My Driver Seat Broke
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 142
Likes: 16
From: California
2012 Mercedes C63 AMG
My Driver Seat Broke
Benz's have the convenience option of having your driver seat and/or steering column retract/move back when exiting your vehicle when the door opens or key is removed. Mine is set to that option, but today, it went back and when I got back into the car, it didn't go back into my position. My mirrors went back, but my seat and steering column did not. I tried everything. Trying different keys, trying all three settings, the mirror setting worked, but the seat and steering did not. This was really odd.
I know E46 M3's grills are supposed to fall off when hitting 150mph+ so the dealer has some recourse on warranty to know how you drive your car. Could this possibly be Mercedes method? I was doing freeway runs a lil bit today, but nothing over 95mph. I may have hit redline once or twice.
I know E46 M3's grills are supposed to fall off when hitting 150mph+ so the dealer has some recourse on warranty to know how you drive your car. Could this possibly be Mercedes method? I was doing freeway runs a lil bit today, but nothing over 95mph. I may have hit redline once or twice.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 304
Likes: 0
From: Alpharetta, GA
2003 C32
Mercedes does not have the seats tied to the speedometer or the tachometer.
BMW does not have a system where the grille falls off at 150. How exactly would a set of screws all become detached at a set speed? Are they explosive screws?
BMW does not have a system where the grille falls off at 150. How exactly would a set of screws all become detached at a set speed? Are they explosive screws?
Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 108
Likes: 0
C32 AMG
easy entry/exit feature
I have a 2003 C32 and have that feature set and have been noticing that many times when I get in and start driving the steering wheel is "all the way up" and sometimes the fore-aft adjustment of my seat is off too. I have my settings saved in memory 1 so I quick hold of the button while on 1 verifies that things didn't get fully back to my settings from the easy exit/entry settings. I haven't paid enough attention to notice if this happens all the time or not.
Member
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 219
Likes: 0
From: San Diego, CA
2006 Corvette Coupe
Like ntguru, I've noticed that if I use the easy entry/exit convenience feature the driver's seat does not always fully move back to the desired (i.e., original position). I have all 3 seat memories on the driver's seat programmed to the same position, and the "in-car" position of the driver's seat doesn't correspond to any of the memory positions. Anyone figure out how to get this feature to work as advertised?
As to the original poster, I'm not sure where M3 grills idea came from, but rest assured the M3 grills are normally attached to the M3 chassis. However, with modern cars it wouldn't surprise me if the ECU retains some performance history memory which can be read by the dealer's computer if necessary. For example, before BMW admitted that the pre 2003 E46 M3 engines had issues, they attempted to deny warranty coverage for a few blown engines, accusing the owners of over revving the engines based on some parameter maintained by the ECU which was read by the dealer's computer.
As to the original poster, I'm not sure where M3 grills idea came from, but rest assured the M3 grills are normally attached to the M3 chassis. However, with modern cars it wouldn't surprise me if the ECU retains some performance history memory which can be read by the dealer's computer if necessary. For example, before BMW admitted that the pre 2003 E46 M3 engines had issues, they attempted to deny warranty coverage for a few blown engines, accusing the owners of over revving the engines based on some parameter maintained by the ECU which was read by the dealer's computer.
Almost a Member!
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
I had the same problem with my seat couple months ago, where i could only adjust my mirrors but not my steering column and seat. This posed a problem because the steering wheel was in the way of my speedometer..
Just take it to your dealer and they'll fix it up no problem. I believe it was something with the programming. Anyway, it's a quick fix.
Good luck,
Jeff
Just take it to your dealer and they'll fix it up no problem. I believe it was something with the programming. Anyway, it's a quick fix.
Good luck,
Jeff
Member
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 85
Likes: 0
From: Solon, OH
C32AMG
Warrantee over certain speed
Hey, don't worry about the warrantee being voided over a certain speed. Where is it written that you can't drive the car to its designed specs? The car is electronically limited at 155 mph. Why can't you drive at that speed forever? You can. If Mercedes wanted you to stay below 100 mph, then they'd limit the speed to that. Of course, no one would buy the car! Warrantees are not controlled by the speed limit. Yeah, there's lots of talk about insurance companies using the "black boxes" to deny claims to drivers, but I haven't heard of a manufacturer using that criteria.
If an M3 has a rev limiter at 7,000 rpm, and the engine blows (assuming the electronics were not tampered with), they would have a hard time denying the warrantee. You have a right to use the car to its designed limits. Otherwise, why pay a premium for a "performance" car?
You say you "hit the red line". The car is electronically limited so you can't over-rev the engine, so don't worry about it.
RapidG
'02 C32 black opal/blue
'95 S320
'85 380SL
If an M3 has a rev limiter at 7,000 rpm, and the engine blows (assuming the electronics were not tampered with), they would have a hard time denying the warrantee. You have a right to use the car to its designed limits. Otherwise, why pay a premium for a "performance" car?
You say you "hit the red line". The car is electronically limited so you can't over-rev the engine, so don't worry about it.
RapidG
'02 C32 black opal/blue
'95 S320
'85 380SL
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: North of Seattle, WA
2004 Mercedes Benz C32 AMG - Pewter Metallic
Convenience Feature
I'm am having a problem with the convenience feature. When I first got my car in October, the steering wheel and seat moved out of the way - as they're supposed to with this feature. Then my seat stopped moving back - but I could still adjust it with the door buttons. I brought it to the dealer and they replaced the seat module in the drivers door. The feature worked for 2 days, and then same thing. Only the steering wheel moves out of the way.
I have an appt. at the dealership on Jan 5th to see what else it could be.
Has anyone run into this particular problem - if so, what was done? I'm thinking it's something failing on the main control unit.
Thanks in advance.
I have an appt. at the dealership on Jan 5th to see what else it could be.
Has anyone run into this particular problem - if so, what was done? I'm thinking it's something failing on the main control unit.
Thanks in advance.
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Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 270
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From: Mid West
1997 C36 AMG
Originally posted by AlpharettaC32
Mercedes does not have the seats tied to the speedometer or the tachometer.
BMW does not have a system where the grille falls off at 150. How exactly would a set of screws all become detached at a set speed? Are they explosive screws?
Mercedes does not have the seats tied to the speedometer or the tachometer.
BMW does not have a system where the grille falls off at 150. How exactly would a set of screws all become detached at a set speed? Are they explosive screws?
I don't know who told you that..
must be someone who doesn't know what he's talking about..
I never heard such a thing..
and if the driver really drove his M3 to 150mph so what..
Thsose car are made to be fast..
Regardz,
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Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 108
Likes: 0
C32 AMG
use of performance data and warranty
I suspect the reason the dealership denied a warranty saying the car had been over-revved was because the ECU had been modified/replaced. One of the easiest ways a dealership (looking to deny a warranty claim or working on your behalf on a used car you want to buy) can tell if a car has had its ECU modified is to look at the max values for certain parameters which most cars' computers store these days. The two most obvious ones are max boost PSI (eg they see 1.1 bar of boost on a 996TT and something has obviously overriden the original computer's limit of about .85) and max engine RPMs. The former will catch ECU mods and things like S/C pulley mods, the latter will catch ECUs. Two of the most common things a "chip" will do is bump up fuel cutoff RPMs slightly and increase boost.
