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The automated trunk lid no longer does the last step of closing itself, where it moves slowly by about 1/2 inch as it fully closes. Worse, it is now open by that 1/2 inch, so the rear lights are no longer aligned (it was never perfect, but now it's obvious) and there are huge panel gaps around the trunk lid. I post a picture of the car when new, and of it as of today.
Closing the trunk manually or pushing through the last 1/2 inch does not help. I always use the buttons to close it, but occasionally passengers will close it manually, not sure if that caused the problem. I will be seeing the dealer in a few days, but if anyone has experience with this problem or has ideas on what it would take to fix it, that would be great.
The car is only 9 months old, it's a bit scary how fragile the automatic trunk closing/opening mechanism seems to be.
The problem was an inactive trunk lock pawl motor, which completes the closing of the trunk (the soft-closing part), similar to the one in the picture, I think.
The dealer replaced it under warranty. Apparently this part tends to fail a lot on BMWs, I guess Mercedes is catching up... In any case it's all back to being perfect.
Thanks!
And it has the nice bonus that the trunk now closes even more flush than when the car was new (first picture in the OP), which I was planning to ask the dealer to adjust anyway at the first service at 10000 miles. So, the car is even more perfect now...
do you have soft close doors? in my E63S the trunk lid closes hard, but i did not chose the soft close doors optional so i wonder if it should close softly nonetheless
I do have the soft-closing doors, but the automated trunk operation (open/close with foot, or open/close with the driver's door button, etc.) is independent of that option (at least in the US). In my E400 coupe the trunk closes hard, but then there is this last half-inch of travel that happens softly, that last part was what was damaged.
The video linked below shows exactly how your E63S trunk should close (starting at 2:54, this forum seems to have problems with YouTube links including start time). If that last bit of soft travel is not happening for you, you may want to have it checked at the dealer.
In my humble opinion, MBneeds to pay more attention to their quality control when assembling the doors and trunks on their e class sedans and coupes. I have experienced it on my last E400 Convertible (which was a disaster for trunk alignment) and the 2019 E450 which i rejected due to similar issues with the driver's door.
This post was really helpful. I had exactly the same issue with my 2019 E450 Coupé. Took it to the dealership and the fix was the same. They replaced the boot motor and all now works (helpfully under warranty).
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
