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Agility Control - How does it work?????

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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 07:05 PM
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Agility Control - How does it work?????

I'm trying to figure out if agility control can sometimes get a little wonky and firm up the suspension when driving in a straight line. Seems that sometimes my C300 gets a lot firmer going over bumps than at other times over similar bumps.

My understanding is that its suppose to provide additional stability when taking curves. How exactly does it know that its in a curve and can the system be fooled into thinking its in one when its not?
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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 07:23 PM
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Sensor on the steering wheel??
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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 07:33 PM
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It's just a dual chamber damper. My guess is that the technology is licensed from or is a copy of Koni's FSD dampers. Same principle anyway.

That's for the suspension we get here in the US that's mechanical.
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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 10:21 PM
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Are the Euro versions adjustable by a switch? I think ours are not controlable?
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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 10:27 PM
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Do all W204's have Agility control? In an aforementioned post I explained how I took on on-ramp at WOT and 3/4 of the way before I got to the acceleration lane it's like the car applied the brakes, cut throttle response etc.. until things straightened out. I did the same thing again with the triangle deal on the dash off and was able to get a hint of negative lock then it's like some other traction-aiding device kicked in? How do you know if you have this feature?

-Ryan
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Old Oct 15, 2007 | 11:12 PM
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Originally Posted by CarGuru
Do all W204's have Agility control? In an aforementioned post I explained how I took on on-ramp at WOT and 3/4 of the way before I got to the acceleration lane it's like the car applied the brakes, cut throttle response etc.. until things straightened out. I did the same thing again with the triangle deal on the dash off and was able to get a hint of negative lock then it's like some other traction-aiding device kicked in? How do you know if you have this feature?

-Ryan
All sport models 300/300-4w and 350 have the agility control. Only the Lux model doesn't according to the brochure.
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Old Oct 16, 2007 | 12:11 AM
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Originally Posted by CarGuru
Do all W204's have Agility control? In an aforementioned post I explained how I took on on-ramp at WOT and 3/4 of the way before I got to the acceleration lane it's like the car applied the brakes, cut throttle response etc.. until things straightened out. I did the same thing again with the triangle deal on the dash off and was able to get a hint of negative lock then it's like some other traction-aiding device kicked in? How do you know if you have this feature?

-Ryan
Ryan,

What you are describing is ESP, Electronic Stability Program, which compares driver's intended course, via steering and braking inputs, to the vehicle's response and applies brakes and/or reduces enigne power as needed to correct understeering or ovesteering. It appears to be standard in all 2008 C cars.

In comparison Agility Control is described on MB's website as " This revolutionary new technology adapts the action of the shock absorbers to the driving situation in milliseconds. A high level of ride comfort is ensured during normal driving, while full dapening action is activated for maximimum stability at higher speeds and in tighter cornering situations."

I guess what I'm asking is that is it possible that you're getting full damping action at lower speeds (driving in a straight line) when you shouldn't.

In one of the earlier post, someone mentioned that it might look at the steering wheel to see if its level and that an unlevel condition might activate agility control as the system may be thinking that you're in a curve. I'll start looking to see if the extra stiffness in the suspension is in situations where the road may have more of a tilt (crown).
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Old Oct 16, 2007 | 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by CarGuru
Do all W204's have Agility control?

yes all w204 have Agility control but since september 07 w204 has Advanced Agility Control as optional I think only sport mode available with AAC !?
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Old Mar 17, 2008 | 11:49 PM
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Originally Posted by oblu
It's just a dual chamber damper. My guess is that the technology is licensed from or is a copy of Koni's FSD dampers. Same principle anyway.

That's for the suspension we get here in the US that's mechanical.
MB is somewhat misleading the consumers with names like "Agility Control," because most people are thinking it is some kind of electro-magnet suspension system.

Having said that, I think dual chamber damper is relatively simple but effective system.
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Old Mar 18, 2008 | 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by ismeto
yes all w204 have Agility control but since september 07 w204 has Advanced Agility Control as optional I think only sport mode available with AAC !?
As far as I know, Advanced Agility Control is not available to W204 in US or Canada for MY2008. MY2009, that I don't know. In Europe and Australia, it is already available as an option. With AAC, you can select the type of driving style you want, whereas the "regular" Agility Control system that we have in North America now is passive and not selectable.
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Old Mar 18, 2008 | 08:29 AM
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Originally Posted by zakklp
Are the Euro versions adjustable by a switch? I think ours are not controlable?
yes. but you have to buy this advance agility package,
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 11:14 AM
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Thought I'd bring this thread back up from the grave.

In this blog http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2...y-control.html it sounds like in the US w204, its nothing more than a dual chamber dampener. I would think if that's true, there's no way that it would do what MB says it can do. How would it know if you're driving high speed or are in a strong curve????

So my question to someone who knows for certain, how does it work on a U.S. version 2008 C300 sport?
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 11:42 AM
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It is nothing more than an advanced shock absorber. There is no "control" to it. No adjustability, no chance for it to act different at one time or another. It's marketing hogwash, plain & simple.
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 12:39 PM
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Some places call that fraud. Surprised their lawyers didn't catch that.
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 01:15 PM
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Fraud - I don't see how it would be fraud. It's marketing. Like calling something "New and Improved" when you only changed the size of the box.
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 01:31 PM
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They went further than just saying that its new and improved. They stated that the system was self aware and would adjust the suspension under certain circumstances that it obviously can't.
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Old Jun 2, 2009 | 01:44 PM
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It would depend on the wording. The shock can work one of two ways:
1) The valving gets tighter by length-of-travel (distance from center)
2) The valving gets tighter by speed-of-travel (rate of change)

In either of these two conditions, they could argue that because of either the length-of-travel or the speed-of-travel, the shock senses a difference from baseline cruising and adjusts itself.

That would not be an inaccurate statement. That's why it pays to double-check everything that the salesman at the stealership says.
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Old Mar 26, 2015 | 09:57 AM
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ML350 2012 model
hello, i really appreciate your feedback on the working operation of Skyhook module, i am still having some issue understanding the princicple of operation, i have an ML350 2012 model with Adaptive systems without Airmatic and i remember seeing the module attached to the shock, i notice one day that the car is bouncing around the road and does not show any fault light on the dash board, it took me months to realised that the module has been stolen from the shock probably where i parked the vehicle.

The Question is that, how does this module work with my car without any switch connected to it, without direct wire connection to the module?
will it be possible for me to purchase this ADS Module only without the shock as Mercedez does not have a part number for the Module alone?

your feedback will be highly appreciated.
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Old Mar 26, 2015 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by ismeto
yes all w204 have Agility control but since september 07 w204 has Advanced Agility Control as optional I think only sport mode available with AAC !?
It is only available as an option... At least on 2012+ MY
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