What's the latest on getting the digital headlights ILS software fully functional?

 

They're not fully approved for use in the US. Yes, they are now legal, per legislation, but there's no SAE standard defined yet for their operation.

 

OK - so that's the problem. I wonder when or if they will be completed.

 

Don't hold your breath. It may never be. I contributed to this article, which gives some better background: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/15/cars/...ars/index.html

 

So, is it legal to have a 3rd party coder enable the ILS+ features? Would it be a warranty problem with Mercedes?

 

Thanks for the article!

 

Legal, no. You're performing a modification to your vehicle that makes it no longer compliant with Federal standards. That's why aftermarket parts companies always put "for off-road use only" to limit their liability. There's also some ambiguity about the warranty with coding changes. The US-based coders are hesitant right now because nobody knows what MB would do. From my recent personal experience, Volvo blocked cars from software updates when modifications were detected.

 

I assume you are referring to newer models such as the W214 that changed the licensing so that 3rd party coding is logged and therefore visible to MB. Correct?

 

Yes. Although I don't know the specifics with MB and how they would respond. The US has consumer protections in place so that an OEM cannot void warranties without a corresponding cause. This is new territory, and I wouldn't want to test the limits on a car under warranty.

 

I had my software for ILS on my W213 & W238 modified so this feature worked and there was no issue with MB. I replaced the W213 with the W214 and wish I could have it done, but the firm in the UK that did it still is unable to offer this modification. It really made a big difference driving at night.

 

EleBest is offering it for W214. See E/W214 USA Canada ILS+ coding for W212 W213 W214 W223 https://wa.me/6597335000 - MBWorld.org Forums

 

For the same reasons above. Most of the coders are based in Asia. Even those that aren't are likely using hacks originating in Asia. The ID of the "workshop" is now written to the vehicle and apparently visible to MB, your local workshop, etc. "Why did a workshop in Singapore work on your car?" Nobody has yet tested how MB would react. I wouldn't. As I mentioned before, Volvo would block cars, and the process for unblocking was not easy.

 

I wouldn't either.

 

i just had mine activated through Xentry on Tuesday.

 

Who did you have do this?

 

@wdimagineer
You have the right not to do anything or do anything. But

Please don't spread misinformation without evidence, some might even region discrimination. If the statements are just hearsay, you are the rumor spreader or tool of someone who never know what to do or how to do. You stated like you really BIG boss of Mercedes and Volvo (volvo story is also wrongly stated), monitoring everything done, and desperately seeking all excuses to void wrty of their customer cars. In fact, no one cares and can see what is done on your cars, changing a coding in your car is basically same as change the wallpaper of your handphone. You can worry that it will void your car wrty, but don't spread the rootless misinformation or "fact" by someone's imagination only.

A can not job X, but B can do job X, then A start to spread to his fellow audience: if B do this job X, then your car will be this and that. Please wait for A to do it for you because B is in Asia. Then everyone start spread his story without any thinking or proof.

Fact is: I did these coding job for so many S class W223, EQS, EQE, GLS, GLE, CLE 236, SL 232 (USA Canada, Europe), from 2+ years ago, Check those forum threads:

EQS:
EQS Coding available - MBWorld.org Forums

W223 S Class:
IHC+ aka ILS+, Digital Rain, Star Wave, AMG Package, Region Change, Mercedes me activ - MBWorld.org Forums

and my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@myelebest

and more other sub forums.

And early batch of my customers went back to dealer and did OTA multiple times, never ever got anything wrong. Zero of our thousands of customer car wrty voided because of our coding or original retrofits.

For your info, I am referring to this statement:
[The ID of the "workshop" is now written to the vehicle and apparently visible to MB, your local workshop, etc. "Why did a workshop in Singapore work on your car?" Nobody has yet tested how MB would react.]
I feel speechless on the guy who has such great imagination, I am pretty sure, you might be just sharing hearsay from A.

 

on W222 forum:
ILS+ INTELLIGENT LIGHT & other codes done, FULLY REMOTE! NO RENTAL hardware, low cost - MBWorld.org Forums

on x167 GLS forum:
Shoutout to Elebest!! ILS ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHTS & Full screen Carplay update - MBWorld.org Forums

latest price update:
628: IHC+ aka ILS+ Coding Activation

 

You're selling a product, so naturally, your response is expected. BenzNinja, another forum sponsor, wrote about this on his very own page: https://benzninja.com/2024-cars-notice/

Other coding services have also said they cannot or will not support the newer models - yet. So where exactly am I in the wrong here? I reached out to a few to inquire about disabling the EU speed limit warning chimes, and they could not. All have stated the same: that the workshop ID is written into the vehicle's memory. Maybe Mercedes doesn't care today, but tomorrow could be a different story.

And as for Volvo, read here: https://d5t5.com/wiki/vdash/article-...ed_car_blocked

I went through this situation personally with 4 cars. Nobody is sitting watching; they just made it automatic. Unauthorized change = blocked.

 

Thanks for replying and explain, one thing you might think it over, How does A know the method how B does job X, but A don’t know how to do it by himself? Just spreading something in his imagination. You never think of the true reason why A can not do job X?
The fact is he totally don’t know the method how others do the job X. The fact is: A lot of coders in the world, (Germany, USA, Canada, Italy, UK, UAE, Vietnam, China, etc) almost in every country there are a few coders who can do this job X. EleBest is just one of them who is site sponsor here. RJ (another site sponsor) can do same job.

BTW, A was banned from this forum for a long period of time, so do some think when someone said something. In my opinion, Just a funny excuse to tell his audience: “If I can not do, anyone else who can do is fake or will damage car or void your car wrty”, just don’t want to admit his incompetence. My suggest to those people A is: if you can not do, pay more time to learn it, it is not that difficult. Don’t spread nonsense everywhere.

For Volvo, we did some volvo coding and retrofit too: like CarPlay, navigation, and 360° retrofit. So far never met such issue like those you shared. I will pay more attention on this too.

But Mercedes I am sure no such story at all. And there is a fact: sooo many USA spec Mercedes are sold to every corner of the world, so many Japan market Mercedes are imported to Russia, South East Asia, Cyprus, UK, Australia, Newzland, so many China EQE are exported to East Eu and Middle East if local dealer touches these car, write the workshop ID into the car, then car wrty gone? How’s that possible?

 

I have no skin in this game at all. Your services are HIGHLY recommended. I am just suggesting people be careful. I use Volvo as an example because, in the past, they really didn't care. Then, in 2021 or 2022, they introduced this blocking nonsense after a change in leadership. Mercedes may not care today, but that could change in the future.

 

I read the Volvo case: it is not the case like you think, Volvo server stop pushing update to your car because update might recover your factory coding then your retrofit will be deleted. To avoid hassle, Volvo stop pushing the update. And it can be easily solved or avoided by the coder like the way in your link. If you changed the CMA or SPA, and code the car, the coder don’t forget to recover it to factory CMA or SPA. This is very common for those car configure data is saved in car, like bmw, Porsche. Experienced coder or Retroit term won’t make such mistake. And even it is detected by Volvo, can be easily rectified. Mercedes car configuration is saved on cloud called “vedoc” server. So usually people are not able to changed it easily. Once changed, it is for sure accepted.

 

Close. Volvo blocks the car to prevent you from making unauthorized retrofits, not to protect it. They are actively hostile towards any modification. There are many, many stories about this. In fact, a developer even created a special coding tool that Volvo cannot detect to avoid this issue for hundreds of customers.

 

This is one of the more interesting threads and I've learned a lot by reading through it. I apprecieate both @wdimagineer and @EleBest 's comments on this. I've also done some research using AI to understand a bit better. In summary, this is what I've learned.

*** Full Disclaimer *** This is what I believe to be correct based on my limited knowledge. I could very well be wrong and I'm happy to be corrected.
.

• Newer MB cars such as the W214 using the EZ223 security model must authenticate through a Security Gateway Model (SGW) to gain access to the vehicle's computer systems. It's intended to protect the customer and vehicle from unauthorized access that might do harm to the vehicle either intentionally or unintendedly. To gain access, a tech must authenticate through Mercedes-Benz's SGW server. A prerequisite is that the tech must have a registered account with MB. This is a requirement for physical access where a laptop or computer is connected to the car to do diagnostics and coding and not necessarily remote diagnostics to scan for fault codes.
• All modifications are logged in the car's computer and at MB's servers. This includes additions of new software, changes to existing software, and even simple configuration changes like turning something on or off such as Auto Stop/Start. These logs can be read by MB and by the dealership when they service your car.
• In addition to logging, the vehicle's current software state (versions and configuration) are stored in a central MB database (VeDaS). When the vehicle is scanned on a later date, the system can detect any changes from the last known state.
• What MB decides to do with this information is not clear. They could do nothing, especially when you are having warranty work done on your exhaust and they detect that ILS+ was enabled in a US based vehicle. It is at least conceivable however, that if you had a headlight failure or a front SAM/CAN bus failure, MB could deny that claim on the grounds that you had a third-party modification that may have led to that failure. I'm not saying they will, but the odds are not zero that they will.

Based on what I have learned an ultra conservative approach would be to have no third-party coding done while your car was under warranty. Another less conservative approach would be to have coding done but then reverse it any time you bring the car in for service and then have it recoded when finished. This would only be feasible if there was no extra cost or the cost was minimal to have this done by the third-party coder. It also doesn't address the logging that apparently gets done when changes are made and only addresses the mismatch between the VeDaS and the vehicle's current config. Of course, you just have the coding done and deal with any push back MB may give you if you have a warranty claim.

I've never had any coding done to my MBs but I've only owned two including my current 2025 E450. I would love to enable ILS+ but will wait a while before doing this. Somewhat due to the cost of over $580 (€498) which is down from around $700 at the time of this post. Mostly due to the what EleBest says in his response that if coding is removed from a software update or any other reason that you have to pay again to enable it again. That's a non-starter for me. Recoding is free for model cars that are not security type EZS223. According to EleBest's web site, EZS223 models include "C Class(206) 2022+, GLC(254) 2023+, E Class (214), EQE (294/295) 2022+, S Class (223) 2021+, EQS (296/297) 2022+, SL (R232) 2022+, CLE (C236) 2023+".

I hope this helps others trying to decide if third-party coding of their W214 or other cars using the newer EZS223 security model is worth it. Once the cost comes down a bit and reprogramming is either free or severely discounted, I'll be staying stock as far as coding goes.

 

Thanks for your AI summary, looks reasonable but a lot of mistakes. Hahaha

I don’t know how other coders do their jobs. For our customers: ILS+ done ✅ won’t cause anything wrong, you can go back to dealer to do what ever upgrade, or what ever OTA, it will be retain in 99.99%, basically as long as you did not get any accident on headlights, it will be working lifetime. But pls don’t ask this silly question to your dealer: “I did coding outside, do you want void my car wrty?” Then I can hardly guarantee what they will reply. Again, since this sept, re-coding is free, as long as coding solution is available. If current coding solution is no more available, you will see two possibilities: price will be back to €1000 or above, or coding of ILS+ will be not available, even you want to pay much much more.

Since we are in the MB world forum, this is a place we make our life easier, we discuss upgrade, improvement, or sharing upgrade and improvement.

There is famous saying in aftermarket upgrade industry: if you scare don’t mod, if you mod don’t scare. I would add one more: if you scare, better don’t read these post, itchy-but-can-not-scratch is fatal. If you choose EleBest, 100% worry free, as we cares more than you do on your loved cars. ILS+ is now legal in USA / Canada, and coding is worry free. What are you waiting for? Enjoy the feature hidden in your car now by contact us at

https://wa.me/6597335000

or place order here:

if you feel price is high now, just wait a bit for a better price, or checking around with other coders. We try our best to offer you a price as low as possible.


Life is short.

Cheers!

 

Can you give me specifics on what is not correct in my summary? I'm not disputing I may be wrong, but would like to know so I can update my own understanding.

On warranty, I agree that it's not likely to cause an issue, but that is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that any coding will be logged and therefore known by MB. What they do with that knowledge is anyone's guess. More than likely something like ILS+ won't be an issue unless there is a failure in the lights. Even then, we won't know until it happens. The chances are above 0% they deny a warranty claim due to the coding.

Regarding having an OTA software update or MB intentionally wiping out the coding for something like ILS+. If the chances are 99.9% that it will not happen then why not offer recoding free if it does happen. You indicated your coding might be deleted by dealership in the below quote from this post.


I'm not really concerned with the warranty or that MB will know. My concern is that I pay $500+ for coding and if that gets removed 3 months later and I have to pay again if I want it back. Are you saying that is not the case any longer?