Live Oak

So you are rolling down your driveway and open your door. WHAAM! The car drops into Park, your tires sqeal, and your chin hits the steering wheel!

And you worry about ripping the park pawl out of the tranny.

And I wonder (and worry) about what would happen if I am cruising at 70MPH and reach for the air vent and accidentally hit the Park button on the shift lever. Will the tranny disassemble? Or will nothing happen?

Does anybody know FOR SURE at what speed (if any) this automatic dropping into Park doesn't happen any more, and for both conditions described, above??

Your service advisor will tell you what he thinks you want to hear.

(Do not test this at home!)

hyperion667

whoh man, sorry to hear this......
reminds me of the time I saw a guy at the dealer
in reverse (an employee) and then open the door....
with the entire car jolting and rocking to a stop.....those guys should know way
better......

but yeah, I found that out too on the second or third day of owning my 550....
live and learn

stemags

This is possible? Dont u have to tap the stem inward to get Park? Maybe Im not following but ,,your door opened and it went into park?

togaclk55

Damn!

Stick Girl

I mentioned this happening in another thread (can't recall which). It prevents me from rolling down the driveway and opening the door right by the newspaper, which kinda sucks. LOL

As for the speed at which the park button can be pushed and do something, not sure about that. But I do notice that at lower speeds, those little arrows light up by park and neutral. I guess it is some indicator of when you can "safely" put the car in park. Must say that a few weeks ago, I accidentally pushed park while the car was going about 20 MPH, and there was a weird straining noise until I put it back in drive (like the sound when you shift a manual tranny and it doesn't go all the way into the gear).

Stick Girl

Yes, you open the door and the car slams itself into park without you touching the stem. And you jerk forward...hard!

stemags

Ok now I see,,some kinda safety thing.Remind me not to do that.

Tomshark

2 weeks ago i stopped at the end of my driveway to check the mail, thought i put the car in park, but put it in reverse instead.( still not used to stalk shifter ) opened the car door and got out and the car started rolling backwards. Luckily it did not knock me down and i was able to get in it and stop it, but obviously it did not go into park automatically when i opened the door, so whats up with that?

Arrie

So you cannot move your car with the door open? I can. Mine does not go to park when I open the door. It goes to park when the engine is off and I open the door but not is the engine is running.

petee1997

I pushed ther park button at 60KPH by accident when I first got the car. Nothing happened. There must be a fail safe at a certain speed.

bigigg

My first experience was last week, on my way to work i stop at a red light, i had to spit.. i just got the windows tinted soo couldnt roll down the windows, i open the door to spit out of it, light turns green, i accelerated to go and the car didnt move.."what the hell" i look at the dash and realize its in park.. didnt take me long to realize the car get put in park after opening the door.

ColdCanuck

I noticed this in the manual (I don't have my car yet to test).

So my question is how do you reverse into a tight spot while looking out the open driver's door. Can you put the car into reverse from a stop with the door open ??

gohan

whats very low speed? sub 60 MPH is very low to me. lol

hyperion667

that would have flipped me out
I usually have to re engage the R gear if I open my door

YYZ-E55

If you open the driver's door and the car is in gear, it will shift into PARK. If you subsequently (with the door still open and your foot on the brake) shift to DRIVE or REVERSE, it will engage the gear you select.

Therefore, if you want to back into a spot with the door open, you must stop, open the door (car goes into PARK), shift to REVERSE, and then go about your business.

As mentioned, once the arrows go away from the P on the instrument cluster, you can no longer shift into PARK (or REVERSE). You can always shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL, regardless of speed.

Live Oak

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing -- pick up the Wall Street Journal on the way out the drive. Gotta be really careful!

I'll have to watch for those! ???????

ColdCanuck

Thanks for confirming what I thought i.e. that once in neutral/park you can open the door then go to reverse.

Will probably open the door once while backing up, and get the "refresher course" on the correct Teutonic procedure

Wish I had a vehicle to test this on; go Santa go !!

bigigg

In no way am i being a ball breaker, but why must you stick your head out the drivers door to look into the spot your reversing into.. between all your mirrors and back up camera, id say thats plenty.. and by opening your door while reversing, you just made the spot tighter.

Live Oak

AHAA!!! Does this suggest that it's some kind of software thing? Here we have folks with 2011 E's that slam into Park if the door is opened, and some that don't!

I'd really be interested in finding a way to stop that behavior -- seems to me a way for MB to get a lot of repair revenue.

?????????????????

OH! OK, I see. Per the manual, depends on manufacture date. Mine was delivered in January 2011.

Live Oak

If it goes into Park when you open the door, with the door still open you can then put it in D or R and it will move OK.

(If I pass my paper, I open the door, it goes into Park, I then put it in reverse (or D), and back up (or forward) to the paper. )

ColdCanuck

The snippet of the manual I posted suggested that it is definitely related to the build date (and therefore the software version). Not likely you can get anyone to flash the older one, since I doubt that was to the only feature change.


I'm guessing you don't have kids, or at least ones who leave things on the garage floor. Let's hope the rear camera will help, but previous vehicles definitely did not show misplaced skate boards etc. And I don't want to 'park it by ear', at least until my wife puts the first ding in it

Live Oak

Do you mean these arrows? Those are for Parktronic. Per the B level manual, they disappear at about 11mph (MUCH faster than I'd like Park to kick in, BTW).

Live Oak

I guess my big concern about this drop into Park with a door opening is the stuff that goes on with car washes and valet parking -- these folks don't know about MB operations.

Example: the guy is driving the car out of the wash area to take it forward to the area where the car is wiped down. He's going at quite a clip (for that area) and, before stopping, he opens the door as a cool way to show how efficient he is. Wham!! He's thrown into the steering wheel or door frame and ~I~ get sued because it's my car's aberrant behavior!

Or worse, much worse, the smooth concrete is really wet from all the just-washed cars. The car goes into a skid and wipes out three attendants . . . and ~I~ get sued!

I'd love to find a way to turn off this "safety feature" that apparently hasn't always been there, OR is there no longer (?).

Stick Girl

No, it is this one, but it doesn't show all of the arrows:

Live Oak

Heh, heh . . . I've never noticed. Thanks,