mongo6407

I have a 2014 GL450 that I took delivery of this week. So far it all works the way I think it should.
However, I have experienced that the car emits a loud single beep in the cabin while driving. It happened to me when passing through an intersection and it happened to my wife while driving along a highway.

The owner's manual does not have any section on warning beeps.

Does anyone know what this beeping means?

Also, next to the time display I notice a letter "P" surrounded in a blue square. The owner's manual does not identify any such symbol as even appearing in that area of the instrument cluster. This letter "P" appears, I think, when I begin to decelerate and come to a stop.

Does anyone know what this letter "P" means?

The truck has blind spot assist and lane tracking and parking assist.

hotgl450

Congrats on the new truck.

I'm surprised that your dealer didn't take the time to go over every aspects of the GL with you like mine did.

The "P" in the blue square is part of your Park Assist feature. As you are driving slow with your blinkers on and want to parallel park, it will scan parking areas that is suitable for your car. If there is a spot that will fit, you'll see an arrow appear next to it. Then you can use the Park Assist feature to automatically park your vehicle. All you have to do is control the acceleration with your brakes as well as put your car into reverse or drive for additional corrections.

I've also had my GL beep at me while crossing intersections and it seems to only happen at night. I think it may be a false warning from your Driver Assistance feature.

mongo6407

Thank you for the warm wishes. The dealer salesman was not that knowledegable about the car. I asked him simple questions about how to find a post office in the nav unit, but he couldn't figure it out so I didn't think it would be worthwhile to spend hours, blind leading the blind. I still can't figure out how to find a post office as a POI!

After reading the manual I thought about a false alarm from the Driver Assistance feature, but dismissed it because it happened both to me and my wife when we were driving without our blinkers on, her at highway speed with no one around and me stopped at a light. I called the dealer and they have no clue.

wamochi

there is a beep that can be heard if you have notifications enabled on your bluetooth connection on your phone. it's a very short, simple, single beep and nothing else. the screen doesn't change either. if you switch over to the phone screen, you can select Txt Msg on the bottom and check your new text message and even have it read aloud by the nav lady.

i don't know of any other SINGLE beeps that occur while driving. of course the blind spot alert is a triple beep which i am sure you have heard or tested when you activate your turn signal and someone is in your blind spot.

blittle

I have had the single beep occasionally.....usually at an intersection or on a curve passing thru and underpass, etc. My guess.....it is the the collision avoidance system....under certain circumstances ( and the manual cautions on this ) the system "may not work when it should, and, may prompt warnings when no threats actually exist " .... I am paraphrasing the actual wording, but the fact remains , no system is perfect and this one may, at times produce a false warning.....if it were an actual impending collsion, the system would jam on the brakes........... I haven't had that happen!!!

mongo6407

Thanks. The beep is a single beep. I do have notifications set up on my phone, but I didn't get a text message when the beep occurred, so that narrows it down to the other possibilities mentioned above. It's curious though why the collision avoidance warning would go off when I was stopped at a light and when my wife was on a wide open highway driving with no one else around her? If the collision avoidance system is that erroneous, I think I'd rather not have it at all.

Is there any way to disable the collision avoidance system? I think I can take care of braking for myself.

blittle

All the positives far outweigh the negatives........ the system has the ability to potentially save lives and damage. I don't think I have heard of even one instance of the system actually braking a vehicle....when there was no cause to.

Flyingman

Sounds like the collision avoidance. I get a beep every once in a while on a highway when I pass a slow moving car or a car pulls into a left turn lane and I continue to pass him on the right. I ignore it.

wamochi

ah that might be it, because i disabled my collision notification icon after i got the car and have never heard any other single beeps other than a text message notification.

you can disable it in your dash cluster menu and then the icon with two cars and exclamation mark will go away too.

Dog hauler

If you press the button on the right upper spoke of the steering wheel to enable voice control, it beeps. It's easy enough to inadvertently press that button so maybe that's what's going on.

JimBarnhart

Just another thought, mine will do a single beep on text message, but also on e-mails on my smart phone. It beeps once if either a text or e-mail comes in, but doesn't on the 2nd, 3rd, etc.

mongo6407

I will try out the email feature. I know I get text notifications as beeps. Is the email notification a feature you turn on on your phone or the car? On my iphone 5 I have notifications turned on in Bluetooth settings. On my 2013 c250 I only get text messages coming through the car audio and display.

blittle

Just noticed today that the false "collision prevention" warning signal that I get.... ( got one today ) is a DOUBLE beep......as in "beep, beep" and then nothing more......today it was as I went around a curve under an underpass on a slight uphill angle....... I honestly don't mind it....it means the system is analyzing what's ahead and doing its best to protect you and the vehicle.

ladolphin

Hello, understand now the one beep and two beeps. but our car sometimes beeps three times and scared me the other day as whilst driving we got four beeps? Baffled.

blittle

Have no thoughts on "four beeps."

carpersn

i have noticed that the beeps are more numerous the greater the threat (if I car ahead slams on brakes, even to the left of you). I have grown to like the feature, because it means the car is really a backup to my looking out for my own safety.
it also scans well for parking cones or other street directional that are sometimes not seen as well because they are low or might not be common.
My $.02.

milfordbill

Thanks for the response and answer. I picked up our GL350 BTC today and had the same problem trying to find the Blue P in the manual. I appreciate you clearing it up.

scottmcdaniel1

Various causes for beeping:

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/techno...00ccec1e35RCRD

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/techno...00ccec1e35RCRD

Could also be blind spot monitoring if turning on turn signal with someone in blind spot, could be accidentally pressing 'voice comand' button, various notifications coming from phone through bluetooth, distance alert through PARKTRONIC sensors....all of the beeps mean something. It just depends on what is happening when the sound occurs.

scottmcdaniel1

Oh, and a video on how PARKTRONIC with Active Park Assist works...MUCH easier than reading through the manual

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/techno...00ccec1e35RCRD

baobay

This video says there is an exit feature. I did not know that. I have used the parking assist but never knew there is a parking exit feature.

scottmcdaniel1

yep. when getting in the car in a parallel spot, turn on turn signal to exit the spot and then shift to drive. once you do that, the dash will display 'start park assist?' and then select 'ok'. it will then exit the spot much like it did when parking. all vehicles with ACTIVE park assist can park and exit parking spot through this feature. E-Class and S-Class are the only models currently that can parallel AND perpendicular park themselves. they also autonomously brake.

baobay

thanks for the info. wil try it next time

scottmcdaniel1

most welcome

fabbrisd1

Now this is kind of a chuckle - with the newest "Parking Assist Plus" (my term) - Perpendicular Parking Assist is Euro-Style/US-Valet style - meaning backing up/into a perpendicular space. Personally I haven't tried it on US spec cars..

scottmcdaniel1

they will definitely do that. i have done it both in a 2014 E350 and in a 2015 S550. personally, i think i could back into a spot quicker than the system will do it, but it will indeed do it. it will keep telling you to select drive then reverse and keep going forward and backward until it spaces the same distance from vehicles on either side.