Otto

Do I miss somthing? I cannot open my trunk via key. (I can lock/unlock doors via key.)

I have to unlock my doors first then manually press trunk handle to open the trunk. Is this correct?

Thanks.

Otto

bmms8

no, but you should hold it for a second to open it, if you have keylessgo, just ope the handle, and itll open

jim256

Otto: Mine is similar--if the car is locked, then turning the key counter-clockwise has no apparent effect. Clockwise rotation disables the automatic unlocking of the trunk with the doors.

The manual says that counter-clockwise rotation will open the locked trunk, but it also says that doing so will trigger the alarm(!?) requiring you to open the doors with the SmartKey or insert the SmartKey in the ignition to silence it. I guess using the SmartKey is the best plan.

Otto

thank Jim for this useful information.

jhb

This weekend I thought I might end up giving the car to a valet. So, I locked the trunk by turning the metal part of the key in it and removing it. I then locked the glove compartment. I tried opening the trunk first with the key. It wouldn't budge. So, I opened the glove compartment and then the trunk would open.

I am thinking that there is an additional security function there so that the trunk cannot be opened with a key from the outside if the glove box is locked unless you have first opened the glove box. I will look at the manual at some point to check this out, but I tried this several times and the sequence to open the trunk was the same each time: if both are locked with the metal key, you must first open the glove box and then the trunk will open.

Jeff

saintvir

With the doors locked (and the alarm set), I can open my trunk with the mechanical key. Turn the key counterclockwise until you hear the lock disengage; then, pull on the handle to the right of the key slot. The trunk will open ... AND THE ALARM will be triggered!!! At this point, you can press the 'unlock' button on the smart key to silence the alarm.

Question: if you have the smart key in your hand, why would you want to open the trunk with the mechanical key? I don't get it

jim256

saintvir: Thanks, now I understand--key plus handle. I had not tried that. Ditto re: "if you have the smart key in your hand, why would you.......?" I suppose if the SmartKey battery is dead, the trunk is "locked out" from the door locks and driver's door opener switch, then there might be a situation where you need to get in the car with the metal key, use the SmartKey in the ignition to silence the alarm, and then go back and open the trunk with the metal key. Not likely.

Otto

Answer: While your battery is dead and you have to open your trunk to jump start your car.

saintvir

Now ... THAT makes sense!


But, wait! .... will the alarm still sound with a dead battery? Will there be enough juice in the auxiliary battery to set off the alarm? Anybody know?

500AMG

If the battery in your smartkey is dead, how can you turn your alarm off?

Rock72

obviously there is some confusion here.

the car battery is located in the trunk. if your car battery is dead, then you need to jump start the car.

you can press the button to open the trunk on your smart key but that won't open the trunk b/c the car battery is dead.

so you use your key. since the car battery is dead, you won't get an alarm going off. i suppose if the battery is very very very weak, you may still get an alarm going off a little bit. but the juice required to have the audible alarm is probably around the same juice required to open the trunk.

if your smart key battery is dead, then you need to replace it. if you don't replace it, you're out of luck. if your car battery is good and you unlock the car with the mechnical key, the alarm will go off and you won't be able to shut it off. there is probably a time limit though...like a minute or whatever and the alarm will automatically shut off.

hopefully that cleared things up a bit.

Rock.

Otto

if your car battery is dead, there is no siren.

jim256

If the Smartkey batteries die, you lose the remote opening features, but it still works in the car ignition--to start the car or to silence the alarm. That process has the key respond a rolling code to the car ignition slot and the key has power for that function even without the 2 fob batteries. I believe it is powered like the GM and Chrysler encoded keys. Then the car polls the key and requests an answer to a math calculation, and if the car and key get the same calculated answer within a specific time frame, the car will start.

(This was all written up in a prior issue of either "The Star" MBCA magazine or "Momentum" when the SmartKey first came out with the '98 E Class--I'm not making this up, but I spent half an hour looking for the issue to no avail. I'll try again when I have more time.)

Up until mid-model year 2001 you also got a "wallet key" that looked like a thin SmartKey, also had a metal key in a slot, and would operate the ignition but no remote features. It had no battery and had no red eye, just a solid black plastic end shaped like the SmartKey ignition end. It was not convenient since it was too thick for a wallet, probably about 1/8" thick. My '98 E and '01 C each had one.

Mellow

Thanks for the insight on the rolling code Jim, sounds very interesting indeed, pleasepost the link/article when you find it

Barney

I believe the only thing that can be locked on the car by the valet key is the glove box. There is NO linkage between that small mechanical lock and the electrical or alarm system for the trunk or the rest of the car as far as I know. Many other cars have a small additional lock near the driver door that allows a valet key to lock the trunk opener as well but the W211 does not have this feature.

Dema

I believe that E has this feature in more advanced form. Many cars including Lexus and Chrysler has trunk opener lock in glove box, so if you lock glove box, then trunk opener not available or locked. E does this automatically, so you do not need to push something in glove box in addition. Having separate locks for trunk and glove box look give additional complexity and you can forget to lock one of them. Anyway, I do not use valet service much, so I can be wrong in this feature evaluation.

saintvir

To clarify:

You can lock the trunk separately with the mechanical key. (please refer to p.98 of the Manual). If you lock the trunk in this manner, pressing the "Unlock" button on the Smart Key will NOT unlock the trunk. This feature is to prevent valets from accessing the trunk ... which also applies to the glove box when you lock it with the mechanical key.

etenn

Let me see if I understand.

When using valet parking..take the metal key and lock the trunk and glove box. Take the key with you.

Give the valet the smart key (minus the metal key). He can drive the car and lock the doors but cannot get in the trunk or the glove box.

He can, however, mess with your menus. Someone, I forgot who, had the menu language changed every time he used the valet at the same resturant.

Ed

ctouhey

Actually, that was me, and I think you may have misunderstood that comment. At the time I was trying to make a point about Keyless Go but didn't articulate very well.

I had never inserted the key into the ignition from the moment I picked up the car on 10/21. When I took it to the restaurant (it was at lunch and extremely busy), I handed the valet (whom I have known for years) the key. He parked the car. When I came out, he got my key out of the storage area and started the car and brought it to me. Everything was in Italian or Portuguese or something. I drove back to the office reading kilometers. That evening, I programmed the features with the key in to match the keyless features. Since that time, I have never seen this happen.

Personally, I am confident that the valet did not touch the menu system. I believe it was set that way at delivery, and since the key was never used by me or my salesperson, it had never been programmed correctly to begin with.

This was the first time I realized that you can have different settings with and without the key if you have the Keyless Go feature. The evening that I reset the menus with the key in, I purposely set a couple of things different than my default configuration. I then tried it without the key, and my default settings were there. I then tried the key, and the new settings were there. Finally, I synchronized both.

Just wanted to clarify.

Otto

ctouhey,

you are right.

i think you set up a setting of "key dependent" because you had not driven your car with smart key before 10/21, you used the setting in your car. after the valet used your smart key to drive your car, the "key dependent" was triggered and your car read the settings from your smart key. (i guess the keyless go may not be able to save a settings ???)

i disable the "key dependent" feature because my wife gets confused when she drives car. (smart key remembers seat settings, wheel settings, etc.)

otto

jim256

Barney: Just to answer your post, rotating the trunk key clockwise 90 degrees and removing the key disables any access to the trunk until you use the metal key again, and return it to the neutral position. MB has had this for a long time, at least since my '83. Neither the power locks, the SmartKey, the rear trunk button, nor the door switch will open it. Valets thus have no access if you take the metal portion of the key with you.

etenn

Bummer....that ruins a perfectly good story. It was a better story when the valet was changing your menu to Italian:p

Ed