Automatic Trunk Issue
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Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 214
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From: New York
2025 E450 Sedan: 2019 E450 Coupe
Automatic Trunk Issue
I have my E450 about 10 days and started to have an issue with the automatic trunk opening and closing. The day after it stopped working, I tried it when I went to use the car and it worked fine. After a few openings over a number of hours it again stopped working. Next day same thing, works for a while and then stops. When it stops, the trunk will unlock and just open slightly, requiring me to lift the lid. If I press the close button nothing happens, if I press the lock button, the car doors lock but the trunk does not close, again requiring me to manually close it.
Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions. I have checked MBUX and noting is in the settings to cause this. Have n appointment at the dealer week after next.
Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions. I have checked MBUX and noting is in the settings to cause this. Have n appointment at the dealer week after next.
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You should be able to re-calibrate the trunk open/close. When you open the trunk and it stops prior to reaching the "full open" position, Manually push the lid to its full open position. Then cycle the lid. One can also limit the opening height by stopping the lid during opening and then cycle the lid. This feature is handy if there is an overhead obstruction such as a low garage ceiling.
Last edited by ua549; May 24, 2024 at 10:42 AM.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 214
Likes: 45
From: New York
2025 E450 Sedan: 2019 E450 Coupe
us549, Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, this does not seem possible. When it is not working the trunk only unlocks but does not go up. I move the lid to the highest level and then press the close button (either one) and nothing happens, I have to lower it and close it myself. The strangest part of this issue is that every morning the trunk opens and closes as it should. By afternoon it no longer works. This has been the case since the issue started this past Tuesday.
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Joined: Nov 2021
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From: Poland
GLE
Have you tried what happens if you try to open the trunk with the button on the remote? I had something similar happen some years back on a different car (not a Mercedes) and it was the button on the trunk that was malfunctioning.
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 214
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From: New York
2025 E450 Sedan: 2019 E450 Coupe
Guess it is time to update this issue. Car was at the dealership for 11 days and they finally replaced the motor that opens and closes the trunk per instructions from Germany. Picked up the car, open and closed the trunk a few times and then same issue within a few hours of picking up the car. Went back to the dealership and they said I should wait a few days to bring it back when they would be able to look at again and have a loaner available. 3 days later I drop the care off again, this time they had the for 15 days and told me they replaced the control module. Picked the car up, within 3 hours the same problem. I went back to the dealership and they said they will need to dig further into the issue and since it was now July 3rd, they would contact me by Monday with a plan. Started to drive out of the service department and now I have warning messages on the dash that Blind Spot Monitor is not operational, Emergency Braking is not operational. Drove back into the service department and left with another loaner car.
I picked up this new car on May 13th, trunk issue started on May 23rd, went to the dealership to see if it was something they could quickly address, said no and made an appointment for June 4th. This car has been at the dealership more time than I have had it since I originally picked it up.
I have been a customer of this dealership since 2021 and have purchased 7 cars from them This had to be the worst experience I have had with them and MB.
Seriously thinking of complaining the CEO's of MBUSA and MB Germany, along with possible claim with the state lemon law.
Any other owners of the W214 having issues that are not getting resolved?
I picked up this new car on May 13th, trunk issue started on May 23rd, went to the dealership to see if it was something they could quickly address, said no and made an appointment for June 4th. This car has been at the dealership more time than I have had it since I originally picked it up.
I have been a customer of this dealership since 2021 and have purchased 7 cars from them This had to be the worst experience I have had with them and MB.
Seriously thinking of complaining the CEO's of MBUSA and MB Germany, along with possible claim with the state lemon law.
Any other owners of the W214 having issues that are not getting resolved?
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Joined: Jul 2013
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From: Venice Florida
2018 S560
Wow sorry for your troubles, sounds like something related to the module that controls the Trunk motor is probably what it is? It's issues like this I'm hearing about with the 214's that make me think keep driving my 213 2019 Wagon which has only 38K miles on it and plenty of life left and has had very few issues over the past 5 years.
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Joined: Feb 2017
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From: Baltimore County, MD
'13 s212 63 p30. '06 LX470
On some older vehicles this may be related to keyless go and which button is pressed on the trunk.
Xentry or whatever program they use for the 214 should point to the exact problem and walk them through it.
one way to reset the limits on the trunk are a little bit more complicated than what was mentioned above.
open trunk with inside button, still on the driver door?
manually raise the trunk with your hands to fully open from whatever position it stopped
go back to the front door and hold the open button for at least ten seconds.
go back to the trunk and press the keyless go close button or the other button if you don’t have that.
this calibrates open from the front door switch, and closed from the rear hatch switch.
this was the procedure from Xentry for many models.
lastly, I would have them inspect or replace whatever the mechanism is that measures the open position, as perhaps that is what can not be calibrated. On an older e55, the little sensor in the trunk had rotated so it did not have a “home” to calibrate to…fixed in ten seconds by rotating back into position.
I know it’s at the dealer, but you can always ask them if they specifically did this.
please make sure nobody is trying to manually close the trunk as many times this can throw the trunk out of calibration which is completely ridiculous considering automatically closing trunks have been around more than 20 years on Mercedes.
another place to look is if this control interacts with any sort of air pump or hydaulic pump, that is waiting for a signal from the rear hatch handle.
Crazy that lemons can be made from luxury features that are not required for transportation. If only they made better quality tech, for the future.
Xentry or whatever program they use for the 214 should point to the exact problem and walk them through it.
one way to reset the limits on the trunk are a little bit more complicated than what was mentioned above.
open trunk with inside button, still on the driver door?
manually raise the trunk with your hands to fully open from whatever position it stopped
go back to the front door and hold the open button for at least ten seconds.
go back to the trunk and press the keyless go close button or the other button if you don’t have that.
this calibrates open from the front door switch, and closed from the rear hatch switch.
this was the procedure from Xentry for many models.
lastly, I would have them inspect or replace whatever the mechanism is that measures the open position, as perhaps that is what can not be calibrated. On an older e55, the little sensor in the trunk had rotated so it did not have a “home” to calibrate to…fixed in ten seconds by rotating back into position.
I know it’s at the dealer, but you can always ask them if they specifically did this.
please make sure nobody is trying to manually close the trunk as many times this can throw the trunk out of calibration which is completely ridiculous considering automatically closing trunks have been around more than 20 years on Mercedes.
another place to look is if this control interacts with any sort of air pump or hydaulic pump, that is waiting for a signal from the rear hatch handle.
Crazy that lemons can be made from luxury features that are not required for transportation. If only they made better quality tech, for the future.
Last edited by Baltistyle; Jul 4, 2024 at 11:33 AM.
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From: Maryland, USA
2022 C300 AMG-Line; 2020 E450; 2013 SLK350; 2023 EQS580
Always expect teething pains with a new design… these issues are not fun for you owners especially for the $$ paid for these new cars, but seriously a brand new design will have issues that may take one or more design cycle(s) to fix properly or permanently…. Sorry to hear of these issues nonetheless.
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MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,912
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From: Tennessee
W214 E450
Always expect teething pains with a new design… these issues are not fun for you owners especially for the $$ paid for these new cars, but seriously a brand new design will have issues that may take one or more design cycle(s) to fix properly or permanently…. Sorry to hear of these issues nonetheless.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2022
Posts: 416
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From: Maryland, USA
2022 C300 AMG-Line; 2020 E450; 2013 SLK350; 2023 EQS580
I don't know they can be called design issues just yet. I wouldn't even call them quality issues without having more complete data on the number of failures and what percentage that was to total units sold. Also, just because it's a new model doesn't mean that it's built with new and unproven technology or components. Much of the car uses the same inner parts as other models and may have been been in use for many years. The trunk open and close mechanisms are likely used in many models. Based on posts I have seen on this forum, one W214 owner has had an issue with the trunk and 2 or 3 have had issues with the MBUX completely failing. Based on the activity on this forum, I'm guessing that 90% or more of W214 owners do not use this site so there is no telling how many others have had issues with their new car. I've had a 2024 E350 for almost 3 months and driven 4500 miles without any issues (knock on wood). Mercedes sales report for Q1 show 3,436 E-Class sales in Q1. If we assume the same for Q2, that would be nearly 7K so far. If 1% of them had issues, that would be 70 cars. I don't know what the typical failure rate is but I'm hoping my car is on the on the other side of that statistic. That said, I feel for the owners that are dealing with these issues. I would be mad as hell if it were my car. I think the experience can be made better or worse depending on the dealership you take the car to. As with all things, sometimes things go wrong. The service you get when that happens can make all the difference.
Forum members are a small size of the owner demo but we are the most vocal and often most knowledgeable about our cars. It is always good to keep these vocal minority within context of the total mostly silent (non car forum) majority of owners whose car has little to none of these issues… or at least are quickly resolved by MB with little fuss or lasting negative feelings…
Thread Starter
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 214
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From: New York
2025 E450 Sedan: 2019 E450 Coupe
Time for the update on this issue. Last update was on 7/4. The dealer kept the car inside the shop from the afternoon of 7/3, until 7/9, trunk worked every time they tried it and they could not pull and fault codes. Had a discussion with the GM of the dealership and shortly after that Mercedes agreed to replace the car. They said I can pick my car up the next day and use it until the replacement arrives. So on 7/10, after they washed the car, they parked it on the roof level of their garage. They bring the car into the service drop off area for me to take it. They said again the trunk was working, I decided to try it before driving out and it did not work. Shop foreman said maybe this is a heat related problem, which I had also asked him if that was possible. The trunk didn't work the rest of the day. Yesterday morning the trunk worked perfectly opening and closing a few times. By afternoon it no longer worked since it was out in the heat.
At this point I will live with this until my replacement car arrives. There were no cars with the same equipment available, so they are placing an order for a new one. I have to say that the dealership was extremely supportive of getting it replaced and did what they needed to with Mercedes USA HQ.
At this point I will live with this until my replacement car arrives. There were no cars with the same equipment available, so they are placing an order for a new one. I have to say that the dealership was extremely supportive of getting it replaced and did what they needed to with Mercedes USA HQ.
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,912
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From: Tennessee
W214 E450
Wow! That is a good outcome. Now you should drive the hell out of that car while you wait for your replacement. I wonder if MB wants to take the car and dissect it to see what is wrong in hopes they catch a manufacturing flaw.
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From: Baltimore County, MD
'13 s212 63 p30. '06 LX470
Time for the update on this issue. Last update was on 7/4. The dealer kept the car inside the shop from the afternoon of 7/3, until 7/9, trunk worked every time they tried it and they could not pull and fault codes. Had a discussion with the GM of the dealership and shortly after that Mercedes agreed to replace the car. They said I can pick my car up the next day and use it until the replacement arrives. So on 7/10, after they washed the car, they parked it on the roof level of their garage. They bring the car into the service drop off area for me to take it. They said again the trunk was working, I decided to try it before driving out and it did not work. Shop foreman said maybe this is a heat related problem, which I had also asked him if that was possible. The trunk didn't work the rest of the day. Yesterday morning the trunk worked perfectly opening and closing a few times. By afternoon it no longer worked since it was out in the heat.
At this point I will live with this until my replacement car arrives. There were no cars with the same equipment available, so they are placing an order for a new one. I have to say that the dealership was extremely supportive of getting it replaced and did what they needed to with Mercedes USA HQ.
At this point I will live with this until my replacement car arrives. There were no cars with the same equipment available, so they are placing an order for a new one. I have to say that the dealership was extremely supportive of getting it replaced and did what they needed to with Mercedes USA HQ.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 214
Likes: 45
From: New York
2025 E450 Sedan: 2019 E450 Coupe
The dealer washed the car about 2 hours before I picked it up. It failed when I tried it while at the dealership. For the past since I have the car it works in the morning and by afternoon it no longer will work. They claim that it should retain any fault codes, but did not check it when I picked it up. They said they also hope Mercedes decides to keep the car so they can determine if there is a bigger issue. It will be a few months before I get my replacement since they had to order one. Still waiting to hear the build date of the new one.
