HotWheels500

Had the car a week. Fantastic drive and feel. Great fit and finish. Lovin it!

Ambient lighting system
I've got overhead ambient lights, ambient lights in the door handles and a light under the rearview mirror that lights the console. But no footwell ambient lights, front or back. MB literature and web site says it should be there. Is there a special setting to turn these footwells on, or do I have a problem?

Locator lighting system
At night, when I unlock the doors with the smartkey, the interior lights go on but not outside locator lights. When I hit the unlock button on the smartkey a second time, then the outside locators come on (fogs, parking, etc.) Sadly, no puddle lights, they're gone. Should it be necessary to hit unlock twice to get these outside babies to go on?

W211 Ryda

I could be wrong, but try leaving your lights on "Auto" mode.

bmms8

i also have to press unlock twice to get the fogs on. with the foot lights, i believe they should turn on once you unlock, or maybe when you open the door. if they dont work, i would actually see if they are there, sounds like you are doing everything right. GL, and congrats on your car.

mallard

Regarding the ambient lights in the footwells...they are hard to see unless it is quite dark outside, i.e. no streetlights. You can hold your hand under the front dash area and see where they are located. I also tend to notice them if my passenger has on white shoes, or there is paper in the floor that shows up against the dark floor. There is no special setting to turn them on, when your headlights are on they are too. Let us know if you don't have them.

Barry45RPM

Is your smart key programmed to unlock ALL the doors with 1 press or just the drivers door? Or do you have to press twice to unlock all 4 doors?

DWP

My car doesn't have any ambient lights in (or for) the footwells. Maybe they added them for the '04 model year. The only lights on the underside of the dash are the large, bright "convenience" lamps that light up the footwells when the door is opened, and go off when the door is closed. Apart from that, it's totally dark down there at night.

My car doesn't have anything I would call an "ambient light" in the door handles either, unless we're talking about the location lights for the power window switches. The only sources of "ambient light" light I can see are the two horseshoes in the overhead consoles and the spot on the bottom of the mirror.

HotWheels - what's the link to the web page that refers to ambient lights in the footwells?

DavidNJ

From the MBUSA E320 Interior Specifications Page:

"Automatic ambient lighting provides gentle illumination while driving in darkness to the console, door handles, all four footwells, and the front and rear seating areas."

scorchie

The regular footwell lights are illuminated at lower levels to provide ambient lighting. Make sure that the feature is turned on in your instrument cluster settings menu. I notice that using Star Diagnosis on the car tends to reset some of these settings to off.

-s-

HotWheels500

W211 Ryda: I've been keeping the light switch in auto mode.

bmms8: thanks. yes the fogs are there and work normally, except with the 1st push of the key at night.

mallard: Where you say "when your headlights are on they are too"... it occurred to me that I was looking for the footwell lights whilst the car was in the garage and key in position 1. YOU ARE RIGHT! When I turn the engine on, headlights come on automatically, and sure enough the footlights STAYED ON in their ambient mode. I guess it's a way of saving battery power. A THOUSAND THANKS! Well one's solved.

Barry45RPM: re: locator lighting, I've tried it both ways. Global unlocking and driver door unlocking. No change. Still have to press twice to get the fogs, parking, etc to come on.

DWP: maybe some of these lights/features were introed in 04. Not sure. In addition to the lights you mention, there are now LEDs in the four door handles, the lower console storage compartment, and, the 4 footwell lights DIM TO AMBIENT MODE after the car is started and headlights on (as I just learned from Barry45RPM). Here's the link to ambient light (Features->Specifications->Interior Features)
http://www.mbusa.com/brand/container...0S4&class=05_E
Here's the text:
"Automatic ambient lighting provides gentle illumination while driving in darkness to the console, door handles, all four footwells, and the front and rear seating areas."

Oops. I just noticed that DavidNJ provided that. Sorry to repost.

scorchie: thanks much for the tip. I'll keep an eye on that when I learn MB used the Star Diagnosis on the car. Do they use it on the 1000 mile checkup?

So, we got one solved. Maybe the 2 presses of the smartkey to turn on the EXTERIOR locator lights is an undocumented "feature." Just doesn't seem right to me.

Again, many thanks to you all. Is this Forum great or what!!!!

bmms8

hey, glad you solved the first part. when i posted i meant to say to check to see if the foot lights where even there, and i meant to say that i also have to click twice to get the fogs on, and my remote does unlock all four doors at once too. the fog thing isnt the best idea either, because when you open a door, they turn off. GL, and have fun

DWP

Scorchie -

The only item on my "Settings" menu concerning ambient light is a screen that lets me set the overall level of ambient lighting (range of 1-6 in the owner's manual, range of 1-5 on the actual car) or turn the ambient lighting off. There is no menu setting to selectively turn areas of ambient lighting (e.g., the footwells) on or off. The ambient lighting on the center overhead console (for the rear passengers) is controlled separately from the ambient lighting on the front overhead console, but that's controlled by physical buttons, not by the "Settings" menu. I can't find my original sales brochure for the '03 model year at the moment, alas, so I can't compare M-B's description of the ambient lighting on the '03 with their current description.

Unless I get further information, I will assume that my '03 doesn't have ambient lighting in the footwells. The convenience lights under the dash don't dim to ambient light when the door is closed - they go out, even with the engine running and the lights on.

scorchie

Hmm, I wouldn't assume that. My 2003 has all ambient lighting features, including what we're talking about: the ambient lighting in the footwells (these are the dim "convenience lights under the dash" and the ones on the back of the 1st row seats).

Do you understand that the "convenience lights" provide the "ambient light"? So maybe you're not checking the right place?

Also, the lighting for the door handles comes through from holes in the "well" behind the door handle. Check those as too.

-s-

Fastbuck

I've noticed that my "dimmed" footwell lights are illuminated all the time whilst the engine is running. Even with the headlights off!

DWP

OK, I've edited my previous post to say that "my" '03 doesn't have light in the footwells, not that "the" '03 doesn't.

I'm not specifically looking for light sources when I look for ambient light in the footwells and behind the door pulls. I'm looking for light, however dim. There isn't any.

It's not a big deal, actually. We seldom drive the car at night.

scorchie

Well, if you're not worried, that's fine... but something serious might be wrong with your car.

http://www.mbusa.com/brand/container...ubNav=overview

-s-

michael10128

I have ash interior and since i put the black all season mats in the car, the ambient lighting in the footwells is less noticeable - but they are there...

konigstiger

Re: ’03 e320 - built 10/02

I do not have ambient lighting to all four foot wells, all else is fine (door handles, consoles, etc.). The shop foreman just called telling me that he cannot locate anyone or anything to help correct this matter other than to say some cars have it and others don’t. Though he did say sometimes various software upgrades cancel functions he cannot find any info related to this. Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated in educating MBUSA which, according to my shop foreman, doesn’t have a clue. BTW, ambient lighting is turned on in the dash settings. If you cannot shed any light please refer someone you can, MBUSA contact or not. Thanks.

DWP

I don't have any ambient lighting in the front or rear footwells either; if you find out anything, I would sure like to hear about it. My car's build date is 9/02. The dash settings control only the level of the front overhead ambient lights, not the footwell ambient lights, so far as I can tell.

konigstiger

As soon as I know, you'll know.

Not for nothing but do you realize a number of 03 e320 owners were bamboozled by MBUSA 3 times over, no ambient lighting to foot wells, unable to retrofit navigation, and the front brakes are not 4-piston type calipers like the E500.

scorchie

You mailed me, but unfortunately I don't know anything more than what was posted here. Sounds like it was a change during the production run, rather than a problem, if more than one person has this issue and it seems to be confined to early 2003 models.

P.S. You can retrofit navigation, I am not sure if you are referring to that MBUSA will not do it.

-s-

konigstiger

Yes I know. I was referring to MBUSA. Thanks.

Brian_I.

Do you have the Panorama roof? If not, does anyone with just the standard sunroof have a picture of where the ambient lighting comes from? I love that feature in our 530i but I was told from someone else that only the E's with Panorama have ambient lighting for rear passengers.

As far as ambient lighting goes, is it only the foot well lights that are missing? Just curious.

konigstiger

Yes, the front footwells & below the rear of the front seats.

DWP

A non-Pano W211 with sunroof, like our car, has two overhead light pods, one in front just behind the windshield and one just behind the front seats, for the rear passengers. The rear pod provides courtesy lights, spot lighting and ambient lighting for the rear seat. The ambient light is controlled by large square buttons on the pod itself, unlike the front pod, which is controlled from the Settings menu. The rear passengers should also get footwell ambient light from the courtesy lights at the rear of the front seats, or so I'm told.

Barry45RPM

...and the buttons on the rear pod have wierd crescent looking symbols on them. Thats German for press & hold and the lights will eventually ramp up in output, or press & hold & they will ramp down & dim.