems for cars that have been ordered and paid for but not yet received is also poorly communicated.

 

[markjay]

On way back home I've noticed that many functions was disabled and erased from car's menu. (Lane assist, steering assist, cooling seats,blind spot assist God knows what else) MB technician answer to that was " your car has lower spec control unit fitted and all functions above would never work on this car. "

Can you clarify the situation please?

Are you saying that the original 'control unit' that came with the car from the factory, was replaced by the MB dealer with a new 'lower spec' unit, causing the car to lose all the driver aids it had fitted from the factory ?

Or is the technician trying to tell you that your car always had the 'lower spec control unit' and that you only imagined having the driver aids before the visit to tbe dealer.....?

 

[markjay]

Also, I don't think that your situation has anything to do with the disabling of the active park assist due to UN reg.

In the first instance, my understanding is that it only affects active park assist, but you have lost several other active functions (and the seat cooling....)? And then, MB said that they only disable this feature at the factory, buy not on cars already supplied to customers.

My guess is that somebody at the dealer effed-up with STAR, and the tech is fobbing you off. Give them back the car and tell them that you want it working as it was before. Failing that, try talking the car to Comand UK in Lightwater (3h away from you), they'll tell you what MB did, and also fix it if possible.

 

[DonDom99]

Can you clarify the situation please?

Are you saying that the original 'control unit' that came with the car from the factory, was replaced by the MB dealer with a new 'lower spec' unit, causing the car to lose all the driver aids it had fitted from the factory ?

Or is the technician trying to tell you that your car always had the 'lower spec control unit' and that you only imagined having the driver aids before the visit to tbe dealer.....?

Hi. According to technician car had control unit replaced with lower spec one (nothing to do with MB,no records)due to fault or other reasons what they can't specify. Car left factory with pretty much all bells and whistles available at the time but CU fitted meantime not supporting functions what disappeared after repair .

 

[markjay]

Hi. According to technician car had control unit replaced with lower spec one (nothing to do with MB,no records)due to fault or other reasons what they can't specify. Car left factory with pretty much all bells and whistles available at the time but CU fitted meantime not supporting functions what disappeared after repair .

So when you bought the car second hand, it already had the original control unit replaced with a 'lower spec' one?

But you are saying that in spite of that, all the options still worked fine on the car (with a control unit that wasn't supposed to be able to support them), until MB tried to fix the radar issue?

Not doubting your story, just trying to get it right.

 

[DonDom99]

Also, I don't think that your situation has anything to do with the disabling of the active park assist due to UN reg.

In the first instance, my understanding is that it only affects active park assist, but you have lost several other active functions (and the seat cooling....)? And then, MB said that they only disable this feature at the factory, buy not on cars already supplied to customers.

My guess is that somebody at the dealer effed-up with STAR, and the tech is fobbing you off. Give them back the car and tell them that you want it working as it was before. Failing that, try talking the car to Comand UK in Lightwater (3h away from you), they'll tell you what MB did, and also fix it if possible.

I'm taking car back on Monday as technician who looked after my car is on holiday now. I've been asked by MB people to get in touch when he's back. I'm
trying to prepare my line to deal with them as to me it's beyond belief that MB is telling me that something couldn't work with actual CU fitted to the car.

 

[DonDom99]

So when you bought the car second hand, it already had the original control unit replaced with a 'lower spec' one?

But you are saying that in spite of that, all the options still worked fine on the car (with a control unit that wasn't supposed to be able to support them), until MB tried to fix the radar issue?

Not doubting your story, just trying to get it right.

Exactly. All worked fine until they try to fix radar issue.

 

[chic0821]

It must just be Mercedes who have this EU directive. I am thinking of changing my Range Rover Sport & the two contenders are BMW X5 45e ( petrol, plug in) & Volvo XC90 (petrol, plug in) & both have parallel park, 90 degree park, both in & out. Nothing about them being disabled.

 

[whitenemesis]

It must just be Mercedes who have this EU directive. I am thinking of changing my Range Rover Sport & the two contenders are BMW X5 45e ( petrol, plug in) & Volvo XC90 (petrol, plug in) & both have parallel park, 90 degree park, both in & out. Nothing about them being disabled.

It's a UN directive, not the EU and many cars have been produced since with the correct specification sensors that comply with the new directive. It just seems MB managed to **** this up for a number of years/models and must now render those inoperative. Some newer MB models are compliant

 

[Deleted member 126251]

It must just be Mercedes who have this EU directive. I am thinking of changing my Range Rover Sport & the two contenders are BMW X5 45e ( petrol, plug in) & Volvo XC90 (petrol, plug in) & both have parallel park, 90 degree park, both in & out. Nothing about them being disabled.

Yea I think there is some confusion. It AFAIK it is the remote parking (where the driver is not in the car) that is disabled.

 

[markjay]

It must just be Mercedes who have this EU directive. I am thinking of changing my Range Rover Sport & the two contenders are BMW X5 45e ( petrol, plug in) & Volvo XC90 (petrol, plug in) & both have parallel park, 90 degree park, both in & out. Nothing about them being disabled.

MB are as clear as the Oracle of Delphi about this issue, but from reading on the forums it seems that the issue is that any autonomous driving system capable at speeds higher than 10mph, requires sensors in the steering wheel that will disable the autonomous system if it detects that the drivers has taken the hands off the wheel.

This UN directive isn't new, but MB seem to have been caught out on this, because they realised last year that they were selling cars that are not compliant due to the active park assist feature.

I theory they could have either added steering wheel sensors, or limit the park assist speed to 10mph, but they have chosen to do neither and disable this feature on new car as they leave the production line. Go figure.

 

[Diesel Benz]

MB are as clear as the Oracle of Delphi about this issue, but from reading on the forums it seems that the issue is that any autonomous driving system capable at speeds higher than 10mph, requires sensors in the steering wheel that will disable the autonomous system if it detects that the drivers has taken the hands off the wheel.

This UN directive isn't new, but MB seem to have been caught out on this, because they realised last year that they were selling cars that are not compliant due to the active park assist feature.

I theory they could have either added steering wheel sensors, or limit the park assist speed to 10mph, but they have chosen to do neither and disable this feature on new car as they leave the production line. Go figure.

I'm still quite confused. My 2014 Mercedes already detects if the driver has hands on the steering wheel. It just does it indirectly by sensing the steering force. Could it be that this approach does not fulfil the UN rules?

Our 2021 E-class has a capacitive sensor on the steering wheel. Then again, the 2017 E-class didn't and the park assist was fully functional.