Did a search but not 100% sure. With the smart keys, is there a way to associate each smart key to a particular memory seat setting? This is something available on most other brands. Read the manual but didn't find anything. The two key fobs are color coded (black and gray) on the bottom so I think that is a way to separate the two keys but if there is no way to associate with separate memories, what's the point?

 

Mine were both black, no grays. I used leather cases from Amazon and used a sticker to add our initials (his , hers), so we get our settings in place. I think the manuals have instructions to get the memory for the seats, steering wheel and the side mirrors.

 

My 2014 keys are also color coded. Sadly, from what I've read in the forum, it does not carry over to the memory positioning. Fortunately, changing from one setting to another is easy due to the position memory key located at the top of the door sill compared to some vehicles where it is at the bottom left side of the seat.

 

yes, definitely not hard to change the memory. just thought it would be another convenient feature to have considering it's pretty common among other brands already. oh well

 

Well... the way Mercedes interprets Federal Safety Guidelines and Recommendations... in order to prevent accidental injury from the power seats is to require seated passenger to press/hold control/memory while seat is in motion ..so if there is a obstruction - like a foot - seated passenger lifts off control, seat motion stops...

I guess "other-older-brands" need to get reading glasses - or just don't care...

 

Err no. I believe some cars as you approach the dooor and opens it, the seats are already adjusting based on the key fob. So you don't need to be seated.

 

Correct, even my 2015 Jeep SRT adjusts the seat based on which fob is used...that's done before you even open the door. I was surprised this feature wasn't on my wife's 2014 GL.

 

correct. lexus and bmw they all have that.

 

Sure - there other manufacturers who not as diligent as Mercedes to follow NTSB recommendations...

 

NTSB? Didn't know Mercedes has a flying car in the works. NHTSA. Anyway, joking aside ..

Your original statement was simply:

>>
in order to prevent accidental injury from the power seats is to require seated passenger to press/hold control/memory while seat is in motion
<<

and we simply state that if the car seat moves with the carried key PRIOR to you entering the car and seated down, then there's no chance of accidental injury which was your whole point of argument.

In truth, my preference is actually inline with Mercedes's approach. The fact the memory keys are located up top vs bottom is already 100% better than other manufacturers.

Also, because I'm the primary driver of the car 99.9% of the time, I don't need to worry about the seat moving in case I grab the wrong key in the Mercedes. Compared to my wife's X3 however, each key is coded to our seating positions. However, I could never figure out which key is which and when I'm driving her car, I often grab the wrong key. Of course this could be solved by having a key holster, marking or what not. But she could have one of the key in the gym bag, jacket, purse etc. So, I'm left with grabbing whichever key I could find.

 

I would prefer the approach where the key sets the stage for the driver... My Phaeton moves the seat, exterior mirrors, interior mirror, radio station to the last station listened to with that key, volume last time with the key, and climate settings. VERY nice to have.

In addition, my GL forces me to hold the memory button down until all the changes are complete. My Phaeton doesn't unless the car is in motion or if I hold the memory button for longer than a second. A quick tap on it while stationary makes all the changes on it's own.

 

That is a terrible design. Seats should never move without you holding on to the button. It can move and do all the individual settings as you approach your car even before you open it which is what we would like in the GL.

Imagine a small child playing in the driver/passenger seat area and accidentally hit the preset memory button and things start to move by itself. I assume you hit the same button again to stop it?

 

Yep... If you hit it again it stops.

They really aren't that easy to hit though. Based on the argument of automation like that being a horrible design, one touch windows, even with pinch protection, would be a horrible design. I'm not sure what harm could befall my child if they hit one of the memory buttons while sitting stationary in my driveway. One touch windows have a WAY greater chance of hurting my children.

 

For a long time, I remember my earlier cars, auto-windows only works coming down. For up, you have to hold it. Eventually, for coming up, you have to pull it up until the 1st detent and then it goes up automatically without holding on. Yes, a child's neck could be caught there hence there's pinch function like garage door closing.

If a seat moves by itself, even stationary, a child could be caught between the steering wheel and seat, or even between bottom of seat and floor could be caught and crushed.

 

I gotta tell ya...

I never thought I'd be hearing the "logic" of the evils of automation from this group. The advocating that an automatically moving front seat, from buttons that are on top of the door could crush a child who somehow threw themselves down by the pedals between hitting the button and the seat moving, because the seat travel is somehow that great that they'd be crushed, but have NO problem with Disctronic and auto up windows (which still could hurt the smallest of children) to auto closing roofs, and lane keeping assist (which could freak out grandma) to power closing rear hatches which could crush fingers or bang heads. Couldn't the same power seats crush the child hiding by the pedals if ANOTHER kid was playing with the seat controls?

I can tell you that I've owned a number of cars with memory seats and one tap of the button while the car was stationary moved the seat and mirrors into position. Those brands are Ford, Lincoln, Jaguar, and now Volkswagen.

Does Mercedes have some logic? I'm sure they do. I doubt it's the prevention of child crushing due to the inherent dangers of seats that move by themselves. For the longest time, MB didn't believe in remote starting. Now they've finally introduced it. Did some new technology just suddenly make remote starting safe when two years ago it wasn't? Or is Mercedes not a 100% perfect company that decided that remote start was a convenience feature that it's customers really wanted...

Innovation is what's made Mercedes the best car company in the world and Mercedes innovates best when WE push them to. If all these other major car companies can safely implement this feature, I'm pretty sure Mercedes can as well.

Maybe this is just the wrong group for me. I was expecting a different kind of response than what I've gotten in a number of threads. I'm looking for Mercedes owners who vocal about three things: their love of Mercedes, their knowledge of their cars, and their desire to continue to push Mercedes to innovate and remain the best car company for the future.

 

There is a difference between the seat or even windows moving by itself due to a condition versus you the driver pressing a button to move it. Apparently Mercedes is not moving anything automatically other than the steering wheel for easy egress. Everything else you need to hold the button or at push/pull past the first detent to signify your intention. So if someone gets hurt in the process, the blame is still solely on you.

Since I'm the primary driver, these things don't apply to me. Even if the steering wheel doesn't move up, I've no problem exiting the car. Same with the seats. I can see this could be a pain if mobility is an issue or you share cars with another driver.

 

Well jlim... sharing a car is certainly commonplace in today's day and age... hence the reason there are memory seats in the first place. While I'm sure no one will probably agree on my side of the safety argument, the reason I don't like holding the button is that there are certain parts of the seat/mirror adjustment that take longer than others and sometimes I don't hold it down long enough. If this ever is the case with mirrors, for example, one could argue a false sense of security that everything is adjusted until you realize your mirror didn't finish it's adjustment.

I don't know why you couldn't apply the same logic to the memory seat button you're in agreement with with the window switch. Make it a switch with two detents like the windows... I just don't see these things as significant engineering hurdles.

FWIW, I think the chance for injury with auto up windows is FAR greater than memory seats moving completely into position with a tap... even with pinch protection. As Tesla found out, the pressure necessary to stop with window has to be somewhat high to weed out false stopping.

At any rate, I didn't mean to come off sounding offensive in my previous post, I was just expecting a different kind of response from people here.

 

I loved my BMWs and VWs with key specific memory. I have owned several Mercedes. I wish they had it.

 

My 2004 Chevy Tahoe had that. Seats, mirrors, steering wheel, pedal positions, radio presets...

 

"Lexus and BMW they all have that"... just sorry they don't handle or have the cabin comfort of the GL..... oh, I guess I missed the BMW model with 3rd row full size seats..

 

so that becomes excuse for not having better features?

fwiw i think the LX570 rides just as comfortably as the GL

i am not loyal to any brands, i see the goods and bads in all. i just hope people do too

 

Actually car sharing is not commonplace in today's day and age. Cars used to be a luxury item maybe in the Henry Ford days These days it is a necessity.

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/ri...ection_01.html

Quick search reveals the above article published in 2001.

>>
Thus, it appears that households on average have more vehicles than drivers.
<<

In fact I don't know anyone who shares a car in a household. For a couple with no kids, with 1 spouse working, it is unlikely the non-working spouse is driving the working spouse to work daily OR worse, leaving the non-working spouse without a car at home (I know some folks love to Uber, but I'm just not a fan esp if you live in the motorcity). If both are working, unless it is in the same company, again very inconvenient for one to drive the other. If you have a kid in the mix, there's no way you can survive with just 1 car. So, IMO, car sharing is not the norm these days.

 

It is not an excuse, but if you buy the GL/GLS and then complain (not you personally, but folks in general) that it is missing this and that compared to the competitors, it sounds like the person did not do enough research and bought the wrong car.

 

Ok... so just to throw a few things out there...

1. I LOVE my GL550. There has been NO moment in time in the last couple weeks that I've thought I bought the wrong vehicle.

2. I highly agree that just because the GL is the best overall vehicle in it's class, it is NOT a good reason to say "We don't need to improve... we're number one." Just ask the former execs of IBM.

3. If car sharing isn't important because it doesn't happen, what's the reason for memory seats in the first place? If you're going to OFFER the memory seats, why not make them work in the logically most convenient way? It's also an illogical leap to say that because there are more vehicles than drivers in a household that means no car sharing occurs. There are three vehicles in our household and two drivers and vehicle sharing occurs a significant portion of the time.

4. My biggest point of contention in the above arguments, however, is the one that suggests that unless you keep your mouth shut and not complain, you bought the wrong car. That's the opposite of ingenuity and invention. Almost every invention that's propelled mankind forward has arisen from the desire to want to make things better. The lack of accepting the status quo. The need to think for oneself. The refusal to accept and never question what's put before us. The realization that progress is a journey and not a destination.

I know some of that sounds corny, but jlim, are you really thinking that Mercedes has reached the pinnacle of what it can do with the GL? That NO improvements can be made here? WE... the current owners of the GL/GLS, are Mercedes BEST resource for how to improve it. On top of that... do you really think that EVERY OTHER AUTOMAKER has illegally and unsafely implemented a child killing death seat and just gotten away with it? I'd would also really like it if someone could link or post the Federal Safety Guidelines that covers this point? I have a hard time believing that the guidelines indicate that an automatically moving seat is against the law even if the car is stationary and/or in Park.

If there's a thread and you don't particularly care because it doesn't apply to you that's cool... but I'm not sure why you'd want to participate. Is it really ridiculous to want the key to activate a memory position? It could be a feature that you could even disable in settings if you're the sort of family that has your keys in gym bags and you have to just grab whatever key you can find. In my household, I have a set of keys (on a keyring which I know is mine) and my girlfriend has her set of keys which stay in her purse. Keyless entry and Keyless Go were DESIGNED so that you can keep your keys in... say... a purse and never need to actually take them out and manipulate them.

My girlfriend, who LOVES the GL and is very lukewarm about the Phaeton just said this weekend that she wishes the GL moved everything around for you automatically and set things like the Phaeton does. I'm finding myself getting in the GL not realizing that the seat is WAY too forward (cause she's really petite) and I'm uncomfortably squished until I hold my memory button down and wait for the seat to "release" me. Otherwise I'm standing OUTSIDE the car holding the button waiting so I can get in. Both are irritating especially in such a well thought out automobile. We also listen to different music, call up different modes in the center display, and prefer our temperatures about 6° different. All of this is an easy software solution.

Apathy is a disease folks. If there's a feature that's unimportant to you personally then I get it. Not caring about a feature that doesn't really apply to your situation is significantly different than arguing against a feature because you wouldn't use it.

I love Mercedes. But they aren't perfect. We shouldn't pretend they are and give them the feedback to make better products. They can change. Just look at remote starting.

 

Sure.... let's ask the Fed's to roll backthe Safety Guidance to 2006 - we will lose the modern safety systems you don't like as well - all to make the oldster's happier !