I see there is a Distance Warning function in the menu display but I can't figure out what it does. Fast approaching to a vehicle doesn't give me any notifications; turning it off doesn't show me any lights on the dash. Do you think it's broken?

 

Well here's my experience with it. The other day a guy was tail gating me for almost 5 city blocks...usually I don't give a darn about whats going on behind me but this egg was pi**ing me off. So I pull over and let him get in front of me.
I decided to give him some of his own medicine and see how he likes it.
Once he stopped at the stop sign, my intention was to stop inches behind his bumper...but as i closed in all of a sudden I herd "beep beep beep? and the darn brakes locked up. My foot was inches above the brake peddle but the system kicked in before I did and shut my game down.

 

Nothing like that has ever happened to me. Matter of fact, toggling the function from on to off doesn't even light up the light on the dash. Could this be a dummy function?

 

My car has done what he described as far as stopping for me is concerned... some lady slammed on her brakes in front of me and before I could even move my foot from gas to brake the car stopped completely in the same way he mentioned.

 

Do you guys have the presafe package?

 

If your car is braking this is distronic working, no? Mine has kicked in a couple of times, it's pretty cool

 

I don't have distronic, but the menu shows distance warning on/off option.

 

Are we talking about PRE-SAFE® Brake ?
if so here is info from the manual :
The PRE-SAFE® Brake is available in vehicles
equipped with DISTRONIC PLUS. The PRESAFE
® Brake can assist you in minimizing the
risk of a rear-end collision with a vehicle in
front of you. The PRE-SAFE® Brake may also
reduce the severity of an accident. At speeds
above approximately 20 mph (30 km/h) it will
issue a warning when your vehicle is
approaching the preceding vehicle very
quickly. An intermittent acoustic warning
sounds and the distance warning lamp ·
in the instrument cluster comes on.
Due to the system characteristics, warnings
could be issued without cause in complex
driving situations.
When the driver and front passenger have
fastened their seat belts, the PRE-SAFE®
Brake can also
Rbrake the vehicle within a speed range of
up to 124 mph (200 km/h) automatically
Ractivate preventative occupant safety
measures (PRE-SAFE®) (Y page 53)

G Warning!
An intermittent warning sounds and the
distance warning lamp · in the instrument
cluster is illuminated if the PRE-SAFE® Brake
calculates that the distance to the vehicle
ahead and your vehicle’s current speed
indicate that the PRE-SAFE® Brake will not be
capable of slowing the vehicle sufficiently to
maintain the preset following distance, which
creates a danger of a collision.
Immediately brake your vehicle to increase
the distance between your vehicle and the
vehicle driving in front of you. The warning
sound is intended as a final caution that you
have not interceded with your own braking
inputs to avoid a potentially dangerous
situation. Do not wait for the operation of the
warning signal to intercede with your own
braking, as that will result in potentially
dangerous emergency braking which will not
always result in an impact being avoided.
Tailgating increases the risk of an accident.
G Warning!
The PRE-SAFE® Brake is a convenience
system designed to assist the driver during
vehicle operation. The responsibility for the
vehicle speed and the distance to the vehicle
ahead, including most importantly brake
operation to assure safe stopping distance,
always remains with the driver.
Always pay attention to traffic conditions
even while the PRE-SAFE® Brake is switched
on. Otherwise, you may not be able to
recognize dangerous situations until it is too
late and could cause an accident resulting in
personal or fatal injury to you or others.

 

I don't have the PreSafe/Distronic package.

 

Hmm, that's some wacky **** then.

 

So that is the regular warning sign that is present in every E class?
See what happens when a car in front of you (and on your left) is suddenly slowing to make a left turn, does it give a warning beep? If not, then your system may not be working properly. Get it checked out.

 

It should beep and light the red warning light on the Instrument Cluster, but without Distronic Plus, that's all it does. For me, it is frustrating, because by the time I react to the beep and look for the threat, it is too late to react.


Go figure. . .

 

I called my local dealer's service department today and the advisor told me it's a "dummy" function and doesn't work in my car because I don't have the distronic function... Not sure if I buy that answer.

 

I tend to doubt that. I do not have distronic plus, but my car does have a hazard warning device that flashes a red indicator on the instrument cluster and sounds a loud chime if something is too close in front or on the right side. When I had to have my left outside mirror glass replaced, I was told that the part number needed for my car had "radar sensors" in it, and cost a small fortune.


There is one "head-scratcher" in the E-Class instrument cluster, though. If you read the manual, look for the green indicator light right next to the "headlamp on" indicator. Mine seems to be on whenever the lights are on. The manual says something like "This lamp has no function."

 

Okay, having Distronic on my E and not having it on the multiple dealer Cs & Es I've driven this year:

ALL 2014+ C's, E's, and GLK's have some form of collision prevention system in them. On cars without Distronic, this is handled by the single camera behind the rearview mirror. I've noticed a lot of false alarms with this, especially on the 2015 C-Classes I drove which lacked Distronic. I didn't have any oh-sh-- moments in cars lacking Distronic, so I can't comment upon how the car actually behaves when you reach the point of no return.

On cars with Distronic, the car uses the radar sensors AND camera(s) to determine how fast you're closing in on the driver in front of you. I did get to experience this one late night when a deer ran across the road. The red triangle blinked, the car slowed down quickly but not uncomfortably so, and Bambi got to live another day. I think the system might have false alarmed once or twice in the 20k+ miles I've driven it.

@SteveE400: The green light you speak of indicates that the side lamps a.k.a. everything but the headlights turned on. If you were to manually adjust the headlights to the position between Auto and Headlights On, you'd see only this indicator illuminate. As to both the dipped beams (main headlights) and side lamps indicators illuminating, I've noticed this on 2012+ cars made by MB, VW, Infiniti, so I'm assuming some gov't regulation somewhere in the world is requiring this.

 

BeachBunny - A few requests for clarification:
1. IS there really a position between "Auto" and "On" on the light switch of the 2015 W212? I thought there was no such position, at least no detent.
2. I distinctly remember seeing in the manual a comment about the green light where the manual said "This indicator has no function." Misprint?
3. My car does not have distronic plus. When I had to have the driver's side outside mirror glass replaced (long story, won't bore you), the work order clearly shows a part number and a price of about $1,048 USD. I've checked the price for the part elsewhere, and it is correct. The shop (MB certified, long-time relationship with them) told me that this mirror was needed because I needed "the radar sensors in it." Is this for the standard collision avoidance system, or what else could it be?


Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

While driving a 2016 E350 loaner last week, I felt uneasy since the car beeped, flashed and sounded a noise practically the whole ride lol. I never got into situation where I noticed it braking for me but sheesh it was like an arcade game. I was on Rte 17 in Northern NJ a few times and it's a cluttered mess of a highway with patches of space to go 55ish. But since you're always surrounded by cars anytime you put a signal on it would beep if a car was near you or in front of you. It just felt a little bit much but maybe it was just because I'm not use to it. My E550 has none of those features.

 

That loaner may have been hyper-sensitive. I've read elsewhere on this site that come C-Class owners have complained of this.


My E will occasionally sound a warning in city traffic, usually when someone is coming too close to me from the side.


I did have one unusual false-trigger, though. I was slowly driving down a side street and as I passed over a steel man-hole cover, the warning sounded. Nothing else around. Go figure. . .

 

Lol, well at least I'll admit it had my antennas up. There's almost no way to get in an accident of your own fault with all of those alerts and hi tech gizmos aiding you. At night because my tints are so dark on my 550 I could probably use the lane assist alerts.

 

You can set the distance warning sensitivity level in the cluster menu from "normal" to "sensitive".

 

Ah that explains it then, it had to be set to sensitive or if there is an option for don't drive within two lanes of me sensitive Jk.

 

A search of the entire Internet led me here, and here only, when I searched for "This lamp has no function", so please excuse the necro. I just saw that in my manual and ended up here. If I am not mistaken, that is the same icon as is on the button on my 2012 C350 Coupe that turns off and on the front "fog lights" (the ones way down at the bottom that everyone calls fog lights but I don't think they actually are) ... oddly though, the E-Class this manual belongs to, does not have those lights!

 

I don't have distronic, and I do have that light on my dash and it turns on sometimes (along with an audio beeping). There are times it's a false warning, but there have been times a car brakes sharply in front of me and it warns me of that, or I may be coming up quickly on a vehicle turning right and the sensors don't realize it won't be in my path in a second.

 

That sounds like the PARKTRONIC sensor, and the "Distance warning feature" if I'm not mistaken.