HBerman

Hi all!

I thought I would post my 4 month experience with my vehicle. I came from a 2021 AMG E63s wagon so my comparisons between the two vehicles were interesting to me. The first surprise was that the SUV rode almost the same as my wagon even though it weighed 1000 lbs more. The AMG engineers clearly dialed in correct numbers! My second surprise was the range of the car. Initially the range at 80% indicated 175 miles, but now indicates 230. The EPA rating is 235 at 100% so this is a clear surprise. The car is extremely powerful with effortless acceleration. The brakes feel normal to me so Mercedes has clearly changed the pedal response. The car came with all add-ons turned on and I'm still learning what some of them do. There's still no online manual on the Me website. I had two minor issues that got rectified. The wrong puddle lights were installed at the factory and one piece of rear door trim became partially unglued. All has been corrected. I have about 3000 miles on the clock since the end of December. I'm still uncovering more of the customizations as I drive. I clearly do not miss going to the gas station at all.

Drone_S213

Congrats!

How much is your Lease again? We just bought a home in Georgia last July after initially renting for 12-years. When son graduates Tech in 2-years will consider downsizing to the GA Residence after selling NM home that we built in 2002. Will have to unload all the ICE vehicles and most of Firearm Collection. New job will be cutting the grass in front and around back. Hopefully wife gets an EV ride-on mower to replace her gas powered Cub.

wildta

What wheel setup do you have? I recently had an EQE AMG SUV with 22" wheels as a loaner and I was surprised how comfortable it was on 22s. It was extremely quiet even without the acoustic package.

HBerman

22" Wheels, Michelin PS4 XL 275-35/R22 tires.

Dvoran

Have put on less than 1,000 miles on my 2024 AMG EQE4X and have thoroughly enjoyed just about everything on the car except one annoying problem that other owners of other vehicles have noticed since 2021. When the distronic cruise control is enabled I keep getting annoying alerts to hold onto the steering wheel, even though I’ve got at least one hand on the wheel at all times. Others suggest making small active steering corrections every minute or so while driving but this seems preposterous advice and defeats the whole purpose of adaptive cruise control.

Have any of you figured out how to make this similar to other vehicles that require much longer periods of passive steering wheel holding before alerting? How about a sensor that only measures when NO hands are on the steering wheel?

HBerman

I only touch the wheel when i see the visual alert. No need to hold on the wheel continuously.

Dvoran

Well, that’s somewhat of a relief but, seriously, is there a way to diminish the alerts to only alarm when there’s a minute or two of no hands on the wheel like my previous vehicles had programmed? The idea is how NOT to get an alert than interrupts music, radio, etc.

HBerman

The alert on my vehicle is visual, not auditory. There's no interruption of music. The alerts behave like my prevous E63S.

Dvoran

Hmm, wouldn’t mind the visual, just the audio. Will have to dig into the settings to turn off the audio on my 2024 AMB EQE4X.

bytemaster0

@Dvoran , on my older W213 E-class, and other cars that had Distronic Plus with steering assistance, I became accustomed to resting my hand on a certain part of the wheel. However, because the EQEs have capacitive wheels (in addition to torque sensing), it is sensitive to how much of your hand is on the wheel. I have since adapted to resting my hand on the bottom of the wheel (four fingers on the upper side of the bottom of the wheel, next to the middle spoke), and that seems to be enough to keep the capacitive sensors satisfied. My "old" resting spot doesn't seem to register my hand as well. This is in part because my skin becomes super dry during the colder months, and thus I have more trouble triggering the capacitive sensor. I think in part this was intentional - they don't want it to be triggered by just one finger, and rather want to see more of your hand on it. In either case, both SUV and sedan, I have found the "wheel valley" hold very comfortable for long drives, and it keeps the sensor happy.

nosnoop

It is a pity that Mercedes still hasn't allowed hands free mode.
BMW has hands free mode (indefinite assisted driving without touching the wheel) for highway and traffic jam assist for a couple of years already. What are you waiting for, Mercedes?

bytemaster0

If I'm not mistaken, this has already been the case on MB cars since 2013. My W212 and W213s, as an example, all permitted fully hands-free at speeds below 20 MPH. I believe the EQEs do the same (I'll have to check). Though, with some of the negative press that was received a few years back regarding automated driving in certain cases, I'm not surprised if they went the opposite direction for a while. My W212 would permit 15 seconds of "hands free" at higher speeds before visual and auditory warning and then completely deactivating the steering assistant, while the W213 could go "hands-free" at higher speeds for up to 45-50 seconds in some cases without prompting. The EQE is back to 15 seconds of timeout before first visual warning, but the relaxed hold has completely eliminated any disturbances for me. Honestly, I find it quite comfortable.

HBerman

I just ran a test on my 2024 AMG EQEX4. Hands-off was about 1 minute 15 secs, touching the steering wheel on the bottom or the sides handled the alerts when they occurred, with no audio interruptions. Perhaps my vehicle has a more advanced system.

bytemaster0

I may have confused things further with my answer! At speeds above 20, the first warning comes on at 15 seconds. At speeds below, the alerts do not show up. All MB EQEs use the same Distronic architecture, so there should be no difference. I will say that on past cars, in cases where there were significant turns, the torque imposed by the steering system itself was enough to offset any warnings. But on straightaways at >20MPH, the system will prompt you every 15 or so seconds.

HBerman

What I posted was the behavior while driving on the interstate at 70mph. The alerts were at 75 -90 secs. I have a facial recognition camera as a part of my system which reads my face for attention. I believe my installed system is different than yours and uses the camera as well. Enjoy.

bytemaster0

Nice!

nosnoop

Nice! I read on the manual that there is a driver's display with driver's camera option, though doesn't seem to be mentioned in the order guide (or maybe I missed it).
Do you mind checking your VIN (e.g. mb.vin) to find out the option number of the driver's camera? Thanks!

HBerman

I've looked at the build sheet for the feature, but it must be a part of one of the items like P20 (Driver Assistance). I occasionally receive a warning that I need to recalibrate my wheel/eye position according to a display on the panel. There are still things within the vehicle settings for which I've not determined their effects.

Davemayo70

I have this same issue in my 2024 EQS SUV. I get a constant annoying ding that mutes the car radio, even if I have one or both hands on the wheel. My 2021 AMG had the same system but I never had this issue. My dealer says it could be because I have the wheel as low as it goes so it could be blocking the driver cameras. But I tried raising the wheel as high as it goes and I still get the annoying warnings. Any ideas how to stop it from alarming when I’m holding the wheel? It’s the only thing I dislike about the 2024 EQS.

HBerman

There must be an alarm/alert sound mute for the function like there is for traffic speed sign alert. I get a message on my screen to reposition myself in order to see 6 dots. No other adjustment for me. I have the 2024 AMG EQEX4 which may have a different control configuration with the hyperscreen. No dings on my system with the AMG sport wheel.

Davemayo70

I have a 2024 EQSX4 with a hyperscreen. I also get the 6 dots warning. I would love to turn off the sound for the steering wheel warning but I don’t see any option to turn it off.

HBerman

I searched all of the menus for driver assist and could not find any mute function. Do you have the HUD option? When I am using DA the steering wheel appears on the display in green and in red when I need to touch the wheel. No other alerts are noticed.

Davemayo70

I do have a HUD. And I noticed in the HUD the green steering wheel icon turns red when it thinks I’m not holding the steering wheel. I then have to move my hands around on different parts of the steering wheel for it to register that I am holding the wheel. The problem is I get these alerts even if I’m holding the wheel with one hand or two hands. It’s like the capacitive steering wheel isn’t sensitive enough to notice that I’m holding it.

icwhatudidthere

How are you holding it? Fingertips touching or fingers wrapped around it? I get the warning when I'm just touching it. I've never had it alert when I had a firm grip.

Davemayo70

I’ve tried everything. Firm grip, light grip, fingertip grip, two-hand grip. In my 2021 AMG I could keep a light one-hand touch and it wouldn’t alert.

I’ve told my dealer that I believe the steering wheel may be malfunctioning. We’ll see what they say.