Diecel

So, straight to the point, the HOLD feature, how is it enabled? I remember seeing the sign a couple of times when I did not understand what it was but now when I know and try to use it, it just won't turn on. According to Google, it should turn on when applying the brake firmly enough when stopped in traffic but no, the HOLD sign won't pop up on the cluster display anymore. And yes, ECO is on.

To the second question, I am not sure what features my car has since I bought it second hand. That's why I am not sure what the P symbol (in the cluster display) exactly means when it turns on. I did a little research on it and found out that it detects parking spots when driving under 30 km/h but I also found out that the P symbol has something to do with the active parking assist. Is active parking assist a standard feature? If it's not and I don't have it, is the only purpose of the P sign to find a parking spot? It sounds pretty weird if the P sign pops up even though the car wouldn't have the feature the symbol is really meant for.

Lolxa

Hold feature, when it is enabled when you are at a complete stop and you push down hard on the brake pedal. You will see the "P" in the instrument cluster turn into "HOLD", at that point you can release the brake pedal. Pushing down on the accelerator will release the car.

Parking Assist comes with the parktronic package. Easiest way to check if you have park assist is do you have parking sensors? Just check the front and rear bumper of your car look for quarter sized circle things that are evenly spaced. Those are your parking sensors. When I use the parking assist, I usually search the spot myself, then when I find one, I line my rear bumper to the rear bumper of the car I want to parallel park behind of. At that point you will see an arrow pointing in the direction of the open spot your car as detected. Shift into reverse and hit "OK" on the steering wheel. Coming from an 2010 E550, I don't have parking pilot rather I get instruction on the instrument cluster on how to much to turn, how far to move back/forward and correction in the steering that need to be made.

Hope that helps!

konigstiger

Enter VIN here: http://www.vindecoderz.com/

Diecel

Thank you, as it turned out the HOLD function didn't work because the engine wasn't warm enough to turn the ECO mode on (from yellow to green). I went and tried out the parking assist too and it actually worked, it just needed the arrow next to the P sign and reverse gear as you said. For some reason I've never discovered it. Wish I could afford E550 too, I currently have the E210 CDI, all in all it's a nice car but the engine is just worthless... try to pass somebody on the highway and it takes forever...

400ixl

Hold brake function has nothing to do with the ECO function. It will work whether the ECO symbol is amber or green. The only difference is the engine will cut out when it is green. But thats nothing to do with hold.

Hold means that you can take your foot off of the brake pedal and the car will hold still and not creep forward (in an auto). It gets released when you touch the throttle.

Diecel

Actually it has, just tested it out today. When the ECO symbol was yellow, I couldn't get the hold function to work at all, no matter how hard I pressed the brake pedal. After driving around for a while the ECO symbol turned green and voilá, hold function started working. With a quick Google apparently the hold function is tied to the auxiliary battery which is basically the 2nd battery for the auto start stop AKA eco mode.

400ixl

I use hold all the time even when ECO is not green, So if does not rely on it. At least not on my 2013 E250 CDI Auto.

Maybe you have a different problem?

Diecel

Is your 2013 E250 the face lift? That does not probably change anything nor it being 250 but it sounds weird that mine requires the ECO mode to be enabled and working.

Are you 100% positive you are not mixing up the hill assist and hold function?

400ixl

Nope, it is a pre-favelift model.

No confusion. Pull up to a halt whilst in drive. Push the pedal hard again and "HOLD" will appear on the instrument panel and you remove your foot. The car stays stationary until you press the throttle when HOLD is removed and you drive away. No need for ECO yo be green, for this to work.

Diecel

Nope, the HOLD just won't appear for me when the ECO symbol is yellow. No matter how hard I push the brake when stationary and in D. Nothing happens, as soon as I lift my foot of the brake the car starts creeping. On the other hand when the ECO is green, I can instantly feel how it lets me push the brake considerably deeper when stationary and in D again. As soon as I get behind the wheel again I will make sure the ECO turns green again and right after that I disable it from the dash. If the hold function works when the ECO is disabled, it's not tied to ECO but if it stops working after turning it off, it has to rely on the ECO mode as it seems to be the case on my 2014 E210 CDI facelift.

Lolxa

Yes, the hold function is connected to the auxiliary battery. A couple weeks back in December, here in Canada we got -40c weather and my auxiliary battery stopped working when I started the car. I would get a "Auxiliary battery malfunction" in the instrument cluster. I couldn't use my brake hold anymore (first world problems), I couldn't tell if my blind spot assist was working. In the the case of the auxiliary battery failing, you will lose the operatically of a few or several features of the car. Luckily the battery is just a small 12v motor sports battery found in motorcycles, jet skis, sea doos and quads. When the weather warmed up the issue went away and my hold function was working again. In this case of your car, sounds like there is a low voltage issue? Maybe your battery is losing charge overnight or something. My hold feature works as soon as the car is running. Checking the voltage of the battery at any battery dealer should be free.

Lolxa

Forgot to mention the car will measure the spot, if no arrow appears it means you wont or barely fit. At that point, find a different parking spot.

Diesel #2

I find the self park feature inadequate, i rarely use it because a few times it wouldn't stop and if i didn't brake and disable the Self-Park, my right rear wheel would've hit the curb. There were many times it parked the car perfectly but i don't use it because i have the Eagle View camera system and auto / tilting mirrors on Reverse so parking the w212 is a breeze.

Diecel

I don't exactly know why the ECO symbol is yellow but I am pretty positive that it won't turn green until the engine is warm enough because automatically starting and stoping a cold engine isn't a wise thing to do. And due to the ECO mode relying on the auxiliary battery like the HOLD, neither of them work when the ECO mode hasn't turned green. More or less it works that way. But it sounds weird that you don't get the yellow ECO symbol if you live in Canada. Here in Finland when it's around -5 celsius it takes around 20 mins of driving around to make the engine coolant gauge to hit 80 and (around that temp) the ECO turns green enabling the HOLD and auto start stop. It can't be anything else, just replaced my battery a week ago. I've also replaced the auxiliary battery few months ago because I got the malfunction too.

400ixl

Ok, just been out and tested this:

Started the car from cold and ECO is yellow. Put the car into Drive and released the electronic parking brake. Pressed the brake pedal hard and HOLD appears, removed foot from brake whilst still in drive and the car stayed stationary. Temperature here when I tried it was sub zero as well.

So whilst it may fail if the whole battery system is deemed faulty, it does not categorically require the ECO mode to be green as being described here. So Lolxo and I have both confirmed it does not need to wait for ECO to go green in our cars.

So either your whole system is shutting down because it has an issue with the battery condition (not just whether ECO mode is available) which is kind of understandable at very low temperatures, or you have a different problem. I could understand if you had the "Auxiliary battery malfunction" message as per Lolxa, but as you don't you should be able to use it on an amber ECO light. Or are you getting the warning which might actually explain why?

Don't you need to get the system reset once the auxiliary battery has been replaced? Have you had this done and could that be the reason in that the system is confused?

Diecel

This is really weird, I had the auxiliary battery malfunction come up a few months ago, went in and asked what does it mean, they said it's for the ECO mode and they'd replace it just for the price of the auxiliary battery so I had it changed there. It was an official MB dealership so I assume they did their job properly.

It doesn't sound like anything is faulty if the HOLD works but only when the ECO mode is ready. What really bugs me is I don't find any reason why your and the snow Mexican's HOLD functions work without the ECO being green. Could it only be because I have the E210 (officially 2.1L E200)? It's cheaper than the E250 or E550, which isn't even available here.

400ixl

I doubt they would have multiple variants of that function as its pretty basic and I don't believe an option of any sort. But stranger things have happened.

Lolxa

My 2010 E550 4matic, doesn't have Eco mode. Regardless your hold function should be operable from the moment the engine is running I don't think a reset is necessary as when weather was at -40c for me that means the battery was straight up frozen, and was not showing any voltage. I left it overnight in a garage, next day it worked. I don't see the need to reset a system to restore functionality of the car's function as my HOLD function worked when I backed out of the garage and into the driveway and wait until the door is fully closed before I leave as I do everyday. I feel like there is another issue that needs to be addressed. Instead of worrying about the HOLD feature, why don't we test another feature that only relies on the auxiliary battery to deliver power to it. That would be another easy way to test the condition of the battery.

Also to add, if Mercedes implemented that restricted the use of one or many functionalities of the vehicle, it would be in the manual as consumers would need a warning. If blind spot assist didn't work until the engine warmed up I would probably have my license suspended for hitting too many cars when changing lanes.

beejAMG

just to add. to activate the "HOLD" feature. you have to slightly PUMP the brake pedal once and NOT JUST press is hard.

Lolxa

For me you have to push the brake down by 1.5inch to 2inches, at that point there is alot of restriction. Or maybe cause I don't have much leg muscles.

HAILERS2

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/owner...007c184335RCRD

LILBENZ230

Not true about pumping. Just press hard.

I am not sure if this was possibly changed during the facelift. In my 2014 W204 with the same powertrain as the W212 E350, HOLD works regardless of ECO status. There have been times where I was using the HOLD function and the ECO had a malfunction. At that point, red text appears in the screen and it says "BRAKE IMMEDIATELY". In those instances, as soon as I press the brake ECO shuts off and cannot be switched back on until the car is restarted. But HOLD continues to work just fine.

400ixl

Same for me, its not even a case of that hard really either.

Egonvdv

for me it's: break until car stops, then press a tiny bit harder.

the park feature is useless, it only works when there's lots of space, IE when it's easy to park yourself.

It doesn't work in tight spot, and, as others mentioned here above, it doesn't always
see everything..

But I guess it's a handy feature for people who have park stress.

pamiboy

Brake hold should work regardless of whether the eco is green or yellow. I have tested it umpteen number of times. It is true that both are related to the auxiliary battery since both functions were gone when my auxiliary battery failed last year. The OP's car has a different problem I think. I don't know what country the OP is in but the system should work the same everywhere.
Why don't the OP go to the MB dealer to clarify the issue?