rominl

Sometimes when we run errands, we park and I get out of the car (driver) with the car running (wife is in passenger side) since I just need to grab something quick. However, as soon as the driver door opens, the car will shut off soon after. This is the car even if I leave the key fob inside the car.

I browsed through the settings in the car and also looked through the manual but couldn't seem to find a way to disable this "feature". Is this possible? I can understand the safety idea to shut off the car but in a lot of occasions I don't want it shut off (imagine coming back to the car with my wife staring at me with a wtf face because AC turns off...)

Ninja_Ryan

^^ yeah. I find this pretty annoying to be honest, but I am sure its for some safety reason however the car will not immediately shut off (comfort mode, not sure about Eco), it will run at least a few minutes. The work around is if you were driving and put the car in Park, you need to turn the car off and back on again. Starting the car in park and not driving lets the car run indefinite. A little annoyance for sure.

p.s. I have seen that exact face with my wife LoL

tiri

I was not immune to my wife's unimpressed look either .
I would wager it's more for environmental reasons than a safety issue.

rominl

glad to see i wasn't the only one lying on the death bed...

i wonder if this is the case for all new MB, very good point that this could be environmental related, that's why there is no way to turn off this feature.

maybe from now on i will just ask my wife to go run errands while i wait instead

zengshengliu

This could also be safety related. When I test drive a 450 with 48V system, both me and SA didn't realize the engine is started (but off, from auto start/stop feature). I can totally see someone park their car in the garage, not realizing that the car is on and running, and when the 48v battery is low, the engine kicks in, which could be dangerous.

rominl

for those interested, i found out how this is controlled and how you can "disable" it. it's related to fuel efficiency.

if you stop the car and want to open the driver door (run errands or whatever) without the car shutting off itself, press the ECO button right by the start button. this shuts off the engine on/off feature and this will also disable the car from shutting the engine off when driver door is open after driving. so looks like this is a feature in attempt to increase fuel efficiency. found out about this relationship today after driving with the engine on/off disable (i am quite annoyed by the car shuttering when the engine starts up).

now my wife is happy!

bigpern23

It also stops someone from jumping in the car and taking off. The system makes sense for a number of reasons, but I can see how it can be annoying, particularly if you're leaving someone else in the car.

Henry Stark

Better than being squished like a bug!

GregW / Oregon

In that situation, leaving the vehicle with engine switched on, the ignition will automatically turn off after 3 minutes.