I suspect the only difference is the interface. Newer cars have the touch screen input, while our cars use the console controller.

I do not find the scrolling with the controller to be a problem, but I don't know about others.

 

Just installed Android auto activator OBDII on my cls550 2016 with a built date 07/2015. Recently purchased back in March and I was researching about Android auto on my car. This thread really helped out a lot on activation android auto. Bought my unit back in April from Vladimir on ebay. Received a week later and I was eagerly to try it out. I plugged it in my obd port and after waiting about 6-8 minutes no success showed up on my screen. So I emailed him an told him that it didn't work. So he asked if I had the update on my firmware, I told that I didn't realized that I needed the update. So I waited until last week to scheduled an appointment with my dealer. I told them I had issues with MBrace and Bluetooth connections. Also I mentioned that there is a new firmware update. Brought my car in and it took them about an hour. Went home and plug my OBDII and I checked the dealer menu to see if I have (11. Ringtone volume for carplay). I confirmed that it was there then after 7 minutes I have activated Android Auto. I want to thank DFWdude, Fleeno, dJCG, and RichieBoyle for their time on this thread. If anyone wants to do this, please get your firmware updated. It will not work, learn from my mistake.

 

I dropped my car off this morning to get the "intermittent bluetooth" fixed, and the dealer claims that they can't replicate the problem, which is understandable. The problem now, is that they say that the firmware is the most recent version already. Anyone have tips to convince the dealer to update to High_cy15_9?

 

Finally!! Got the module and updated my car to have AA/ACP. I waited a bit for the "dust to settle" then have a friend order the part from Vladimir posing with my VIN.

The count went up to 23 before the "Success" message.

I too would like to thank the folks who trailblazed in order for us all to get going.

 

I'm happy to read you finally have AA/ACP. Strange to read earlier about the issues.... My guess it was some mixup in communications. But at least it is behind you now, and you can move forward with the new mod. Good job, and enjoy your AA/ACP.

 

Hi all

is this the same for us in the uk.
i have a 212 estate and the vin decide states the following.

531 - COMAND APS NTG5/NTG5.5
3U1 - EUROPE/CIS COUNTRIES/ MONGOLIEA HEAD UNIT

Am yet to check the dash menu to see if carplay volume appears.
cheers

 

I suggest you contact Vladimir (the seller of the OBDII) and provide him with your VIN to see if your MY2016 S212 can be updated to AA/ACP and if your COMAND firmware needs to first be updated at the dealer to High_CY15_9. As Vladimir says in his eBay listing "Q: I would like to order just to try on my own risk. Can I return if does not work? A: No - better send a vin number and we will let you know for sure"

- Longroof

 

Thanks Loongroof. Message sent just now.

 

Vladimir has responded.
VERY helpful guy. Checked for me that my firmware was already updated by the dealer in AUG16 so shouldn’t need to get that done.
dongle ordered

 

so good news he appears to have been correct. Can’t wait to join the club haha.

 

I'm the same way as Cragglemiester, mine is 11/2015 and I see the Ringtone volume for CarPlay. And since I "have" to get an iPhone to replace my Windows phone (wife is an Apple fan) I might have to get this.

 

Message sent to Vladimir.

Anyone have any issues with dealers when getting work done? I know a few of you had work done without issue, just checking.

 

Best way I've found is going in with a bluetooth cut out complaint and ask them to update your firmware {High_CY15_9}. It's what worked for me.

 

I'm already at that, was just curious if those who have done the upgrade had issues with dealers when getting work done. A few said they had no problems, was just checking if anyone had problems.

 

Just want to say thank you to he community that makes life so much easier to own this complex cars.
This thread was a wealth of the information on how get Android Auto enabled in my 2016 E350. Given that this feature is not an "officially supported item" by MB I have decided not use M dealer route.

Few notes from my experience:
1. I did need to update the Command firmware because my I had was not up to date. Unfortunately if was not free for me. My car is out of original warranty and according to my dealer CPO part did not cover it because they did not find any error codes in the Command module. According to the dealer response MB did have this update as "required". As a result I did pay 1 hour labor to do that. If cost me ~$150
2. I have contacted vladimircdi on ebay to make sure that his hardware will work.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-CO...53.m2749.l2649
Apparently he does have an access to MB database because he responded with an exact date when firmware on my car has been updated and confirmed that it was correct and compatible
3. In addition to AA activation I also purchased from him an add-on that allows to change ECO start/stop to be set to OFF mode by default:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-ad...53.m2749.l2649
This is a super annoying feature in may case because where I live there are a lot of 4-way Stop intersections. In this case it does not help environment much because you stopped only for 1/2 second but every time it has to crank the engine again. I am sure that loss/reduction of the oil pressure in engine and a transmission is also not that great for the car either.
4. Both feature are enabled with the same plug sequentially.
5. Now I have both AA enabled and I do not have manually turn ECO to OFF every time I start the car.
6. Only one negative thing is that when Android Auto or Car Play in use SD card can be accessed. So, no music or books from the SD card while AA is in use. I did contact vladimircdi regarding this issue and that appears to be a "feature" is how MB does it.

Max

 

Very helpful and informative thread. Thanks to all who have contributed - this should be stickied!

Last week I purchased a MY2016 W212 Sport CPO (it only has 14,500 miles!) and took it in to the dealership today to have a few things ironed out. Since I had been reading up on this thread, I went in yesterday and talked to my salesman about it, which in turn he took me to the Service Manager to discuss. As expected, they had never heard of this and their curiosity was piqued.

I met with my SA this morning and it turns out he's a computer programmer, so he was pretty excited about the idea. He told me he has been researching this since yesterday and although they noted the upgrade is not compatible with the W212, they all concluded it's the same hardware and software, so he agreed to give it a try (seems more for the sake of him knowing it works, and he would be the only one that will have first-hand knowledge). He was nice enough to notate connectivity issues and said if for whatever reason it is not covered, my charge would be $420 for everything, which I'll be willing to pay in lieu of the Belarus fix for the sake of preserving my warranty. He also agreed to investigate whether they can program "Eco-off remember last setting." I'll report when I get the car back this afternoon.

 

Activated Android Auto today. The OBDII was delivered in 10 days (with standard shipping). The process went up to "working 24" so I was a bit concerned, but it finished fine. And I had to try a few times plugging/unplugging phone in USB 2 to finally see the Android Auto option. After initializing and setting AA to automatically start, all seems fine. One disappointment, it seems I can't play music off of SD card with AA running.
My thanks to all who led the way.

 

Interesting that the dealer was willing to work with you on this. I'd be willing to drive to this place, < 2 hours away, to get the work done if they will do it.

 

I share your "disappointment" regarding the fact that SD card is not accessible while AA is running. According to feedback I got from vladimircdi (see my post#164 on this tread) that is the way MB enabled it. That is unfortunate, but given that it is not an "officially supported" functionality I will live with it.
My plan is to use AA during road trips where I like to use Waze. That was a primary motivation for enabling AA to make sure that I do not have to look to one more screen and all sound coming from the cars audio. I figured that I would stream something like books or podcasts from my phone while I use AA.

Max

 

Honestly, I'm surprised that dealers don't comprehend this is a money-making opportunity. Realizing that it is not supported by MB, customers would accept this, and the dealer could charge for the hour it will take to implement it. Satisfies customer desires, keeps the tech busy, and makes a little money for the dealer. Maybe the dealer in question will come to realize this, and share with other dealers, starting a trend.

 

I agree with you.
Here some of my thoughts on this.
You also need to consider that dealer is very limited by what they can do by MB overlords during warranty period. And once it is expired they often do not see a lot of demand to invest the time. You will see very few people like EuroDriverSD willing to spend several hundred $s to attempt to enable it (props to EuroDriverSD to investing his time and money and also finding the dealer to work on it). And if it works for him, I doubt that this knowledge will propagated back to MB to make it available to all dealer network.
During warranty period most of this dictated by hours that MB will allow dealer to spend on any "warranty" work spend on any specific task.
I hate to bring medical reference to this discussion, but it is almost like like HMO. Just like you medical insurance making your doctor to go through bunch of steps to approve specific treatment for you to make sure minimal amount of effort/money is spent. For most of the issues MB already defined a checklist of items to check to diagnose the problem and also decision tree to what is allowed/approved repair. That saves MB a lot of money by avoiding a local dealer spending many hours on debugging some issue that MB already have seen on the field.
The unfortunate side effect of this system is that you have fewer local people who are truly "know" the car and know how to truly debug the issues and not just following the MB check list. If you already have or just found one you are lucky and should keep him on speed dial. As a result there are very few people will be willing or capable of digging into issues like this one.
Side note that this issue is not MB specific but applies to any car manufacturer.

In addition, changing default behavior of the ECO ON/OFF, I think MB will be strongly on "do not modify" side. This is how car was tested and qualified by EPA, so I do not think they will appreciate this change. The last thing MB would want to be accused of messing with EPA especially after the VW's diesel-gate.

Max

 

Update: No joy. SA informed me that they were unable to add the software due to an actual incompatibility with the W212 edition specifically. Said he was very perplexed as it is virtually identical to the C series. He did however update the comand software. He said it took a while, but they were finally able to locate the firmware version that I referenced. They did it for free, noting that although they were unable to replicate the connectivity issue, I had a newer phone (Note 10) than what they used for testing and a newer firmware version was available. He gave me the xentry printout and I have confirmed via the dealer menu (Carplay volume now present).

As far as Eco Off, he told me that they were unable to reprogram for legal reasons, due to the need to remain compliant with fuel efficiency requirements imposed by law. He did tell me there were options outside of the dealership.

I just ordered Vladimir's do-hickey from Belarus with the Eco Off add-on.

I have the Mid City Engineering module for Eco Off with the physical kill switch. If anyone is interested in it before I return it, shoot me a private message

 

Thanks EuroDriverSD. I'm curious what the "incompatibility" is.

 

I have a gut feeling that they reviewed the promotional materials, noted the stated incompatibility with the W212 and the higher-ups said no - go. He left the promotional brochure in the car and some additional documentation with notations on it

 

I'm thinking that this will be the given statement if we need warranty work on something like COMAND, sorry but since you went around the incompatibility with a 3rd party to update AA/ACP we void the warranty.