abh11570

Just trying to find out if anyone is a bit annoyed by the fact that the doors need to be shut a little more for it to be pulled in automatically.

my brother-in-law who has a BMW 750li also noticed it this weekend. He drove up specially to check out the car and that is the first thing he noticed.

I knew it all along, but wasnt going to point it out to him. He's swears by BMW.

I noticed this when I was checking out another S Class that was in the dealer lot.

Please let me know. My dealer says its normal, but I am not so sure now.

IluvS500

it is normal. i noticed this too over the 7-Series.

VRCL55

This is a safety issue. Can you imagine a child closing the door and getting his/her fingers stuck when the system starts pulling?

JAdmiral

That's why I strap mine to the roof. Oh, their li'l pink tongues lapping at the wind, cheeks flapping... such cute scamps they are!

xbondq65

This is a very valid point. When I was about 10 years old, my dad drove me home in an old body style S (2 generations ago) and I some how managed to get my hand stuck in the door as the door started to close on its own. It broke all 3 of the fingers that got stuck in it. Also, its not like the new S requires a lot of effort to be able to close it to the point where the automatic door closer will kick in. If so, Bowflex will be a guarenteed fix.

///MB

That was one of the first "flaws" we noticed on the new S as well. Coming from the W220, the new S requires you to push (or pull) the door a lot harder for you to hit the trigger point for the pneumatic assist. I believe the reason for difference between the W220 and the new S is because the doors on the new S have unlimited stop points. Meaning, the door will hold whatever position you open it to. As a result, the door has no spring that pulls the door closed, so I end up not pulling the door closed hard enough. I'm sure I will get used to it but I hope there is a way for MB to adjust the trigger point because I find that a lot of the time, my door hasn't fully closed.

internet_mafia

Well this makes the pneumatic assist pointless if the door needs to be that close to the threshold. On the W140 and W220, a simple push on the door from the last stop point would give the door enough momentum to latch on. Now it appears that the W221 requires too much attention.

Pristine

Yeah agree that you need to apply more force for pnewmatic to kick in...but the door has a much more solid feel compared to W220.

abh11570

Thanks for the opinions on this. They all seem valid, but again most of the time I am reopening my door to just close it. I mean I'd rather slam it which mercedes prefers you to do, because the "thunk" sound is something benz started first, as far as I remember.

But, regarding the fact that it has variable opening points, so does the 7 series and it pulls the door in at the first click.

Again, considering the children, I guess it seems valid too. I mean I have children so I better take a better look why Mercedes decided on this.

Thanks for the responses to the thread.

DBGator

Yes, I noticed the additional force needed also. We have driven off several times and had to stop because a door was open.

But on the other hand, the electric trunk closer is great! Its always taken way too much force to close the trunk on the '06 S.

///MB

Even on the W220 if you hit the first click way to light, it won't trigger the assist. But I would say 95% of the time it worked. On the new S, again moving from the older S that we were used to, initially I'd say almost half of the time I've had to reshut the door to get it closed.

As far as children issue, Mercedes has had this feature since like 1992 or something. I don't see why children would be an issue now.

DBGator: The trunk closer has been an option since at least the 2001 S class. But, I agree with you, if you didn't get that option, the trunk was pretty difficult to close.

Germancar1

Is the new S really that trouble free to the point is seems as though some are looking for some sort of problem when there really isn't one??

M

ruykava

damn, just slam the door like on any other car, guys :p

akburton

I agree. People are hating on the very cars they either own or wish they owned. Face it people, the car delivers as billed.