Crankster

Figures a snow day and I want to remote start. Both phones stuck on "Finishing Up" What a piece of crap.

MASSC450

Welcome to the wonderful world of "Mercedes me"...

Why people actually pay money to extend this slow, unreliable, and ancient 3G service past the free period is beyond me.

removedCFGaccount

Yup, woe is me.

pjw1967

Our local dealer has a '17 GLS63 on the lot. $136k. Whew! I looked at the MSRP and it had "Keyless GO" and then later on "Keyless START". I though, oh boy, now they get the idea. Push a button on the key and viola, the car starts. Nope. It is 2 different ways to describe Keyless GO. For the description of Keyless Start, it says you can push a button on the dash to start the car. Wait a minute! Ain't that Keyless GO? Yep. Are they really trying to trick us into believing it is a remote start feature?
https://www.autoipacket.com/packet-s...7HA919815#MSRP

MASSC450

"Keyless-Go" is both keyless entry and keyless start...remote start is totally different.

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/owner...007d184335RCRD

Crankster

I wonder if it is dependent on the phones location service. After a while I looked at my phone and it said location found or something like that. Then the App worked.

Mikey53

Hmmm, I'm not sure it is meant to try and 'fool" anyone.

removedCFGaccount

Well, I don't think "remote" a rational synonym for either, so I agree.

sunk318

I've been meaning to create this thread but you beat me to it.

Here are things that I hate:

1. Remote start has too many restrictions. Won't start because my car is unlocked, won't start because my car has less than 5 gallons of gas, won't start because I am too far etc...
2. It takes 45 sec+ to start the car. When I am changing cloth at gym and walking out to my car, I usually try to remote start the car. When I get to the car, it did not even start...
3. The car turns off when I open the door. What's the point of this? Theft? I do not see a point here because I approached the car with a remote in my pocket. Why would it shut off?
4. Mercedes ME eats up phone battery. I have Galaxy S7 and I am always told there is a battery hog -- which always turns out to be Mercedes ME.

I really want to like Mercedes ME, but this is one of the worst app I've ever used.

removedCFGaccount

It is said people in Hell want ice water, which, to me, seems entirely reasonable....

MASSC450

...it's also the most useless remote start system I've ever used. What's the sense of having a remote start system if it doesn't activate the climate system to MAX heat and the rear window/outside mirror heaters during a cold start?



I've said this a 100 times, but my old 2014 Grand Cherokee after a remote start would not only activate the climate system to MAX heat and the rear window/outside mirror heaters during a cold start, it would also turn on the heated steering wheel and the driver's heated seat! With a hot remote start during the Summer, it would activate the A/C to max and turn on the driver's ventilated seat.

So much for "The Best or Nothing" Mercedes, huh? Your remote start is as useless as **** on a bull...and you'll NEVER get a dime from me towards extending Mercedes me.

sunk318

The fact that I have 5 year free subscription makes me feel even worse. It's like I have access to the technology that I don't want to use...

What saddens me is that I think the hardware is all there to make things so much better, but software fails to support.

Mike5215

Oh the hardware is there. It's Mercedes lawyers that F'd the thing up. All of those conditions and nanny interventions are to cover MB's liability.

MidCity sold a Smartkey Remote Starter for the 221 that started the car, regardless of conditions or location in about twenty seconds. If you opened the door the engine kept running and as long as you pressed the Start button before you stepped on the brake (and your key was on you) it kept running. (The extra step kept the car from being stolen). Genius!

The really crappy part is that MidCity decided against developing a unit for the 205 because MB started adding their own. I have a buddy of mine who's a MidCity distributor. I'll let him know there's a market for a 3rd party solution. I don't think I've heard a positive thing about the MB app.

GerritKw

Move to Europe and buy a C350e and all your trouble is gone.

• Good Mercedes Me connection
• Pre heating of interior and driver (optionally passenger) seat in winter
• Pre cooling of interior in summer

​​​​​Unfortunately it doesn't switch on the ventilated seats, but that might be because i don't have them
Important to know is that this is done with an external unit and not the engine.
Since that is consuming quite some electrical energy (approximately 1.2KW/hr), i presume it wil only be found on the plugin models because other batteries would be drained before the car would be heated.
It all works great (with a glitch now and then).

For all the pre heating systems i know of in Europe on other cars, they are all exteral of the main engine and work on fuel to heat the engine coolant fluid and heat the engine and interiointeriorYou find them mostly in the Nordic countries.

Mike5215

After the US election that's actually a really appealing offer.

removedCFGaccount

Well, let's see, LePenn may win, and in Holland...I say move.

pjw1967

I was being facetious....why use a second code to describe something that is part of another code?

pjw1967

Remote start is how it is described by other brands. If you are saying that remote start is not a synonym for Keyless Go or Keyless Start, I agree. If you have a car with remote start like I do, Keyless Start as a separate line item might lead you to believe it is remote start.

removedCFGaccount

It seems fairly simple in the context of Mercedes taxonomy. "Keyless" modifies start or go, so you can do either without a key. "Remote" modifies start, so you can do this at a distance, which necessarily implies without a key in the car or ignition.

unr1

wow, a lot of negative experiences with the mercedes me app. I pressed the i-button to register it today.

is it useful for anything at all? I'm waiting on activation so I can't test it out yet.

sunk318

It can be useful. But the fact that it has 45 second lag and doesn't work half the times made me stop using the app completely.

Not only that, my Galaxy S7 keeps telling me that M ME is draining the battery...

guhvies

OT: you might want to get BBS and check out what out says about wakelocks...

unr1

I used the Mercedes Me app and I tried to remote start from home and it worked. This was on a 2016+ car.
It took a minute or so but it turned on both times I started it (10 min intervals).

I noticed that I couldn't start it for 20 minutes from the get go. I had to wait until the first 10 minutes finished before requesting another 10 minutes. Keep in mind remote start can't be longer than 20 min total until you get back inside your car.

Side note... can anyone see fuel level in the Me app? Maybe it varies by market. I'm in US and don't see fuel. Just remote start, lock/unlock, horn & lights.
Edit: I also have vehicle finder. I can locate it on a map from the app and it works well.

I should mention that the area has okay cell signal. So I have yet to test it somewhere more rural

There are some screenshots of the app you can see here. It looks exactly as shown.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/merc...a/id1132286368

unr1

This is from the Mercedes Me user guide as to why the vehicle may not start.

https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital...0814_KH_v2.pdf

Mike5215

Mercedes Companion app will show fuel level, but you can't start the car from it (?).