I will forward this thread to him and see if there is anything we can do.... not being able to use the steering wheel touchpad on carplay is the most annoying thing for me + being able to upgrade to animated ambient lighting is nice.

 

The latter might need different hardware but we will see, hopefully the outcome is good.

 

this is my 2nd 2017 w213, the first 213 i was able to update the OS and enable animated ambient lighting, hoping this one is the same.

 

I see.

 

so upon further investigation by my coder it appears that my car's headunit is the Mitsubishi device and there is no new firmware for them in SWfinder5.2 any clues?

 

If you have Audio20, then you do not have COMAND.

 

im trying to figure out if I have audio20 but cant find anything on my vins data card. vin is WDDZF4KB7HA147455

 

You have COMAND NTG 5.5, go to a different dealership, your dealership is unwilling to help, try another.

 

Oh you mentioned a local coder... You should contact a third party coder on this site, like Peter if you don't want to go to a dealership.

 

We're gonna update the USC, BOOT, and CODE files today hopefully that resolves things

 

We're gonna update the USC, BOOT, and CODE files today hopefully that resolves things

 

I see, hope it does it.

 

So did it resolve things?

 

I'm going to have my (2017) W213 COMAND firmware updated soon. For all the performance benefits that come with doing so. Actually, I went into my local dealership on Saturday at ~11 AM. My service advisor initially thought it would be ~1hr for the update, though it would actually take ~5hrs to do so because of how outdated my firmware (it's the w213 release version) is currently. So I'm going to stop by on my next available weekday. I will update y'all on the latest firmware version soon.

I actually just emailed MBUSA about this and am hoping to get a response soon. But does anybody here know the difference between 2019/2020 cars that support the Mercedes-Benz app (formerly Mercedes-Me?) versus our 2017/2018 cars forced to use the outdated MBRACE system? Is there a hardware difference or is it purely down to the VIN model year and the firmware on the car itself?

In a best-case scenario, we update our 2017/18 cars through the dealers, they update their backend VIN database, and we suddenly gain access to Mercedes-Benz like our 2019 counterparts, and ditch MBRACE.

I'll update y'all on what MBUSA responds with, if they end up responding at all.

 

 

They don’t care, they want us to get new vehicles

 

Sigh,

 

Summarized, “that’s just not what they’ve done… it’s a different protocol that they communicate over (“how it’s coded or something,”) … etc. essentially they screwed us for no real reason.

After updating my COMAND I’ll actually talk on the phone and figure out if there’s a way to
gain eligibility for the Mercedes-Benz app or if we’re stuck with MBRACE forever. Looks like it’s not going to happen.

 

Y'all... DAMN.
I was smiling the entire way home and it's a miracle I didn't crash.

I had my car updated today at my local dealership, paid $299.
It's such a massive upgrade I don't even know where to start. (00.61.00.20 -> 6.80.00.40)

Firstly, my service advisor said that they also applied a couple other updates while they were in there. Wow. MY CAR IS BETTER IN ALMOST EVERY METRIC.

1. The lurch between 2 <-> 3 and any other gear (except first... of course) is ALMOST entirely nonexistent now. The difference is just insane insane insane. It's the biggest change and makes $300 worth it on its own.
2. I am 75% sure that my Airmatic damping has changed and it's 100% for the better. I don't know how to describe it other than saying "better". Again, this change would barely be worth $300 alone IMO.
3. Finally, my COMAND screen has a home screen. It looks way, way better than what looked like a shortcut menu before. Graphics are just much better overall. They tweaked many things. Text seems bigger as well.
4. CarPlay is MUCH BETTER INTEGRATED. It's so much faster. I can finally use the steering wheel touchpad for CarPlay. I can use my Mercedes Navigation alongside CarPlay. CarPlay song info and art shows up in the gauge cluster and I can skip songs with it. I can go through the MB system with CarPlay activated, way better than I could before.
5. There's now a setting to disable the NFC pad which is functionally useless and annoying if you have an iPhone.
6. The system overall is much, much faster (though there is still lag on the home screen)
7. The gauge cluster navigation map now actively zooms in and out. It was absolutely useless before. Actually, navigation graphics in general are much better.
8. The text message inbox is different along with the rest of the phone settings. It's faster to respond to a message now. Opening the dictation app before was comically slow.
9. There seems to be more flexibility with phone connectivity (multi device?) and now has a dedicated settings menu for managing bluetooth connections
10. The Dynamic Select menu is now full screen
11. Perhaps the stereo sounds a little bit better?
12. Phone battery level in the top bar.
13. Touchpad tap feature
14. Automatic volume adjustment feature
15. Nicer looking equalizer and fader menu that says “Burmeister"

Only downsides:

I still don't have multicolor ambient light settings. Big bummer.
I still can't use my left touchpad to swipe horizontally and select portions of the gauge cluster to change them quickly.
The internet browser is gone (I was hoping they'd make it functional).
The speed camera app is gone (It didn't show any video feed before anyway...).
No extra Mercedes ME support like 2018+ cars.
I was hoping it would get rid of the “additional speedometer” glitch but it actually just got rid of the setting entirely and left the secondary speedometer.


CarPlay track information in gauge cluster


Anybody have any questions... just let me know! I might update if I find any other changes worth mentioning

 

Well, you were on one of the very early versions of COMAND NTG 5.5, glad you were able to get it finally updated.