'Turn Half Left' quirk at roundabouts on new C-Class with Command Satnav

[Gary-W]

Hi,

My 205 C Class was new in December. It's in the dealers today so they can try once more to fix a dodgy speaker or two.....

The Satnav in the C-Class is very, very good except a weird little quirk. I'd not asked about it on here before as I figured that this was just how Mercedes do it! But I've borrowed a CLA and the Command Satnav in there didn't seem to exhibit the behaviour. So my question is 'is this a weirdness of the C-Class 205 only or do others do this and is it likely to change with a software update?'

The behaviour:-

When approaching a bog-standard roundabout where you're needing to turn right (third exit), on about 3/4 of occasions the system will indeed read out the instruction to 'take the third exit'.

But on other occasions? It'll say 'turn half left'. By which it means turn onto the roundabout. It tells you absolutely bugger all more about which exit to take. If you glance at the display it gives you the accurate info but the voice just says 'turn half left'.

It's most likely to do it when you leave a motorway slip road. Up you go to the inevitable massive flyover roundabout with 6 exits. And it'll say to turn half left.

I'm sort of used to it now and thought 'quirky'. But either the CLA is different or I've struck lucky in the 100 miles I did today!!

 

[UrBusted]

Hi,
I have a W222 S Class. This problem also happens to me at roundabouts. Took it into the dealership and the problem still hasn't been resolved. Thought I was the only one who had this problem. Please tell me if you find a solution.
Thanks

 

[st13phil]

It is either down to the device software, or the cartography itself.

The spoken direction data is derived from the cartography and interpreted by the device software and there are always quirks like this. The two main digital cartography suppliers are NavTeq (Garmin) and TeleAtlas (TomTom) and both have online reporting facilities where you can report mapping errors, including incorrect "spoken" directions. Check who provided the cartography on your system, and use the appropriate reporting system. If someone has already reported it then chances are the next version of the cartography will not exhibit the problem.

If it's the device software and you report it to Mercedes-Benz there should be a future update that will fix it.

 

[Rory]

Mine is much older but it does this on things other than roundabouts - it'll say things like "turn half left off the square".

On "proper" roundabouts it always says "take the nth exit". So I would guess yours isn't recognising the junction as a roundabout.


My problem is that the reminders come too late - I don't get the "turn left now" instruction until I've actually turned into the exit.

 

[chrisdean]

Could it be a language issue? Are there any country/language settings in the menu?

 

[Gary-W]

Thanks for the replies - I'll report my concern to the dealer and take a look at the settings when I finally get the car back. It's been in the dealership since Monday to try and sort out my farting speakers.... It's also supposedly having an upgrade whilst it's there to sort out the Internet connection so you never know, it might be better when it returns.

As to the mapping, I've used TomTom in the past and for the last couple of years prior to getting the C-Class I was using Co-Pilot Live (which is an iPhone app). Neither had any issue with any style of roundabout at all - the Merc is the first device I've ever experienced where it tells me to turn half left when what it actually means is 'enter the roundabout and take the 3rd exit'....

 

[bensales]

Mine does the same. It's like it doesn't recognise big motorway junctions as roundabouts, but roads that go in a large circle.

I've taken to having the display zoomed out enough such that I can see the route around the junction completely and ignoring the spoken directions. A quick glance at the screen when approaching the junction is enough to tell me where I want to go.

Do software updates to the system need to be done at the dealer, or do they come over the air using the car's communications module?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

COMAND has never been great as satnav.

 

[bensales]

Yes, I'm less than impressed. I spec'd the Premium Plus package pretty much to get satnav with live traffic. On a three week old car the traffic has stopped working and the nav is worse than a £200 TomTom.

Add that to the lessened headroom with the glass roof, and the unbelievably uncomfortable driver's seat and I already can't wait for the two year lease to be up! Expensive mistake.

 

[Gary-W]

Apart from this issue I really l like the satnav - I've had better luck with it than my previous TomTom or the Co-Pilot Live and the traffic has been great.

As to the drivers seat.... Before I bought mine, I went to the dealers and I tried out the seat in the SE, the Sport and the AMG. Whilst I prefered the AMG styling, I much prefered the seat in the Sport.... I just couldn't get comfy in the AMG whereas the Sport is, for my body size and prefered driving position, perfect.

I am, overall, really happy with the car but there are certainly a fair few niggles. I am living in hope that they've finally sorted my speakers. When buying a car, my opening gambit is to tell them that my two most important 'must haves' are a comfy seat and the best stereo available because in my case those are the essentials. So Sport and premium pack with Burmeister were duly fitted. I'm good with the seat but so far the stereo is patchy. It's wonderful on 90% of material but if you play the wrong thing through it, it sets off a weird metallic honk on a couple of speakers. I had a loaner with the Burmeister last time it was in for this issue and that also did it, albeit on different speakers!! So I'm guessing there is a potential fit problem? Who knows.

And the Internet connection still doesn't work

Don't get me wrong, I really like the drive, the look, the comfort. Just getting a bit ticked off at the niggles on a brand new car at this price point. If they sort them then fair enough but ultimately after today it'll have spent 9 working days in the garage since new. I'm OK-ish with any issues as long as I have confidence that they'll be fixed but the stereo really is bugging me purely because that was my number one priority and it's the number one thing that isn't right. Everyone there has heard the problem when I've gone in and they've agreed that it's not acceptable so at least I'm not fighting a perception battle. However, this is now the 3rd attempt at fixing it so, despite the fact that they're telling me it's fixed, I'm going to be a bit nervous until I've tried it in anger. Hopefully get it back later today....

 

[Gary-W]

Quick update - my car is ready so I'll go and get it later today.

I had mentioned the Satnav 'turn half left' issue and he's investigated. Apparently they have heard of this / are aware of this and 'it doesn't just affect your car' so the earlier post from UR Busted about the S-Class makes sense.

He said there is an update coming at the end of March so that's good stuff

Bad news is that my Internet connection sounds like it's my phone as they're saying that it worked fine with one of the ones they have there....

 

[Rory]

.. and the unbelievably uncomfortable driver's seat

Sad that nothing's changed in C Class. I had a demo 10 years ago for a few days and found the seat uncomfortable but assumed I'd get used to it. Never had a problem in any other car.

10yrs later...nope! Thankfully I don't have to drive it much and a rolled up towel behind my back helps a lot.

 

[ManiacGT]

Yes, I'm less than impressed. I spec'd the Premium Plus package pretty much to get satnav with live traffic. On a three week old car the traffic has stopped working and the nav is worse than a £200 TomTom.

Add that to the lessened headroom with the glass roof, and the unbelievably uncomfortable driver's seat and I already can't wait for the two year lease to be up! Expensive mistake.

That's unfortunate to hear. The tech in the Merc is quite a way behind that of BMW. In fact there are things in the Merc that my 6 year old BMW Z4 does better on the very first proper iDrive, which has been superseded 2 times now with the latest iDrive enabled cars.

I'm 6' and find no issue with headroom/panoramic and I actually really love the firm seats, they're great for my back.

The other half however compares them to sitting on concrete. I can only hope they soften up in time to stop the moaning from that side of the car.

I really like this car, for me the gearbox is a bit clunky and the engine note isn't pleasant but then there are a lot of really nice touches, its quiet, the suspension is very comfortable and for the moment it all works.

 

[richard]

W205 and W222 are NTG5. There is a map update due soon, and there are regular firmware updates. I don't know how much of the navigation algorithm is on the map update (some of it is) and how much is in the firmware updates.

But, NTG5 is new, lots of code, and I guess therefore there will be new firmware regularly for a while. There certainly was with NTG4.5

My brief experience of NTG5 was that it is very good. But auto manafacturers won't ever be as up-to-date as the latest nav systems, there is just too much testing time and hardware restrictions (for heat and reliability, tomtom is in the open (and cooled) and not really expected to last 10 years)

Gary-W I hope they sort your speakers out soon.

Cheers

Richard

 

[jfhuk]

My pet peeve is "now turn right across the square" coming up at complex roundabouts...

 

[Gary-W]

Just an update to say that the 'turn half left' bug is *still* there. They had my car in and performed a bunch of updates just over a week ago.

Irritating because I had an SLA on loan whilst mine was in. Command satnav in that car did not have the issue so clearly MB know how to make a satnav that doesn't do this little quirk

 

[Brichcroft]

Just an update to say that the 'turn half left' bug is *still* there. They had my car in and performed a bunch of updates just over a week ago.

Irritating because I had an SLA on loan whilst mine was in. Command satnav in that car did not have the issue so clearly MB know how to make a satnav that doesn't do this little quirk

I have had a similar problem on my C220 (W205) Comand Online System which is apparently the same system as in the S-Class.

My exact problem is that when approaching a large roundabout it will will give commands of the form: "prepare to turn left" when on the roundabout this will be followed by "turn left in x hundred yards" and then finally by "turn left", rather than commands such as: "leave the roundabout at the nth exit". The problem I have with this is if relying on the voice commands (ie when concentrating in heavy traffic and not looking at the navigation screens) you can be mislead into entering the roundabout in the wrong lane and thus be unable to proceed safely around it. After many months of discussion with MB UK I finally got the following response regarding the problem:

It has been advised that exits on roundabouts with a circumference greater than 450m are handled as single exits on a road rather than conventional exits on a roundabout. This is why you do not get an instruction "prepare to take the third exit" as you approach the roundabout. The instruction "prepare to turn left" is given because that is correct for the single exit.

This roundabout classification has been performed to standardised global navigation guidance. There are many roundabouts throughout the world that have up to 16 exits. In this case the instruction would be "at the roundabout, prepare to take the 16th exit" which would be quite a challenge for the driver.

The driver is still informed of the correct manoeuvre via the picture (showing the exit with heading up) and the bar graph.

There are no further improvements possible or planned.

​

Whilst it may not be what you want to hear I hope this helps explain your problem.

Note that C220s without the Comand Online option have the basic Garmin Satnav which works as one might expect at large roundabouts (ie it tells you to take the nth exit)

 

[abzthemanc]

W205 and W222 are NTG5. There is a map update due soon, and there are regular firmware updates. I don't know how much of the navigation algorithm is on the map update (some of it is) and how much is in the firmware updates.

Hi mate, for cars still under warranty, can anyone get updates just by going to a dealer?

 

[Brichcroft]

I believe so, but it won't cure the command online roundabout problem discussed in this thread because as explained in my previous post MB claim it to be a design feature which they don't intend to do anything about:-(

 

[uumode]

'Turn half left' on my new W205 appears to translate into my Navigon's equivalent of 'Bear left'

On a very large roundabout say with 6 lanes, when I need the 3 o'clock exit it instructs me to turn half left, because you physically move left from the 6 o'clock entry to go AROUND the roundabout to pass the 9 o'clock position. That's a 'left' to the software I guess.

The 'half left' instruction also occurs for me when I have to bear left, when a road does not have a technical left, but one that just sweeps left.

However I have not heard a 'half right' instruction yet. Has any one had a 'half right'?