2008 Mercedes-Benz C300: Cruise in lieu of turn signal



I'm rolling down the freeway coming back from a downtown restaurant when I make a new discovery about our Benz C300. I'm making the transition from the 105 to the 405, which is a big, sweeping on-ramp. As I am a model citizen, I signal my lane change in the middle of the curve. As I near the apex, I lift off the throttle, but instead feel -- what the crap! -- acceleration. I had unintentionally actuated the cruise control stalk and set my cruise speed.

As you can see in the photo, the cruise stalk is located just above the turn signal. The position of the turn signal in most other vehicles is usually about mid-point between the turn signal and cruise stalks on the Benz. So I have occasionally activated the cruise when I meant to signal a turn. Is this common with Benz owners, or am I just a dumbass?

Albert Austria, Senior Vehicle Evaluation Engineer @ 8,664 miles

UPDATE: I had the BMW 328 the other night (see photo below). The orientation of the cruise and turn signal stalks is inverted from the Benz. D'oh!

 

When im moving quick and I want to signal my intentions, i somestimes do this as well! howver i do like the concept rather then just buttons.

 

Yes, I've done that a few times.

 

I did that for the first week or so of ownership, and remember thinking WTF is wrong with this position? No longer do that. Now it's just natural. But then I switch to my old car sometimes, just for fun, and it trips me out a bit.

 

I freely admit to doing this multiple times. Maybe just takes more practice, but after 13 years of driving with the turn signal in that position, it's going to be hard to break that instinctive positioning.

 

I do it too, and I've realized something is missing on the C. In a Honda, there is a separate control to turn off or on the whole cruise control unit. The C only has a go stalk. When you push it away, it cuts the speed, but is still on. Once you've turned it on it stays on until you shut off the car. Ugh.

I've wondered about an upgrade to power off the cruise control system when it's not wanted. Hmm. Maybe use one of those blank buttons on the console?

 

LOL. Just a couple days when I was driving my C350 from the dealership, I unknowingly had it on cruise as well and thought "wow, this vehicle is awesome, i'm not even pressing the accelerator, it has auto-cruise!!"

 

Back when I learned to drive they taught us to place our hands at 10 and 2, and life was good. And then airbags came along and they noticed that the airbag would break wrists as it slammed your hand on the roof, or off your face.

So today they are teaching new drivers to place their hands at 8 and 4, thus keeping them out of the way of an exploding steering wheel mounted airbag, and reducing the breakage of wrists and broken noses. Mercedes apparently knows this, and conveniently placed the turn signal stalk at 8:00 o'clock.

We just need to reprogram ourselves to place our left hand at 8:00 o'clock and leave it there. I'm still working on that.

 

If you push it away from the steering wheel it cancels the CC until you reactive it. Maybe you're confusing UP and DOWN (for faster/slower) with AWAY from the steering wheel.

If you reactivate it, it remembers your previous speed, but its "off" until you choose to reuse it. If yours doesn't, you should take it to the dealer.

 

Definitely irritating... BMW & MB like to have their own way of doing things (that are usually outside of convention). Having both a Bimmer and a Merc, I have to memorize 2 sets of driving habits. I mess up pretty often.

 

All I can say is the cruise on this C-Class is fantastic. I drive so often with the stalk. It's so easy to use, and there is no thinking. No turning it off and on, just using it. I love it.

 

rather have the cruise integrated into the wheel, but that's just me...

 

Doesn't depressing the brake pedal automatically turn off the Cruise? That's how it is in many other cars I've driven, including my own cars. So that's what I've instinctively done with this car. I "thought" it worked, but I'm not sure now, because I never had reason to believe otherwise--until now.

 

Yes, depressing the brake pedal does indeed cancel cruise control.
One thing I noticed - on the US model, the CC stalk says 'accel' and 'decel', whilst in the UK (and Eurpean) model, it says '+' and '-'. Why the difference? I'm sure US people will understand +/-. It costs MB more in manufacturing costs to have these pointless differences.

 

My wife has a CLK, and I've had a BMW 3 series until recently. I've made similar mistakes. Now I've had a C220 Cdi for 1 week and using the cruise control every day, no more mistakes.

I love both the Merc and BMW systems, but using both are confusing. Now I'm just using the Merc system, I'm loving it.

 

I did it a couple of times but I'm feeling much better now. I did not like the "pull back to reactivate and resume last speed. This sucks when you try to turn it back on at a lower speed. I then discovered that when deactivated if you SLIGHTLY press the lever up (not enough for the 5 mph increment increase) it will assume your New speed.

 

+1

I always hit that damn cruise control stick when I want to signal.

 

Noticed another difference on the CC stalk from European models. The US one does not appear to have the 'speedtronic' function - at least not from the picture in this thread. With the speedtronic, there's an orange light on the stalk, which lits up when speedtronic is engaged. BTW, speedtronic is the speed limiter where you set a maximum speed limit - kinda of the reverse of cruise control, as it allows the car to go up to the max set.

 

Yes, that is how mine works. It doesn't need to be taken to the dealer, but my point is that I don't like that feature. I want to be able to turn it OFF, so that if I hit the stalk for any reason, it does nothing at all.

I have pulled it back to resume previous speed, and that works fine, until I do it without realizing that the speed limit has changed to 35 and I'm set for 73 ...

 

I occasionally find myself doing that as well, I just stopped using the turn signal LOL. I love my Cruise control, wouldn't change a thing, the +5mph resistance point is pure brilliance. Luv it.
FWIW, I think this position is pretty standard, I drove a 2002 SL500 Silver Arrow (friend of mine) and was flipping the Cruise control like it was second nature. I didn't even notice unitll I couldn't find the +5mph resistance point. Apparently that is brand new for 2008.
RickP

 

Yes, I do it too. I like how the CC setting is indicated on the speedo.

 

The only thing better would be distronic...

 

I agree. Th more you use the cruise control, the less likely you are to hit it accidentally when using the indicator.

 

I have a C300 too, and my wife has the 328 as pictured in your original post. Transitioning from one car to the other always causes a mistake like you describe, or forces me to think a bit harder.

You are not alone! Thought i'd respond even if everyone already chimed in. Same cars - a C300 and 328i Sport.

Best Regards,
Paolo

 

This placement results in me hitting the wrong stalk about 25% of the time. I've only had the car for two months but I don't think that I'll ever get used to this placement to the point where I don't make mistakes.
What bothers me is that in certain situations when I mistakenly activate the cruise control, I am expecting the car to coast and slow down as I approach a turn but the CC continues to accelerate the car. Not too safe.

From my perspective the placement\position of both stalks on the same side is just plain poor design. What benefit is derived from this layout? There is just no reason to have to learn or get used to performing a simple turn signal activation. Selecting the turn signal shouldn't require conscious thought.