Sactoperson

Former lurker, now a member. I have a loaded E-43 on order, it's now been six months. Does this car come with soft close doors? Supposed to get car this April.

vic viper

If you have ordered it, then yes.

c4004matic

It does not. Thank God. Simply another trip for repair. Like the fragrance dispenser a solution to a problem no one ever knew existed and that is another source of future problems.

ua549

I've had soft close doors on various cars for many years. I've never had a problem with them.

joshg1001

they are not available in the States in the 2017 model year but are an option in 2018

Drano64

Same here. never a problem

jsclarke

I had them on my '14 BMW 640... but don't miss them at all. I had to remember to close the doors gently on one car and regular on our other car- and I really didn't see the point. It's really easy to close our doors. Seems to be a solution in search of a problem to me too...

bmeck2003

I had them on my 2008 Lexus LS460 that I owned for eight years. My wife and I used the feature, but none of our guests ever did. Most people are not aware this feature even exists. Even when we told them about the soft closing doors, by habit they slammed the doors anyway. When I demonstrated the feature and closed the door for them, they would often reopen the door and pull it closed again, thinking that it was not fully latched.

Personally, I would like to have them on my E300, but I am getting used to the old method of firmly closing the door, just as I do on my E350 coupe.

Diesel Benz

Why did you have to remember to close doors gently on one of the cars? On an MB with soft-close doors, it does not matter if you slam the doors or not (except the noise ).

I understand you have to remember to slam the door on the car that does not have soft-close doors. Might forget if mostly driving a car with soft close doors.

I mostly slam the doors even on the V222, consider soft-close more of a back-up, closing the door if I happened to be too gentle. Then if I want to avoid the noise from slamming the door, I close it slowly.

joshg1001

^^ exactly, you shouldn't have to change your habits. Its a nice feature to have only for those instances that people dont slam it hard enough and the car does it for you.

ua549

I've had passengers slam doors too hard causing damage to the internal window mechanism.

bicyclista

FYI, I just ordered a new 2017 GLE350 4MATIC with the soft-close doors option ($550) through an Oregon dealer. You can see it as an option on the MB Entertainment and Convenience build page.

joshg1001

My comment was directed towards the W213 E class

tonecas

I don't understand why this soft close thing does not work instead in a way as to stop people from slamming the doors. that's the all purpose: not making noise and not damaging the internal components in the door (windows, lock, etc)

let the electro-mechanical door motors stop the motion just before when you are closing the door hard and then let it close it softly.

Porsche has already a somehow reverse system where opening the door it stays locked at that position, whatever it is, and not the usual 2 or 3 well-defined stop positions.

ua549

I like the way the soft close doors work. Nobody I know (since a 56 VW) has ever slammed a car door. It must be a US car thing. One simply swings the door near the door jam and it closes itself.

tonecas

that's curious. in Europe you don't get this. most people slam doors. one of the reasons is that the soft close doors are very recent and almost no car has it, so people are already hardwired to slam somehow the doors and if they don't, they tend to open and close the door again to be sure. but then comes the ones that simply don't care about other people's cars and just slam the doors hard.

joshg1001

Exactly, who knows if you have soft close doors or not? Why risk having to re-close a door?

ua549

That's why I drive German cars. They have door latches that work properly. I think the habit of slamming doors came from cheap cars with poorly designed latches - GM, Ford, Fiat, Renault, ...

c4004matic

Everyone that rides the car still slams them. Waste of time and down the road additional expense when if and when it breaks.

ua549

That must be a northerner mindset or someone who drives poorly built vehicles. I've never encountered someone who slams doors. Some of the cars I ride in have even better soft close doors where one simply touches a button similar to the trunk control.

c4004matic

Yep an E43 and GLS 550... all pure trash

ua549

Why would you mistreat a car, especially a Mercedes by slamming the doors? Do you treat your house the same way?

Jan AMG

Jan AMG

joshg1001

There must be a disconnect from what we are saying and how you are interpreting it. We are saying that passengers do not know you have soft close doors, and they will simply slam shut the door like a normal person. This has nothing to do with their geographical upbringing. It is just the way people have closed car doors for decades. If you are talking about an owner, or immediate family that rides in the car, then yes, they can be trained to just let the door close on their own. But it is unrealistic to think that people will not slam shut the door anymore just because you have soft close doors.