Why?

[Istbclass]

Well, my wife picked up our new B class on Thursday, getting to grips with everything and setting it up, decided we don’t need a speedometer dial, a digital speedo in the multifunction display and KM displayed in the permanent display, I had seen in the manual you could Change the KM display to temperature, great I thought but then noticed this feature is not available in the UK, my question is why do Mercedes think UK drivers need 3 speedos, one in KM.
On another point when my wife went to pick the car up I asked her to get the dealer to set the car up so only the drivers door unlocked, the sales lady said she had never heard of this and it wasn’t possible on a Mercedes, she even asked a colleague, and he had confirmed this. I didn’t think this could be right and found the relevant section to set the car up to only open the drivers, took all of 10 seconds. I wonder how may mercs bought from this dealership are now driving about at risk of someone jumping in the passenger seat when they unlock the car.

 

[markjay]

The legislation in the UK stipulates that the instrument cluster should be able to display the speed in both mph and Km/h, though not necessarily display both at the same time.

So you are correct that technicality speaking the car would be UK-legal even without the UK-specific instrument cluster set-up, because it can display the speed at Km/h at will.

However, the issue MB had when moving away from the dual-dial speedometer and introducing the multi-function LCD display in the instrument cluster in the late nineties, was that if the driver used the LCD display to display the speed in Km/h, then the other LCD display functions would become useless.

E.g., if you were traveling through Europe and using the multi-function LCD display in the instrument cluster to display the speed in Km/h, then you would not be able to flick through the contacts list, or radio stations, or check fuel consumption etc, because the speed display in Km/h would have disappeared when you did that, and you would then complain that the instrument cluster is poorly-designed.

What MB should have done really is simply keep the dual-dial speedometer like in the olden days....

But strictly-speaking, if you chose to revert the instrument cluster to standard factory-default worldwide configuration i.e. with the external temperature is displayed where the the Km/h is now (this is known as 'Delete-UK mod' and can be done via STAR), then your car will still be UK-legal because the instrument cluster can display the speed in Km/h. I.e., as long as you did not use the multi-function LCD display for anything else while travelling in a country with Km/h speed limits.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

For general dash tidiness BMW have it about right.

Or, rather, had it about right. The dash in my current one is a bit muddled but not as bad s the Mrs' SLK.

 

[markjay]

Re unlocking the driver's door only, my 2006 W203 had this feature, as does my current 2013 W204 (it is set by pressing the fob buttons im a certain sequence, and it is documented in the owner's manual), so I am surprised that the dealer you were using never heard of it. MB cars had this for at least 15 years now, possibly longer....

 

[Istbclass]

Thanks Markjay, I guessed it was because you have to be able to have the speed shown somewhere as KM.
What I don’t understand is why I Couldn’t have temp shown and only bring up KM if I went abroad. I assume that foreign vehicles show MPH but this can be changed for temp.

 

[markjay]

My previous Renault Senic II had a digital instrument cluster. So you could switch between mph and Km/h. But it always displayed one or the other, i.e. when you switched to Km/h the speed was always displayed.

I suppose that MB could have handled this better, the issue is probably that worldwide the requirement is for either mph or Km/h, and the UK is probably unique in stipulating that the car must have both? If so then I guess that the UK market just isn't big enough or important enough (or both) for MB to make the effort and come-up with a more elegant solution.

Perhaps after Brexit the requirement for displaying the speed in Km/h on UK cars will be dropped? Here's hoping....

 

[markjay]

BTW, I had the Delete-UK mod carried-out on my old W203, which I found useful (and I never drove it to the continent anyway).

I didn't bother doing this with the W204 so it still shows the speed in Km/h. And the funny thing is that I did take the car to France but didn't even look at the Km/h display, I am used to translating Km/h to mph and back and had no issue relying on the mph speedometer to keep within the speed limit.

 

[markjay]

Re unlocking the driver's door only, my 2006 W203 had this feature, as does my current 2013 W204 (it is set by pressing the fob buttons im a certain sequence, and it is documented in the owner's manual), so I am surprised that the dealer you were using never heard of it. MB cars had this for at least 15 years now, possibly longer....

 

[Headhurts]

I’m not trying to be obtuse but why would you just want to unlock the drivers door only?

Would this not be a pain when you have passengers?

After all the doors all lock once on the move.

I’m probably missing something obvious here.

Robin

 

[clk320x]

I’m not trying to be obtuse but why would you just want to unlock the drivers door only?

Would this not be a pain when you have passengers?

After all the doors all lock once on the move.

I’m probably missing something obvious here.

Robin

Apparently it is for when you are in a ‘rough’ area... I’ve never got the point of it either.

 

[WDB124066]

Yes he lives in the UK forty five years after Parliament ignored the best advice it ever got.

New Britain is in PNG not the UK, although one could be forgiven.

 

[markjay]

Apparently it is for when you are in a ‘rough’ area... I’ve never got the point of it either.

Probably aimed at the American market, e.g. it helps prevent car-jacking etc. Same for the auto-lock feature when you drive off.

 

[markjay]

...Would this not be a pain when you have passengers?...

Press the button once to unlock the driver's door, then press it again to unlock all doors.

My only concern would be impatient passengers pulling on the locked door's handle while I fumble about while opting for the second button press... I hate it when people repeatedly pull on the door handle of a locked door.

 

[Istbclass]

Yes it’s for safety, would you unlock all of the doors before getting in the drivers door, probably not.
If your wife or significant other gets in and puts their handbag on the seat only to have someone walking past open the passenger door and take you wouldn’t be very happy. If someone approaches the drivers door you are wary, people walking past the passengers door probably not. Perhaps being a police officer for 35 yrs has made me paranoid, perhaps just more realistic.

 

[Headhurts]

Yes it’s for safety, would you unlock all of the doors before getting in the drivers door, probably not.
If your wife or significant other gets in and puts their handbag on the seat only to have someone walking past open the passenger door and take you wouldn’t be very happy. If someone approaches the drivers door you are wary, people walking past the passengers door probably not. Perhaps being a police officer for 35 yrs has made me paranoid, perhaps just more realistic.

No still not convinced push once to unlock all doors and drive off they all lock very quickly once on move but each to their own I guess.

But excellent forum response and op hopefully has his answer.

Robin

 

[OliOwl]

Just to jump in here rather than start a whole new thread about the same thing - I’m a recent C-class owner and wanted to do away with the km/h display in favour of the temperature. I understand we’ve covered that it can’t be done as standard, which is fine.

What I don’t understand is I have the setting to change it, but it just does nothing. Why put the setting there on UK cars if it just doesn’t work? Surely they could have just removed it in software?

I presume everyone else has access to the option, too?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Yes he lives in the UK forty five years after Parliament ignored the best advice it ever got.

New Britain is in PNG not the UK, although one could be forgiven.

PNG?

 

[markjay]

...New Britain is in PNG not the UK, although one could be forgiven.

PNG?

There's more than one New Britain. WDB124066 is referring to New Britain in Papua New Guinea.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

There's more than one New Britain. WDB124066 is referring to New Britain in Papua New Guinea.

I missed the 'new' bit.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Some on here have lived a sheltered life. Unlocking just the drivers door is a crucial part of personal safety in many parts of the world, and looking at what is going on in some of our UK cities at the moment is crucial here too.

Yes I understand if 'they' come at you for your car they will have it anyway 'blah,blah,blah...but stopping an opportunist petty criminal from quickly tearing open your passenger doors and grabbing any item from inside the car , ladies, how many of you put your handbag on the passenger seat or in the foot well while doing up your seat ? and how many blokes do the same with their man bags/laptops etc ? .

Single door unlocking is a good feature.