orangemarlin

I am in the US, and I have a new CL600, SL55 and CLK320. Each of the Comand systems are slightly different (with the CL having the best one). One thing I noticed is that I am unable to program to receive the RDS and PTY signals from the radio stations. Why is this? Even basic models from Porsche, Audi and BMW have the systems. The Porsche is the best i've seen, but why don't my Mercs have this ability? I've read the manuals, and if there's a way to turn them on, I can't find it. Can anyone help here?

Lynn

US COMAND's don't have those features.

orangemarlin

And why not?????

funky102

hey orangemarlin,

nice seeing you post again. I see your still maintaining a nice set of cars. What happened to your z8? if you don't mind me asking. I'm sure the CL600 and SL55 are beasts.

In regards to the COMAND not having RDS, Mercedes designed two types of COMAND systems. One for the European/World market and the other for the American market. The American COMANDS definitely don't have the TV feature as it is illegal and it seems like they took out the RDS feature too as it may not be in wide use here as it is in other countries. If you really want these features, you can always retrofit a EURO COMAND.

-- Frank

orangemarlin

Sounds like MB USA screwed up once again, but what do you expect from a bunch of Chrysler retreads. How does one retrofit?

J Lucas

Talk to MbenzNL aka steve. do a search on command and his name will come up. Hes been doing all the retrofitting for everyone. I hear his work is second to none but hes in switzerland and you have to wait until he comes in the states. Your so well off im sure you can fly him in for the job.

funky102

Basically take out the American COMAND you have and replace it with a EURO COMAND. The EURO COMANDs can be ordered from Steve, as mentioned earlier, or there are always some available at German Ebay (www.ebay.de). It would probably be best that you wait for the DVD based COMANDS (if that isn't on your cars already) and have those retrofitted instead of the 'older' CD based COMANDS. Good luck if you decide to go through with it.

Silver_Lana

I am currently waiting for some firmware to test if the RDS feature is implemented(sp) in software or hardware. If it is software, the US COMAND will not be that different - just its firmware.
I will be updating the forum as the test comes along.

JohnnyBoy

I have a 2001 CLK and thinking of getting a EURO retrofitted CD based COMAND. Is the DVD COMAND available and if so, will it fit in my W208?

Thanks in advance.

MBenzNL

No the DVD based comand is not available for the 208 and will never be available for that same 208 (or 210, 163 and so on). Eventhough mercedes tried to make it available for the 203, the DVD based comand will probably have to wait till the 204...

The only DVD based comand currently offered by MB is for the W211 and we all know how long that took MB to design...

greetingz,

Lynn

The ****-ups at MBUSA are not former Chrysler employees. If the were from Chrysler, they would be doing a much. much better job than they are.

Silver_Lana

Hey Steve,
What will happen to a US COMAND unit if it is flashed with the Euro firmware?

Ted Baldwin

...................I have a Euro Comand in my CLK32K. I think I was the first person to do this in USA, long before it became popular and I have worked through the kinks. The RDS and PTY features are nice but their usefulness is limited by the fact that there are few such stations in USA. By programing my Comand for RDS and PTY stations deprives me of many other stations when tunning or scanning for stations. So it is a feature I do not use a lot. As far as radio reception goes, everyone knows that with the Euro Comand, you loose the weather band, but in addition your AM reception is poorer. A solotion for all this is to get XM integrated with the Comand and you can get more stations and variety that you will no longer listen to FM or AM anymore.


Ted

etenn

Not sure if it works for anything but the W211.....but RDS does work with my US factory comand unit. I am using it now.

See this thread and the other thread regarding the "357" code to change setting from US to Euro

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/80899-rds-us-211-s.html

Ted Baldwin

.......i have a Euro Comand in my 2000 CLk that is capable of RDS and PTY. There very few stations available for this, so it is essentially unusable in North America. There are various reasons to change to a Euro Comand, but as it stands now in the USA, getting RDS and PTY is not really possible.

Ted

etenn

I am getting RDS on my US Comand now. I am in Seattle. Is it possible that the stations in your area are not broadcasting RDS?

Others in the W211 forum are also getting RDS on the US Comand set to Euro setting so it really IS possible.

scorchie

That is completely untrue... it is illegal in SOME U.S. states to have it visible to the driver while driving, but the way the COMAND is shipped has this disabled. It is illegal in most European countries as well to have it visible to the driver, but they still get the feature with the "in motion" disabled. The laws aren't much different about video in most U.S. states from Europe. Some US states do not have a regulation, and there is no federal regulation covering this (and there probably should not be).

Sorry, I just got tired of hearing this incorrect piece of information repeated SO MANY TIMES.

See what happens when you put a different feature of the car into the same situation that people are saying are applicable for the TV/video features:

"In most of the USA it is illegal to exceed 75mph, yet the cars are imported completely capable of doing 130mph (or more). Sounds like MBUSA is really opening themselves up for a lawsuit by KNOWINGLY producing a car and only limiting it to 130mph... it certainly would not be the driver's fault for breaking the law, because MBUSA provided the tool to do so."

If something is not in use, why spend the energy to take it out? Your argument really doesn't make sense to me here. And in Southern California, RDS is in VERY WIDE use, and it is even implemented correctly (unlike here in the SF Bay Area).

-s-

Ted Baldwin

I am getting RDS on my US Comand now. I am in Seattle. Is it possible that the stations in your area are not broadcasting RDS?

...........thanks for the info. It appears that there are substantial regional variations. I live in Atlanta and can get about 5 stations brodcasting RDS.....this is 5 out of a multitude of FM stations.

Ted