E300 Navigation Voice Commands Not Working
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Joined: Oct 2019
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E300 (W213) 2018
E300 Navigation Voice Commands Not Working
I have a 2018 E300 (W213). About a year ago, the voice commands stopped working properly (car less than a year old). When trying to dial a telephone number (e.g., "call Joe"), it would always tell me that the telephone was not ready for voice commands, no matter how long the car had been running. Telephone was shown as active, and the phone worked if I dialed directly on the phone, or through Siri. Additionally the navigation voice commands were often misunderstood. For example, I could say "navigate to Costco," but the results were always wrong - sometimes words that sounded like Costco (Roscoe), sometimes completely unrelated locations. The problem was intermittent - happening about 2/3 of the time. I had other people sit in the car and speak the commands with the same result, so it's not my voice. Also, it was working fine when the car was new.
I took the car to the dealer and showed it to the service advisor. He kept the car, reloaded the software, ultimately changed some part in the system. It worked fine for a while, but the navigation has started malfunctioning again. Phone seems to be working OK, as do most other commands.
Any ideas what may be causing this? The service advisor said he had not encountered this problem before.
Forgive me if this has been discussed - I searched and couldn't find anything.
Thanks in advance,
Greenhouse.
I took the car to the dealer and showed it to the service advisor. He kept the car, reloaded the software, ultimately changed some part in the system. It worked fine for a while, but the navigation has started malfunctioning again. Phone seems to be working OK, as do most other commands.
Any ideas what may be causing this? The service advisor said he had not encountered this problem before.
Forgive me if this has been discussed - I searched and couldn't find anything.
Thanks in advance,
Greenhouse.
Super Member
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 669
Likes: 142
From: Hermosa Beach, California
2018 E400 Coupe
I've pretty much given up on the voice recognition system in my 2018 E400C. I've repeatedly experienced the same problems that you describe — sometimes it works, generally it doesn't except for the command, "Call" (but "Call" works only for a few numbers that I've saved with simple names such as "home" and "office," and it doesn't work with the address book information from my iPhone because, believe it or not, it can't decipher abbreviations such as "Ave" or "St," etc., requiring instead that the full word be spelled out — for example, "Avenue").
Clear enunciation Ianto the problem; I've used voice recognition software in my work for many, many years (Dragon Dictate, to be precise) and have almost no problems with it. My conclusion is that the software and hardware sold to us by Mercedes is simply crap.
BTW, for entering destinations I use the Mercedes Me app's "Send2Benz" function, which works quite well — when the car actually gets and reacts to it, which it doesn't about a third of the time.
Really makes me wonder about the quality and reliability of other software pushed by auto manufacturers (Tesla's new parking lot feature comes to mind).
Clear enunciation Ianto the problem; I've used voice recognition software in my work for many, many years (Dragon Dictate, to be precise) and have almost no problems with it. My conclusion is that the software and hardware sold to us by Mercedes is simply crap.
BTW, for entering destinations I use the Mercedes Me app's "Send2Benz" function, which works quite well — when the car actually gets and reacts to it, which it doesn't about a third of the time.
Really makes me wonder about the quality and reliability of other software pushed by auto manufacturers (Tesla's new parking lot feature comes to mind).
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Nov 2014
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.
I have not had any issues with MB voice recognition or send2benz. They both work perfectly every day. Perhaps your location has something to do with your send2benz experience. MB voice works much better than BMW voice that fails me most of the time. My neighbor has a Tesla S. He complains about its software and failed updates every time I ride with him.
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Joined: Oct 2019
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E300 (W213) 2018
Thanks Judge. Yes, I use the Send2Benz feature often and it works well. If I know in advance where I need to go, and I think about it, I enter the location into the app. Just wish the voice recognition would work. I will try to escalate the issue with the service department.
