Steveng_2001

Can someone tell me what the USB dongle in the glove box of my 2012 C250 is for? Doesn't seem to be anything in the manual about it. I should note that the car has a universal media interface Apple 30 pin connector in the console so not sure it's for that. It also has factor Bluetooth so I doubt if it's for that either.

Maybe something to do with NAV or adding Nav? BTW, the car does not have Nav.

Thanks.

W57thNY

Do you have a US market car?

jbt56

Interesting. My 2012 C250 (no nav, no HK) does not have a USB plug in the glovebox, although it does have one in the center console- along with the 30-pin connector. I was given a pigtail to plug into that which includes an iPod plug and an aux plug. Unfortunately, I cannot play my iPods using any of the three methods. The car says there's either nothing there, or 'device incompatible'. Since I can stream music from my iPhone via Bluetooth, it isn't really a problem, but it does bother me a bit.

Steveng_2001

US market car.

babyboxer1

Not sure if they changed the interface to USB later, but my 08 had an RCA jack that was for the AUX input. Is that the new AUX input perhaps?

jbt56

OP- try plugging an iPod into that USB. AFAIK, even a few-year-old iPod should play and charge through that cable. Many cars hide them in the glove box if you don't need to access the iPod regularly- for instance, if the car controls it.

rookiezxc

Mine is a 2013 w/o HK and w/o Nav as well. My usb socket is inside my middle compartment.

oldschool65

I have the same. The mystery usb cable case continues

shotgun_banjo

That cable is part of the media interface option of the car. There are different bunch of cables that can be swapped with it. The USB connection can let you plug-in a mass storage devise like a thumb drive with MP3 songs on it and play it on your command or audio 20 like a ipod.

Steveng_2001

I tried hooking up several USB devices: USB stick with MP3s, multiple iPods (old and new) as well as a couple of different iPhones and a Galaxy S5. Nothing works or shows up under "Aux" or "USB Storage" at all. The phones do say that the source plugged into it is not recognized. If you dismiss that warning the device will actually charge -- although not that quickly. More like a slow trickle charge. So there is power going through this cable, just no data connection apparently. At least in my case.

What I find interesting is... if there is already a media interface connection in the consul (in my case 32 pin iPod connection) then why the USB dongle in the glovebox?

Further adding to the mystery, why does my car have an auxiliary (Aux) and "USB Storage" listed under audio if the only USB connection doesn't work (assuming they're related)?

So far I can't tell what this is for. Love for somebody to solve this mystery.

oldschool65

Yeah i tried the same. I also have a USB port in the center console and I currently have a USB flash drive inserted with music and it works well, I tried plugin in the same flash drive into the USB port in the glove and it dose not work.