Just had to re-order another e500 today This stems from the "active headlight" issue but let me back up a few days and let me tell you all what I've learned.... I posted a few days ago I was going to the dealer to finalize financing on the new 500 and while I was there I was going to get to the bottom of this Active headlight issue and a few other rumors (or not) out there... After interigating the salesman (though it seemed like at the time) and with the help from a few on this site (you know who you are) I was able to determine FOR SURE.... There isn't an E made on the road today here in the U.S with the active headlight system..... This was a delayed feature and is just now being put into motion on the assembly line... According to my dealer all E cars built after the newyear will have the feature.... This explains why I could not get one person to verify if they had the feature on their E.... (here in the U.S).... This feature was available for all cars EXCEPT those being built for the U.S market... Why??? Who Knows... I was sceptical to say the least so I and the sales drone went to the lot and looked at 3 different 2004 E cars with sport pkgs (He seemed to be agitated with me at this point)... I had him start all three.... All lights made the up and down motion (self leveling test), but none went side to side... I even made him turn the wheel many times left and right with no results (now he's really agitated with me)....The other things I wanted to verify was the reports about the sport rims on these cars being painted and not having the lathe turning pattern as seen on the 03s, The sport badges being applied or not and white instrumement guages or not..... Heres what I saw.... Two had the turnings pattern on the rims and one did not...This was hard to notice untill I got down on my knees then it was obvious. Personally I could'nt tell otherwise.... (I feel the painted one may be easier to clean).... Two cars had the sport badges and one did not... all 3 had white guages.... I asked the salesman what he knew about these differences and he of coarse knew nothing nor had he noticed any differences untill I pointed them out to him... My sales drone at the dealership seems to be a nice, pleasent man, but I'm really convinced he could really give a rats *** about me or any other person that comes thruogh the door... It Seems he dosn't want to take that extra step for me.... (maybe its just me)... Anyway, as stated on other posts the active headlight system is a feature I want and need so I reluctantly reordered

 

you did the right thing. maybe by the time you get the car, they will shake out some additional bugs in the radio/comand that people have been reporting here.

I guess the brochure has enough disclaimers to thwart any false advertising claims by 2004 owners who got shorted on this.

 

I've learned over the last few cars to get exactly what you want or else you will regret it later on. I'm convinced my car doesn't have the active Xenon as it doesn't go left to right during the self test. Even though I'm alittle disappointed, its not that big of a deal for myself and so far am very satisfied with my car. Hopefully you will get your car by Spring to really enjoy the car! Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

You know it bro.... I quote from the back of the brochure (in very small type I might add)..."All illustrations and specifications contained in this brochure are based on the latest information available at the time of publication. Mercedes Benz reserves the right to make changes at any time without notice, in colors, materials,equiptment, specifications and models"..... Bla, Bla, Bla you get the picture....


Lion head... Thanks for your support... If I were a "city dweller" the system would'nt be an issue for me either....
B.T.W.... new delivery date is late march early april...

 

As you know, I am also reordering the E500 because the "cornering" feature was not included in the car that was delivered to the dealrship. Does anyone know when the Mercedes will begin production of E-Class vehicles using paint with "nano paint technology"?

Thank you - ahg54

 

Apparently it will be on models produced from the beginning of January 2004.

There was a link posted on another thread here a few weeks ago that said as much! It related to the clear-coat rather than the base colour though.

 

I just called Mercedes Benz USA and they confirmed the "Active Headlights" is a delayed availability feature. I then asked if MB will retrofit those who had early 2004 models and they advised with delayed availability, Mercedes Benz is not responsible and will not retrofit any early 2004 models.

 

Hmm, I called Hella last week just to see what the price would be for a set of these active Bi-xenons. I was told they would be available stateside in late January for $750.00 each side complete with all modules for direct plug in. Guess this coincides well with MB saying they would not be available until mid January on build cars.

 

And this surprises you?

99% of salesmonkeys are in "it" for the money and do not give a dam about the people to whom they are selling vehicles.

When you finally do receive your vehicle, I would note your experiences in the customer survey.

It will be interesting to hear how "nice" the salesmonkey treats you when mentioning the customer survey!

 

I believe that those of us who have 04 E500's with Xenon that do not have the tracking function should put pressure on MB to either retrofit the lights or give us some kind of compensation. In my case, it was the tracking function that motivated me to buy the xenon lights.
I called my salesman today to ask if the dealership had any information that the tracking was to be delayed and he said they were told nothing.
I realize that MB has a legal cop-out with their disclaimer, but they should have at least notifed us of the delay. I went through the DVD Nav fiasco last year and now this. In this case, it should be very simple to retrofit the lights. I can't believe there are many cars produced to date that would need retrofitting. Anything less than a retrofit will certainly hurt their reputation even more. My car is still on the boat so I haven't had a chance to check the lights but based on inputs in this forum I have to assume my lights lack the tracking function. Let's not let MB get away with this another poor planning at the expense of the customers.

 

I'm not a lawyer, but does a simple disclaimer cover this situation. If no one told you that the lights were not going to be cornering when you took delivery and no documentation indicated it was delayed availability, then I don't think a disclaimer just gets them off the hook. If this were the case they could just print that an E500 has 400HP, 12cyls, and 6 tires...

 

i agree. does anyone know if the e320 with the xenon lights are supposed to have this feature as well?

 

Yes. I have a 2004 E320 w/Xenons w/o the active lights also. No wonder I didn't see what the big deal was about them - the car didn't have them. There is no mention of delayed availability in the brochure, as with the AMG package and in the 03 brochure, as they did for COMAND. I am not happy about them not informing us that this was delayed, I might have waited. If the dealer knew anything, they didn't let on. To me, if its going to be delayed availability, they should say so. They are just going to hide behind their general disclaimer in my opinion. If anyone gets further with them please let me know !!

 

By the way, my car was from Euro Delivery so it isn't something I can simply reject when it arrives. There can't be many 04's that were special orders where a retrofit would be rquired. MB must take care of this situation before it becomes another big issue. I'm a very loyal MB owner and want to be able to to stay that way.

 

Any E with the Xenon lights whether ordered as the lighting package or in conjuction with a package that included the Xenon lights will now have this funtion. .... Remember this... Active Headlights are not an "extra", the Xenon lights are.... Xenon lights and the active feature are now one and the same.... In the very near future all cars will have this funtion as BMW has there system now and soon others will follow....

Mr. Xristo: No, I'm not suprised.... Just disapointed.


MB-JIM: Your in the same situation as I.... Hey if you can't live without the feature or need it as I, just simply do as I did and refuse to take delivery and reorder.... My sales drone had no problem with it...

 

Like everyone else, I had not noticed any difference, so I thought it was kind of a useless feature. Now, to find out that I didn't have it at all, makes me feel better about the feature itself, but makes me a little peeved that I do not have it on my car. Even with all of the disclaimers, the brochure sure indicates that the car would have the active feature, and would not be delayed like the AMG package.

Now, while this issue is different than the Nav fiasco, and I doubt the same that the same resolution would happen, it would be nice to be able to order a new car that would have the active feature, the nano tech paint, and I would be able to get the Premium package:p . But that's just nonsense talk...

 

I agree that I would either like to get the lights retrofitted or I would buy another E500 if it is practical. Another european delivery in the spring might work if I can sell my car at a good price when it arrives. I had a break on this one with the about 6% savings on euro delivery and the savings from the voucher I received for the DVD Nav problem on my E500 last year. I'm at the age where I want the best lights possible so the tracking xenons seem like a must for me. The nano technology paint would be a nice plus. I do feel, however, that MB owes me some kind of compensation for their failure to have the tracking or have let me know that it was a delayed feature so I could have made a decision on what to do. They could easily offer free xenons on my re-order and it would give them another car sale.