Issues with phone, VC Tips, Dynamic Seats, etc.
 

I have had a 2004 E500 for about six months. Issues:

Phone. The integrated Motorola phone "shorts out" periodically if left in the car after the car is off. Specifically, the phone needs to be reset by removing the battery. I am told this is a known problem for which MB is "working on it".

Is this really a known issue and if so, is there a prognosis. It is unfortunately fairly difficult to remove the battery aside from the ridiculousness of it.

VC Tips: One of the "features" of the voice recognition system is the ability to train the system to your voice. Based on the lack of recognition so far, this system needs training. Unfortunately, when initiating the VC Tips learning routine, the system branches into "Help" mode. In opther words, it doesn't let you train your voice. I have no idea if after training, things will improve, but I am hopeful. Am I the only one trying to train the system?

Dynamic Seat: Truly a great feature, especially when my wife no longer grabs the door handle when I turn. In this case, the passenger dynamic seat needs to be turned on each time the car starts up. [Just saw the post on using the memory feature (clearly missing in the manual) and will give that a try.]

Aside from these gripes, it is a great car to drive (as most readers here seem to know already). Distronic really does make me a safer driver and Keyless GO works reasonably well.

Thanks,

PSG

I have an '04 w/v60x, no problems with it.. I'd speak to your dealer, have 'em replace the phone. (I recall reading a post about "upgrading the SIM card?"..)

As for the VC, my ride is also equipped with it, however, I haven't had any problems with it either.. so, to answer your question: yes, you ARE the only one trying to train the VC (joke). :beat:

GL.

No problems with my phone at all or voice recognition. You do have to enunciate a little more clearly than you might otherwise, and all the windows should be closed to eliminate wind noise. You might have to talk to your windshield mirror slightly. My car understands me all the time & I have never trained it.

The seat ON will memorize. Be certain you memorize i t in in all 3 driver/passenger positions. :zoom:

I noticed in another thread that the phone lock up is in fact a published service bulletin (it's not the phone but something in the fiber optic system).

Barry - does the VC Tips routine even work for you?

PSG

No problem with my V60 and VCS. The only thing that I noticed during voice control is that all windows, sunroof should be closed, otherwise the system will ask you to repeat, or do something else.

VC Tips is a list that appears on the screen. If you are listening to the radio for instance, & say "telephone". ...all the telephone comands are listed on the screen so you know what to say. Mine is turned on but I never look any more. Its just a list of commands for the application you have just chosen.

Remember though that if you are listening to the radio, and want to make a voice call, you do not 1st have to say "telephone" to switch to the phone app... while in radio, just say "dial name"

Had to grab the manual and try it again in the car....

VC Tips is a menu choice off the Command System menu. It is supposed to start the Individualization routine which, the manual tells me "adapts the voice control to your own voice and to therefore improve speech recognition".

In my 500 it just does not work - after pressing "Start new individualizaiton" it just branches to a help menu - which is definitely not what is supposed to happen.

Like I said, this is not liklely to be an often used feature - more like never.

PSG