GL Class (X166) 2013-2015 after facelift became GLS (X166)

Autonomous braking/Distronic

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Old Dec 17, 2013 | 04:10 PM
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Autonomous braking/Distronic

It is my understanding that a 2014 GL equipped with Distronic is capable of autonomous braking ( no driver intervention) but a similarly equipped Ml is not. Can anyone confirm that? It is also my understanding that the Gl so equipped will not detect pedestrians as will the S Or E class. Wandering around the various places on Mercedes sites has been somewhat confusing and unproductive.

I wonder why they don't offer the same Distronic capabilities across all these lines as the pricing is about the same. Maybe I should wait for the refresh.

Last edited by bubbavorenkamp; Dec 17, 2013 at 04:49 PM. Reason: Change a word
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Old Dec 17, 2013 | 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by bubbavorenkamp
It is my understanding that a 2014 GL equipped with Distronic is capable of autonomous braking ( no driver intervention) but a similarly equipped Ml is not. Can anyone confirm that? It is also my understanding that the Gl so equipped will not detect pedestrians as will the S Or E class. Wandering around the various places on Mercedes sites has been somewhat confusing and unproductive.

I wonder why they don't offer the same Distronic capabilities across all these lines as the pricing is about the same. Maybe I should wait for the refresh.
I can answer a part of your question, no the GL does not have the new safety tech that the refresh E and new S-class have ( it will not detect pedestrians) this technology will come in 2015-2016( mid cycle refresh).
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Old Dec 17, 2013 | 10:12 PM
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We can also confirm that it will self brake all the way to a stop with no driver intervention if a car is detected in front of you with distronic enabled/set. It takes guts, and most of us have our foot a few microns away from the brake when we try it.
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Old Dec 18, 2013 | 07:31 AM
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Originally Posted by JimBarnhart
We can also confirm that it will self brake all the way to a stop with no driver intervention if a car is detected in front of you with distronic enabled/set. It takes guts, and most of us have our foot a few microns away from the brake when we try it.

Yes indeed! I do like the system.....
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Old Dec 18, 2013 | 12:11 PM
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However, it does not autonomously brake to a stop in all situations, thus the foot-near-the-brake caveat. For example, if you're going down a hill with Distronic Plus set, and there's a stop sign at the bottom of the hill, with cars queued up, the radar won't "look up" and see that in time, so it'll be up to you to brake in time.
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 03:17 PM
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Good clarification, thanks!
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 04:19 PM
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Every car equipped with Distronic is capable of autonomous braking. An ML with that feature will do the same.
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