You know those little white diagrams on the headlight switch bezel? Well, mine never light up. Not when the ignition is on, not when the head lights are on. Meanwhile, the pictograms on the driver's door for windows, mirror and seat adjustment light up whenever the ignition is on.

Could someone check theirs and let me know if it's the same on their car? Thanks.

 

They don't light up. They're not supposed to.

 

Um, they SHOULD light up... its just that MB thought they could save a buck or two per vehicle by eliminating that. My 2008 CLS doesn't light up, dad's 03 C-class, everything lights up. Go figure.

 

One of the annoying little steps backward I took going from the '03 C240 to the '08 E350. Doesn't make sense. What was MB thinking? How much could it cost?

 

Mine dont, they're just stickers.

 

Thanks guys. I agree, they should have designed them to light up. At least it's not something that needs to be fixed.

 

What do you expect for 50K

 

#1 rule in my book is to never **** off a moderator...

But my opinion is that although relatively expensive compared to other car makes, my car packs in so much more value in other ways, that I don't really care. Also, when those lights burn out, it can be a pain in the rear, and expensive if you don't DIY, that in the end why is it such a bad thing that they don't light up?

Just my humble opinion. The other car is a C-class. I'd take the CLS any day, lit up pictogram or not. It's an 03. And it's a C, compared to an 08 CLS. Nuff said.

 

You saved me writing the above. The lights could be leds but since owners usually don't even notice the lights are missing before driving the car at least a few months, that should already prove that the lights are not needed. Any useless light can also increase unwanted glare, even if nothing significant in this case.

 

They're really only not needed if you leave the headlight switch in "Auto", or you only want to turn the headlights on or off daily. If you want to switch on a seldom used light, you need the icons to light up... or you need to turn on the reading/dome light.

 

What is the scenario in more detail? If you want to park the car, you may not remember if left or right is first when you turn the light switch. But one should remember the straight position and if you need lights, just turn all the way to the right. If you wanted to use auto, you already agreed there is no need to look at the switch. At least in our traffic it is considered illegal to drive with parking lights only.

 

Turning on an apropriate side "Fog Light".... but the icons should be lit... Hey, I think lights should go on when wipers are turned on also.

 

I believe I read that they do when they are set in 'auto' mode. But I don't have my FM on me for quote/varification.

 

The appropriate side Fog light? There is only one fog light at the rear and you cannot select the side. The parking lights on one or the other side are definitely not for driving. Even there you don't need to look at the switch, from the two light switch positions to the left from neutral, the leftmost one lights up the left side parking lamps and the one on the right brings lights to the right side. Easy to remember if you really use those.

I should clarify that I would not mind if the icons were light but what I'm more after is that I don't see the "whining" about missing lights justified.

On Euro cars at least lights come on and go off aided by the rain sensor (if you don't have lights always on). Is this different for US cars? I have not seen it mentioned being different.

 

no. they should. its a pain to switch the fog lights on a 60K car and the headlite setting are not backlit.

 

what pisses me off more than the headlight switch not being backlit is that on some 07 and pretty much all 08+ the headlight switch is now black regardless of interior color. This is why I wouldn't get the cashmere interior on my CLS, too much random black plastic pieces. Really ridiculous on an 80k car.

 

You don't turn fog lights on but you pull the switch. And you do get a "fog lights on" indication. Perhaps you are driving normally at the 0 position where you should first turn the switch, do you need to see the indicators to turn it all the way to the right? If you then drive at extremely heavy fog and want to switch off main lights, start from "all the way to the right" and go back to the left until you have what you want. Considering this happens (to me at least) once per five years, not a big deal to have some extra steps. If you have heavy fog more often, you learn the light switch position from the angle you have turned it to.

I'd concentrate on complaining real issues with the car design, I believe there are some.

 

Conclusive Answer:

It is done this way so as to not distract the driver when checking for lights being illuminated as the positioning of the knob is in a cluttered area which requires the driver to do more than just glance down and over at the control switch (ie steering wheel and turn signal knobs in the way.) You have to physically move your body in order to move your head to the appropriate level to get the proper angle to see the switch and all the lights or functions.

Therefore, Mercedes has put those indicator lights in the dash to ensure two things: 1, that the driver has to move his eyes off the road the least to check if his lights are on, and that 2, the driver can see whether the lights are on or off directly and immediately. (Same rationale with the C, S, and CL with the placement of the new NAV screens)

If you notice, when you turn on your lights, by the tachometer, a green light turns on with rays pointing down indicating that normal running lamps are on.

If you are to activate the high-beams, you will also notice that there is a blue light with rays pointing forward and parallel to the horizontal plane that will turn on in the clock cluster.

That's why the fog lamp indicator lights are positioned all the way to the bottom left side of the control panel, so that their view is not obstructed by the steering wheel and other levers. Also, for those of you wondering why the fog lamps are lit up and indicated on the control cluster and not in the dash, it is because of priority and functional importance. Headlamps are much more crucial than fog lamps ever will be, even in circumstances that call specifically for their use (such as fog or mist), hence their placement in the main cluster.

Hope this helps rationalize some of the German's train of thought!

Chris

 

What car do you know of that costs around 80K that doesnt have plastic switches?

The only thing that I've seen in my years within the industry without plastic switches is a Bentley which has metallic ones...even there it can be argued that mercedes addressed the issue (simply look at the S and CL Classes and their new METAL switches)

 

19 !! replies about a light switch. You guys are funny. LOL

 

19 replies? There must be at least 19 threads on the same topic. And we are not funny, at least most of us, it is a lot worse than that.

 

Ahh. Somehow, the rays pointing down made me think that was the fog light indicator. My wife just leaves the light switch on "auto" so I thought the fog lights came on automatically and therefore that light lit up.

 

I don't know how you interpreted metallic vs. plastic from my topic of color of plastic switches vs. main interior color.

Plastic switches are fine, the surrounds of the headlight switch is all black (regardless of what interior color you order) yet it used to be color matched to the interior.

 

Yeah... the entire switch assembly is black not just the knob. A rediculous cost savings measure. My '04 assembly matched the dash color (with a black knob only).

At least in my car I have an Ash (Gray) dash with black wood trim, so the switch in black is almost visually acceptable, If I had the new Beige (not stone) interior color with that big black switch assembly it would really be an obvious "black eye" on the rest of the dash.

Stupid. ...and cheap looking. Not "sporty" looking.

 

Exactly! On the CLS the vent adjustment knobs and the seat controls etc are all black regardless of interior color. Very stupid and cheap, the 06 got the color matching.

Sorry about your wheels Barry!