DFWdude

When I enter and sit down and start the car, the Comand System should be ON at all times. I'm told by the dealer this is the default. And, I've read a thread or two from owners wanting to make the system be OFF as default.

When I first bought this car (2016 W212 E350) the system was reliably ON at startup, but a few weeks later, something happened and it switched to OFF on startup. That is why I learned the default setting from the dealer. They did something to the Comand system, and it returned to ON at startup, and has worked this way for more than 18 months.

Last week, the Comand System mysteriously defaulted to OFF once again. Nothing else about Comand seems to have changed... Once I push the center stack button, the system turns on, displays the previously set function (I use Media most), and resumes playing a music track where it left off. The reverse camera works as intended, whether the system is on or off. I even had a need to use the Mercedes Me App to "Send2Benz" an address for navigation. I wondered it the car would receive the transmission while the unit was off. But on the next startup, I turned the system ON, and the transmitted address was there and ready to begin Navigation.

I did hold the Comand button in 10-15 secs to reset the system, but this did not return the default to ON. And leaving the system in Media mode while shutting the engine off does not return the default to ON with future startups.

I suppose I can get accustomed to Comand being OFF at startup (some might prefer this "option".) But I am curious on why the change, and what else (if anything) might be amiss with the system. Has anyone else experienced this Comand behavior, and is there a fix for it?

ygmn

I so hate the COMMAND and I feel your pain; Command is pure CRAP for what it is supposed to do.
heck a cheap chevy or Ford rental car radio/nav system work great and are easy to figure out.
My issues with NAV come and go... and the dayum thing works great when I do not need it..
but forbid you want to use the route thingy and get directions to point B... then my locks up and Reboots.

yeah I am ranting but you sir shall probably need to go to the dealer again - or learn to live with it... or wait for the tiny elves inside the head unit to fix it...

Oh I hate the COmmand system.

DFWdude

Just to reiterate, nothing appears to be malfunctioning in my Comand. For instance, while navigating just yesterday, I made a stop mid route which included an engine stop. Yet, when I restarted the engine, the enroute nav resumed right where it left off.

When I first got the car, I honestly found the constantly ON state of Comand annoying at times, and I searched this forum on how to turn it off. Now that it does so on its own just has me wondering what the Mercedes elves are doing that I'm not aware of...

ygmn

so when you say command you mean the radio or just the SCREEN?

rediesel

My wife's command acts like this when the battery is low.

DFWdude

This is interesting. Does putting the battery on a charger restore the ON default?

The main battery in mine was replaced a year ago. But the car does sit for days at a time without use.

KEY08

Worth a shot to make sure the SOC on the battery is good.

DFWdude

Sorry Keith, but what's a SOC?

KEY08

State Of Charge. sorry!

DFWdude

LOL, I could have guessed that, but nooooo. Thanks

rediesel

Yes, charging it up makes the command turn on when you start the car. My 2012 never has this issue, but the battery management in the 2016 leaves it in a lower state of charge resulting in these issues. If yours sits for days I'd hook it up to a charger, and see if the issue resolves. I hook my charger up directly to the battery which is under the fresh air return on the (US) passenger side of my E's - simply undo 3 clips and lift up to remove the air return.

Arrie

This may be far fetch but could the Comand state be one of the memorized functions like multicontour set functions are? If you adjusted the seat or mirrors and saved the positions it could have saved the Comand in OFF if it happened to be OFF at the moment of saving. I have not tested this in my car but I have had cars in the past that saved even the radio station that was playing at the moment of saving the seat position.

Update: Just tested and my car does not memorize state of Comand system with the seat memory.

DFWdude

Welpers, I put the charger on it, using the designated POS terminal in front of the battery and the NEG clamp to the copper Neg post on the chassis shock tower.

It reads 25% charged! Is that normal for a 1 year-old battery? Do I dare charge it to full or just 75%?

KEY08

I would do a full charge.
this is a trickle type charger correct? I pray

DFWdude

This is it. Says it adjusts to trickle charge as needed. https://www.stanleytools.com/product...e-start/bc15bs

Started charging at 15amps, but now at 75% charge on 9amps

ygmn

It would not start if at 25%.

DFWdude

It's at 85% now, charging 6.4amps. Yea, I will disconnect everything before trying to start it (it goes to float when 100%).

Arrie

Your battery going that low means you don't drive enough to put charge back in the battery that you take out. How can you even start the car if battery is that low...?

Give it a full change. Battery killer is letting it sit long time with low charge. Charge it full and again charge it full.

There is a reason why all new batteries come fully charged. They have long shelf life with it but with low charge they don't.

DFWdude

Well, it starts fine. Maybe because the charger was connected to the jump cable ports, the charger read 25%?

BTW, I drove the car this morning and guess what? Comand has resumed Default ON. And that is before the charging this afternoon.

The Mercedes Fairies (err, elves) must be looking out for me? LOL

whoover

It sounds like the battery is suspect. Did you replace it with a proper AGM battery? If not from the dealer, is it the specified size?

Also, I would not use that charger. AGM batteries require special chargers, with different voltages and amperage applied, temperature compensation (they need to be charged more gently as the temperature drops) and different charging protocols. I would recommend using CTEK chargers. They make the (overpriced) MB-branded charger the dealer will sell you. A better and cheaper model is this one. I swear by mine.

DFWdude

OEM Battery, replaced by dealer under warranty 11 months ago (4/15/2019) I wonder if the dealer warranties batteries? Now that it's recharged, I will have a challenge convincing the dealer it was at 25%, as I'm sure it won't test low now.

I've driven the car just 3,000 miles since thiis battery was replaced.

I've thought about the CTEK, just after I bought the Stanley. I may eventually buy one. My several other vehicles are not so picky.

KEY08

I only use CTEK chargers, but there are other excellent trickle chargers out there. Glad it is back to normal even though it popped on without a full charge on the battery

rey_winslow

My 2016 was doing the same thing, I'd turn off the car with the radio on and the next morning it was off. I took it to the shop for another issue and they said there was a software update but they couldn't do it because the battery was too low. They replaced the battery and no problem since.

DFWdude

Ah, thanks for sharing a similar experience.

So, trying to make the most out of this situation... for me the good news is that the car will tell me when the battery needs attention.

rediesel

The battery is fine. This is exactly how my wife's 2016 behaves. It's usually 25% or lower when I start. These cars leave the battery chronically undercharged to gain 0.05 MPG. If you charged it up to 100% and then drove it 150 miles it would be lower than when you started as the car would take more out than it put in. The car is programmed to target a lower state of charge to save a small fraction of an MPG. I think charging the battery up every so often will extend it's life. I use a genius charger with AGM setting that is nearly identical to CTEK to charge - hooked up directly to the battery.

Glad it fixed your command issue.

BTW - My 2012's battery lasted 7+ years. The 2016 had it's changed at 3 years. Sounds like your 2016 has had a battery change as well. No way are we saving $ with these "efficiency" savings (or energy/pollution when manufacturing of said batteries is taken into account).