SDRider

I have a 2014 E550 Coupe, White with Black interior and ash wood trim. The ashtray cover is cracked in multiple places so I called Mercedes to order a replacement but they say they are no longer available. Seems like a B.S. response to me but I can't find one anywhere. Any ideas from the group?

Mr. Toad

Do you see the part you need in this exploded view?

https://www.sfbenzparts.com/v-2014-m.../body--console

konigstiger

https://www.mbdirectparts.com/oem-pa...ver-2074701338

SDRider

I actually ordered that part through my local Mercedes dealership, same part number, but it is not the correct part, I think the part they sold me is for the W212 (sedan). This is the ashtray cover. The part number on the lid itself is A2074700438.

It looks like this.

Mr. Toad

Does your cover slide/retract, or does it pop up when pressed?

konigstiger

EPC lists as pigeonhole compartment (520 in diagram). Unfortunately part is discontinued need to shop used.

Mr. Toad

The part directly under the red check mark in this pic is the popup ashtray cover.

teksurv

It astounds me that this part is already unavailable new.

SDRider

Update: It seems the vendor that supplied these parts is no longer doing business with Mercedes-Benz so they are working to source the parts somewhere else (I'm not holding my breath though-they couldn't give me a time frame on this at all). In the meantime, they offered to sell me a piano black cover to replace the cracked one I have now. It won't match my ash wood trim but at least it isn't cracked. I'm going to see how it looks and if I don't like it I'm taking it back.

I did find a used one on ebay and I ordered it. We will see how that one looks I guess. What a pain in the ***...

Mr. Toad

I can imagine how frustrating this must be. Unfortunately, I don't expect you'll be happy with the piano black cover because it's going to look very strange in the middle of the wood. And speaking from personal experience, the challenge with getting a wood trim replacement (if/when it becomes available) is that the grain is unlikely to line up pleasingly with the existing, adjacent pieces. I have the walnut trim (which I love) and the popup ashtray cover was warped, so the edges didn't sit flat against the surrounding pieces. The dealer was happy to replace it under warranty, but we went through three of them before we found one for which the grain even remotely lined up with the adjacent parts. This is because, from the factory, all of the console wood trim is cut from the same piece of veneer, so the grain flows continuously from one part to the next.

SDRider

It's not too bad actually. Unless you are really looking at it you would probably not notice it. This would look ridiculous with the walnut wood trim though. The old cover was cracked in 3 places near the metal tab, 2 of the cracks ran all the way out to the edge of the cover.

Still, this is a temporary solution at best. They need to sort this out ASAP because this is unacceptable.

Mr. Toad

I wasn't thinking of the dark ash - you're right, it's not as unforgivable as it would be with the walnut. Nonetheless, I have OCD and it would drive me nuts.

Mr. Toad

BTW, I do highly recommend monitoring eBay for a used part. I hated the fact that my car came from the factory with walnut trim all around the front seat area, but the back seat is 100% silk beige plastic everywhere. I discovered that previous model years had a matching walnut sliding cupholder cover in the back seat center console, so I set up a running search on eBay and quickly located a used center console from an e550 coupe. Despite the fact that the part numbers are different, the parts are exactly the same. I made a low offer on the entire console and the buyer accepted. It took about 10 minutes to install and now my rear console matches my front console.

SDRider

Mine is a 2014 and has the wood covered rear center console lid. I agree, it looks nicer with the wood cover.

The thing is I'm not a smoker. I almost never open that cover except when wiping down the interior with wood cleaner/polish and press down hard enough to release it. I figure it must be from the build up of heat while my car is sitting outside when I'm at work during the summer that caused it to crack.

Mr. Toad

I don't smoke either, nor do I allow smokers anywhere near my car, so I removed the actual ashtray and the lighter (they're in a ziplock bag in my trunk). I then bought a lighter-to-USB plug-in adapter, which I inserted into the lighter socket, and I cut a small black square of textured rubber-like material to fit into the bottom of the opening where the ashtray itself was, and I keep a coiled iPhone charging cable in that space. So basically, that popup lid now conceals my phone charging station.

SDRider

You do know that there is a USB plug in the center console right?

I like my wife's CLS. It has a wireless charging cubby in front of the cup holders.

Mr. Toad

Yes, and that's where my complete music library resides.

SDRider

I do the same thing actually. My music is on an mp3 player that permanently resides in the center console.

I charge my phone at work or at home so it is almost always fully charged when I'm in the car and I could make hours worth of phone calls while driving on a full charge. I never even touch my phone when I'm in the car.

Mr. Toad

I keep copies of my (vast) music library on thumb drives in the center console, because they don't have batteries to charge. I don't usually have to charge my phone during normal, day to day driving, but I keep the gear there in case of emergencies, or in case a passenger needs a charge. With the actual ashtray removed and the rubber insert at the bottom of that compartment, I like that I can stand the phone upside down in there and connect it to the charger in case I should need navigation that the flaky COMAND system can't provide.

SDRider

I honestly don't think I've ever successfully used the navigation on my Mercedes. I've looked at the map on screen of where I am but that's about it. We are trying to figure out the nav system in my wife's 2019 CLS but that isn't much better quite frankly.

I do like the automatic (once you pair it) phone connectivity though and the fact that you can use it hands free and download all your contacts but all cars do that pretty well these days.

I have a few ipods from years ago that I rotate in and out of my center console. I have thumb drives too but I don't have a ton of music on them so I connect my ancient apple devices.

Mr. Toad

I do use the COMAND navigation system fairly regularly and I do find it helpful. However, I live in an area where many of the roads have been in varying states of refurbishment and/or rerouting for several years now and it's impossible to keep the maps updated when things change constantly. Consequently, I do occasionally have to resort to phone navigation when COMAND can't figure out where I am, or when its simply have one of those "episodes" where it tries to send me on an inexplicably ridiculous route.

dafraf

2016 E400 coupe - Did you ever find a replacement cover for your cracked ash tray cover (black ash). I have the same exact problem and local MB told me the same story...…………..INSANE.

I have looked on ebay with no luck.

Thanks for any info.

Mr. Toad

Have you tried simply Googling the part number? I've done that before with other parts and gotten numerous hits from MB parts retailers around the country.

dafraf

After exhaustive searching and communicating with MB customer service at MBUSA, my local dealer and dealers in other states I have confirmed that MB cannot supply this part and doesn't know if/when they will get a supplier. Even though my car is still under warranty their answer is sorry nothing we can do. So it looks like anyone with the Black Ash trim in their car that has to replace a trim part is out of luck......until further notice??

SDRider

I traded my E550 in for a CPO 2017 C63 Cabriolet back in October of last year. If you have the black ash trim just buy the piano black cover through your dealership. It blends in with the black ash trim fairly well so you won't even really notice it.

Shame Mercedes hasn't figured this out yet though.