John Panagia

I am in yet another battle with Mercedes on issues with "Most Technologically Advanced Car on the Road".

My issue today is with my E300 bluetooth connectivity to my Google Pixel. I would like to hear from anyone's experience with the E300 and google pixel or pixel XL.

I can connect once in a while and see contacts, call history and text support but it does not last from session to session. Sometimes call history only works for current session and other times it is there. After it stops working, I must deauthorize and pair the phone again it is hit and miss. I have disable NFC on the phone but it is same behavior. This phone worked perfectly with 2015 A6.

I spoke to an agent from MBrace and he told me the phone is not on compatibility list and vehicle is functioning as designed. I asked to escalate to manager and he refused and said phone is not compatible. He was bordering on rude but for sure not accommodating. I am now taking it to my dealer and the only leverage I have is my girlfriend has an order in on 2018 C43 Coupe. She is concerned what surprises MB will have for her (she is a longtime BMW owner)

Thanks

RickInHouston

I had a 2017 E300 sedan for a few months. My Pixel connected and worked as it was suppose to (one of the few things that actually did work in that car). I got the car trade-assisted off my hands due to ongoing issues and severely scratched hood and trunk (that was hidden to me with professional wax job - on a brand new car)).

I have a 2017 E400 coupe now and it pairs flawlessly with my Pixel.

I don't think it's the phone. What is the build date on your car (driver's side door sill sticker)?

jim300

My Nexus 6p sometimes doesn't connect to the car. I have to turn the phone's Bluetooth off and back on. Takes about 20 seconds to get connected. Works every time.

John Panagia

Thanks for the responses.

Rick, Black label has a date of 3/16. I leased this car that was an executive demo but leased as new vehicle 2 months ago. I did get them to do a full brake job as car had 6500 miles on it and a full software update. I am frustrated but do want to rule out the phone as the issue.

Jim300, I have cycled BT to get it to work but still not consistently.

Thanks

thefisch

What version of android are you on? I had read online that pixel users were having BT issues with certain cars on 7.0 and 7.1.0. Supposedly it was fixed in 7.1.1.

You're doing the right thing by checking with other pixel users. I have a similar issue with my 2011 W212 with an LG android running 7.0 but my wife's samsung S6 on 7.0 works fine.

Another thing to check is how you are connecting to the car. Are you using 'external authorization' to allow the phone to find the car rather than the car find the phone? That was a solution for some with connection issues on the W212. Worth a shot.

John Panagia

The pixel is at 7.1.2. I think it is up to date.

I have tried both connecting from phone and the car. Sometimes it will connect properly a few times in a row and others will fail with "Text not supported" and others with no call history. Usually contacts populate and I can make and receive phone calls. I have NFC turned off as I never understood what it provides in the US on this car.

I may do a complete reset on the phone to as a next step.

thefisch

Have you tried booting the phone to safe mode to rule out potential app interference?

teksurv

You could also, purely for testing with your car, temporarily add your Pixel to the Android Beta program and test out Android O/8 DP4 to see if that resolves your issue. It's not recommended to use Developer Previews for daily drivers, but for testing, it may be worth a shot.

John Panagia

I started phone on safe mode as suggested. It connected properly first time. I shut car off and on a few times and it stayed connected. I restarted phone normally and initially was still connected. Then I shut car off and restarted and lost call history. Shut Bluetooth off and on and connected as expected. This is similar to pattern originally described but connecting in safe mode initially made the connection so I suppose it may be an app issue. I would have to uninstall a bunch of stuff and test for a few days to know. After safe mode connection I never lost text feature so that is different. Tough one..

thefisch

Hard resets are a pain but sometimes worth it to free up some memory from unused apps. I used to go back and uninstall recent apps that were added after the problem would start, but with so many updates to old apps that add permissions, it is hard to find that problem app.

There are BT bug fix it apps but I haven't had much luck with those. They usually just clear the BLE file and then you repair everything.

John Panagia

Here is the latest. I did a network reset on the Pixel. As I understand it, this clears out BT and WiFi settings and some other stuff as well. I connected the phone to car without a hitch. Everything is functioning as expected. I drove car 6 or 7 times today and all has been good. Even had BT audio working.

I am optimistic for the first time as I don't remember it ever lasting a whole day. Fingers are crossed.


Thanks for all your help - I will keep everyone updated.