c400benz

i just went to the store and on my way there everything worked fine. i parked the car and went inside the store. when i got back in the car to go home, the comand screen turned on and the "mercedes benz" logo never went away. it stayed on for a few minutes. no radio, nothing. i pulled to the side to try and restart the car and the same thing happened. i turned the screen on and off, pushed every button, played with the knob/touch pad and nothing. i cant access the infotainment screens because the only thing i see is the mercedes benz logo.

i tried going in reverse to access the rear view camera and whats strange is that it works, but there are no camera options/settings on the bottom of the screen! the camera image takes up the full screen instead. when i put the car back in park, the screen was still "on" but blank.

nothing works and im very worried. any ideas?


im VERY disappointed with the build quality of these cars. this is the first time that has happened, but i have encountered other problems as well. for example, when i lock the car sometimes it doesn't beep to confirm lock, and sometimes it does. the car has a lot of problems and i completely blame the alabama factory workers

PeteInGilroy

Think I read somewhere else on this forum that if you hold down the CD eject button for 10 seconds, that will reboot the Command system.

PeterUbers

Blame the Alabama factory workers? What about garbage in garbage out? Benz designed the parts and the software that is failing you, not those factory workers. You need to watch a video of how cars are made and watch how little involvement of human error is allowed. And when things like the command screen are checked at the factory and it all works... What's that Alabama factory worker supposed to do? Reject it and have them replace the command screen?

Plenty of problems like this in Japanese cars made in Japan ... Like the new Infiniti q50...Acura mdx.... It's technology and corporations pushing a product into the market before it's been 100% vetted

Oh and sorry your car blows

frank69m

Not 1 problem on my fully loaded Lexus. Screen is great. Ride is great. Maybe doesn't handle like a Mercedes, but hey, it works

PeterUbers

Has your Lexus tech been out for a few years? Or is your model year the first year they deployed a new tech/user interface? My '94 Lexus was also super reliable but it didn't have super advanced tech

Sportstick

This is highly misplaced. The car was designed and engineering-released in Germany. Local US suppliers had to gain part sign-off from German management. It is possible that a supplier may have made an unauthorized change to product or process, which can and does happen, but the parts that arrive to the plant are installed to processes developed by Daimler. The last guy/gal to blame is the operator on the line who can only work with what he/she is given. If it worked on day 1, it was assembled per the design intent. Subsequent failures have other root causes. Your experiences are not atypical of first year production for a large number, almost all, of brands in the market.

StanNH

My 2005 Corvette C6 was the most troublesome first year car I ever owned. Several recalls and TSB's, plus lots of small and annoying issues ... plus two flat bed rides back to the dealer. It took about 18 months to get it all sorted out but, after that, I never had another problem with it. I sold it to a friend, and the car is still tooling around totally problem free.

First year cars are a gamble, and it's not unusual to have to deal with a variety of early issues. I knew this whenI bought my C300, and I have had some issues. Luckily, no flat beds needed yet.

c4004matic

Agree completely, US only gets assembly. All components come from elsewhere. The same hogwash is rumored with Hondas, the Japanese ones were better, yada, yada, nothing could be farther from the truth

mihaelb

Didn't someone from another thread say that his COMAND system froze whenever he mounted his iPhone 6's stored music or something? If that's what you're doing, that could be the problem right there...don't think that there's a fix yet.

PeterUbers

The screen only freezes when the car is on.... Simple fix, don't drive the car.

gfmohn

"They jest at scars that never felt a wound!" - Shakespeare
I can't afford to be unconcerned about these (hopefully) first-year problems of the 2015 C-Class. I have one on order. Short of the car being undrivable, I can't think of any worse auto defect than these Comand failures. Other threads too have reported Comand failures. How much control of the car doesn't go through Comand? For example, does Comand control heat? Without a heater, frost will form immediately on the inside of the windshield! It doesn't help that Consumer Reports just reported Mercedes' first-year model for 2014, the CLA, as the worst 2014 car for reliability. I had always told myself that I would never buy a first-year car. The 2007 C2804matic you see in my Signature was built in 2006, the last year of the W203 C-Class. I have had no problems that were not wear and tear. But I really want the Intelligent Drive system, so I ordered the new C300 anyway. Now I can only pray.

c400benz

i did take a ride recently with someone who plugged their iphone in via the usb port. could this be the reason? is there anything i could do?

Edit: i just turned the car on again this morning and it works fine after being off overnight. but i still am fearful that it may return

StanNH

Not true at all. The sticker on my US built C300 clearly states 60% US or Canadian made parts, and 40% German parts.

StanNH

This may have caused the shut down, but that's an inexcusable error in the programming if it did. December is supposedly the month that software updates are being released, so let's hope these are just temporary glitches.

goherdibg

I had a somewhat similar issue just yesterday. I was backing into a parking spot and the rear view camera did not come on. I put the car back into drive and then back into reverse and still nothing. The screen went dim and froze for about 10 seconds.

I parked and left the car running while waiting on my wife and heard what appeared to be the system resetting. It sounded like the DVD drive spinning down and back up.

The system reset and all looked to be ok.....except for a very annoying flicker in the middle of the screen. It was localized to the middle of the screen but when I changed the agility and the car popup came up, the flicker went away until the agility popup went away. It almost looked like a popup prompt was trying to display but going away very quickly. All I know, it was noticeable even while driving down the road. If you recall the flicker on old florescent lights, that was what I was seeing. Luckily, I was only a few miles from home so it was not a huge issue.

Anyway, like c400benz I left my car overnight and the system returned to normal the next day.

Somewhat annoying.

PeterUbers

This is your chance now to back out of the purchase and wait a year. Don't come on here in a few months and complain about the command and say you were unaware. I kid, and I feel the op's frustration but this type of thing is inevitable these days with the type of tech on these cars... Particularly new models with brand new interfaces

PeterUbers

How would you personally determine if it is a design problem of a part or an assembly problem of the part or poor material used in the assembly?

First-e320

Like any computer, "reboot" before calling tech support (in your case, waiting overnight). If this problem occurs again, then it becomes an issue. In my E, I once had Comand give some type of security error. I was scared to shut off the car assuming it would not start again, so I drove to the dealer, and restarted there and the system and the car started up fine. Remember, these computers not only have complex software, but the system have many inputs and sensors. Sometimes bad inputs cause problems (most web hacks are bad inputs!).

ddeliber

Its the nature of software. Unlike the old way with sensors and relays controlling what is turned on or off and when - providing a large but limited number of tests that are needed. Software has a virtually infinite number of combinations of interactions. The more integrated components, the more complex the system needs to be.

By way of example, imagine a sensor relaying some piece of information... When the information changes (or periodically say every x seconds) a small program is run to relay that information and another is run to process it. Now imagine all of the sensors running in conjunction.... Add to that, the oblivious pilot presses a button. What happens when 40 sensors are changing and before the mini routines are completed, another button gets pressed? How about 400 sensors? Add a bad connection to x number or sensors, flickering them on and off repeatedly each causing a different startup routine to run. There is no way to test every possible combination.

My point is, software takes time to develop, and the bugs number in the thousands for years. Which one or combination of multiple bugs causes the command system to lock up is another problem to work out. Sure experienced testers and developers can limit the impact, but add anything new and you are back to the beginning. Add in the business guys pushing to release everything yesterday and this is why bugs get released into production. There are smart people working at MB, they will figure this stuff out, it will just take some time.

Sorry for the long rant, it is just that many people don't understand what is happening behind the scenes. Awesome engineers get blamed for bugs that should have been prevented by the right test/schedule. Great designs often need to get tossed at the last minute because of a part issue, 2 days before release to testers.

I am reasonably sure that the OP's issue is software related and not the fault of poor assembly. But then again, there is the possibility that one of the gozillion sensors wasn't put in properly causing the lockup, but only when the AC is set to 72.5 degrees, the radio set to channel x, while driving between 19 and 20 mph (enabling startup of blind spot detection but repeatedly triggering the lockout) on a cold day.

Sportstick

You most likely personally can not. The root cause analysis will usually take more investigation than individual owners are capable of performing. Factors to consider are:

• Original material specification from the releasing engineer
• Material sign off from the Material Spec engineers (separate group)
• Design from the release engineer
• Design-for-assembly compliance to ensure proper sequence and operator reach/purchase of parts
• Design Process sequencing from Manufacturing Engineering
• Supplier testing to meet specifications and SQA (supplier quality assurance)
• Supplier part or process changes approved by Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering creates proper operator training
• Plant quality audit for pilot build captures and identifies issues
• Operator error caught and corrected at plant
• Operator error not identified by plant testing or quality audit, therefore process error

....among others......

There is usually enough blame to touch more than one stakeholder, and when there is a quality spill, a plant almost never builds just one.

mihaelb

Just reset the audio system by holding the eject button for 10 seconds.

There was also someone who said that the iPhone completely crashed their COMAND system, requiring a dealer visit, but I think that was an isolated incident.

c4004matic

This is true of all cars parts are sourced from all over the world. I thought that 60% was 100 percent Canadian and that, only assembly was done here. Regardless given the global sourcing of parts, in, general, where its assembled should matter little as long as the company has adequate manufacturing protocols. For example Honda is assembling the Honda Fit in Celaya ,Mexico. The plant is brand new and has had problems. This hasn't lead to a lot of half baked cars in consumers hands, but it has slowed production considerably. Thus the company's QA has been able to maintain vehicle quality.

c4004matic

This reset button info is superbly useful.

PeterUbers

Great ... So though people are very frustrated with cars that aren't working as intended, it's rather challenging to say the least and rather unlikely their projected anger will land on the correct person or group.

Rant away, that's what the w205 forum seems to be for lately ... Mb owner therapy

Quadcammer

This reads like an issue with the can bus that occasionally occurs on w220 cars.

When you put the can-bus to sleep (i.e. lock the car and leave it for a few minutes), the problem should be solved.

either way, I would take it in if it happens again.