As many of you know I’ve reported a serious safety issue with my GLE misreading traffic signs and then braking aggressively. For example, with my speed set at 85 it would consistently read a speed limit sign of 80 as 60 or 50 about 50% of the time…then slam on the brakes. On a recent trip I started getting a series of warnings that my camera view was restricted and once a notice to clean my windshield…windshield had been cleaned with isopropyl alcohol wipes. My camera was replaced about 9 months ago with no improvement.

Finally this time there was a code B22B97 detected by my Dealer. They found hazing on the interior windshield and hazing on the camera lens still not visible without removing the camera. My work order mentions outgassing and solutions, repairs discussed in Tech Topics, October 2021. They had suspected outgassing previously but could not find hazing that apparently got worse on a long trip in winter with the heater running. The solution is to bake the camera lens hood at 200 degrees for an hour to outgass it.. My camera was also replaced with a new “multi function camera”.

This must be a common problem since the lens hood is probably much the same for many Mercedes vehicles. My car is garaged in summer so it probably took several long trips running the heater to reach a measurable level. The fact that the camera and lens hood were in stock surprised me until I thought about the Mercedes camera commonality & the bulletin.

 

Good information on the camera and operating environment - thanks Ron.

 

Not sure how common this problem is. I think you are the only one I've seen reporting it. There are two cameras for stereo vision. Maybe they only replaced one and it wasn't the one that had the issue. I've not experienced any camera issues whatsoever in my C63S coupe, but I've turned off the automatic speed limit adoption as I don't find it useful in the USA. I had it turned on during my ED trip as Europe takes speed limits much more seriously and they frequently change on any given road. I did have my windshield replaced about a year ago and there was some debris left in one of the camera housings, but didn't seem to affect its performance. Nevertheless, took the car back and had them clean it out. Glad you got it resolved. It always sounded like a specific hardware issue with your car.

 

Others find them useful, but for me I find the driving “assistance” more trouble than it’s worth. I can read signs and keep in my lane except when I choose to take a racing line and don’t want to be corrected. I do like Blind Spot Monio and Emergency Braking.

 

I didn’t get a chance to talk to the tech today but it is my understanding that the camera on mine is at the bottom behind the rear view mirror. I have the two you show but below and in the center is a round ball shaped device that I thought was the multifunction camera. I believe it’s also the camera for augmented reality. When the shop foreman looked at my car for off gassing in October he clearly said camera in the singular.
Since they put out a Tech Bulletin it must be a known problem. If my plastic is doing it then wouldn’t all similar builds have the risk? My vehicle may be different than the norm since I was able to build with all of the options; DA2-Drivers Assistance. 233 Distance Pilot. 266 Distronic Plus. 513 Speed limit assist. K34-Route Based Speed. P20-Driving Assistance
Edit: As of today Mercedes has not released an update that allows Route Based Speed to be turned off. The menu option was removed during a firmware update. Note on my invoice “issue currently under investigation with Mercedes”. The Dealer escalated this issue about 6 months ago so things are moving real fast.

 

I had similar issue with condensation at the camera in the center right below the mirror.
I was driving on the highway with driving assist on, and when I am near my exit,I found that the buttons does not deactivate the cruise control (cancel, on/off, set buttons on the left side of steering wheel). I have to step on the brake to "cancel" it as I was getting near the exit.
At the traffic light on the exit, after the car come to a complete stop, there are multiple warning light, don't remember the exact one, but it was related to driver assist, speed limit assist, lane keep assist, etc. I also notice that the "traffic light cam" has a bury spot in the middle which is an indication of moisture in the lens.
When I first visit the dealer, they couldn't found the condensation, and I don't blame them, as it only happen on a very humid date, and with temperature difference from inside the lens and outside.
The next time I notice the issue, I have to take a close up picture of the lens which shows a "fog" spot in the middle of the lens, and the dealer replace it.
Here is the photos I took: (back in November of 2020)

This is picture I took right after the exit at a gas station

And this is a close up picture of the len, notice the small white fog in the middle.

I think what happen in my case, is that the len wasn't seal correctly. It was cold and humid outside, so I have heat on when driving to work. After I parked the car, it starts to cold down, and the "unseal" len start to draw moist air into the len. After work, when I start driving (heat on of course), it start to heat up the interior, and as the area around the len heat up, because of the cold and humid air inside the len, it form the condensation inside.
The weird part is that I would expect myself still be able to cancel the cruise control using the steering control even with the len partially blocked, but wasn't, and the lane keep assist was working up to that point.

 

Greg I am assuming the traffic sign recognition is only available with the AR camera correct? I see that on my vehicle setting but I have not seen anything popping out from my screen.

 

Ron, I have had that problem with two cars, but the solution my Dealer found was different.

Our 2020 GLE450 built 2/20, was awful, dangerously braking in heavy traffic when it saw a sign on a frontage road. I complained, they replaced the camera, but it was just as bad. They found a Tech Bulletin about the cameras being shipped from the supplier, with haze on the lens. The solution from the TB was to clean the new lens with alcohol and reinstall. It worked. This was October 2020. Although I seldom use the automatic feature, the speed limit display was no longer fooled.

On our 2021 GLE53 built 2/21, we had a windshield replaced (July '21, at the Dealer with M-B glass) and there was a problem separating the camera from something, so they replaced the camera. It failed their checks, and they found that the new batch (not included in the original Bulletin) had the same haze that the earlier ones had. Cleaned with alcohol, reinstalled, no problems since. (No problems with the 53 before the new glass, either.)

So in my case(s) it was not outgassing, it was a supplier problem, or packaging from that supplier.

EDIT FWIW: We bought a '14 ML Diesel that the High Beam Assist worked erratically. It came with aftermarket glass (a CPO shouldn't have that as I understand now). OE glass fixed that problem, too.

 

The feature is part of the Driver Assistance Package PLUS (DA2PKG). Augmented Video for Navigation is a separate option (U19); for the 2020 model year it was part of the MBUX Technology Package (DA0PKG).

 

I have the Driver Assistance Package PLUS (DA2PKG) the only thing I see popping out on my screen is the speed limits. Can you post a picture how it looks like when it shows up on your dash? thanks!

 

I do not have it - someone else can chime in.

 

I'm pretty sure the additional camera behind the mirror is only for AR navigation and the traffic signs are read by the stereo cameras, because the traffic sign recognition is part of the driver assistance package and still works on vehicles w/o AR. I believe that additional mirror camera can also double as a dashcam now. I remember now that there seems to be a bug in MBUX related to being able to turn off the speed limit adoption, however, route based speed adaptation and DISTRONIC speed limit adoption are two separate things. The former just temporarily slows down the vehicle for things like curves, intersections, exits, etc. whereas the latter sets the new DISTRONIC speed. I can turn each one on/off individually in COMAND. I left the route based speed adaptation on, because for example I like how it automatically starts slowing down when approaching the end of traffic congestion instead of only when I have caught up to the last car slowing down, so it makes for a smoother and more predictive drive with DISTRONIC active. This works even if I'm not currently actively navigating. Not a fan of how it slows down for curves, though, but I can only turn it off as a whole and not individual parts. I'll just step on the accelerator when I feel slowing down isn't necessary. But as said I turned off the automatic speed limit adoption for DISTRONIC. That's a separate setting in my car. I can still manually adopt the current speed limit by pressing "Resume" while DISTRONIC is engaged. That's a pretty cool feature and a quick way to set DISTRONIC to the current speed limit and then adjust it up to my usual 10-20 mph over.

 

When what shows up? This is not for the GLE, but I believe it's the same there. With the digital instrument cluster the speed limit and other traffic signs are shown at the bottom like below. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, it depends on the chosen layout. I think with the traditional two gauge layouts it's a little different. In the USA it doesn't recognize many signs besides speed limits, but if I remember correctly I get school zones and some others pop up. I also get things like the off ramp speed limit displayed in yellow next to the highway speed limit. While I was driving the car in Europe during my ED trip it recognized many more traffic signs. It recognized things like no passing zones and even lowered speed limits when wet. I do find it of limited value in the USA as speed limits are more of a guidance than an absolute and radar detectors are legal.

 

Without elaborating on all the nuances, all I can say is the 2021 AMG MBUX on my vehicle is messed up and reportedly Mercedes is working on a fix. My theory is that too much resource has been moved to the Electric’s and they aren’t doing much on the others. On my 2020 GLE 450 all of the Distronic settings actually worked. For 6 months the Lane Keep kept resetting to on but that was finally changed.
On my 53 none of the settings have ever worked to turn any function off. When it misreads a speed limit it instantly brakes or accelerates if it changes the set speed. I say ‘if” because occasionally it does not change the set speed. I found a “workaround” by tapping the accelerator and MBUX changes set speed back to the original setting. I sent video recordings backing up all of these events that were forwarded on to Mercedes about 5 months ago.

 

I hear you. I've said this for a while. MBUX in my opinion was rushed out and shoehorned into the old dual screen layout designed for COMAND, which are really too far away to be used comfortably as touchscreens and they are too small, evidenced by the fact that CarPlay isn't even full screen. In the loaners I drove with it, I had to lean forward to touch the screen and trying to hit the right button while driving over uneven roads is essentially futile. There have been several OTA updates since the release, but I guess they still haven't squashed all the bugs. In contrast the latest COMAND NTG 5.5 is mature and stable and I'm really glad they didn't put MBUX into the C Class FL. I have yet to find a bug, and other than map updates and a recall for the eCall system there haven't been any OTA updates, and none are really necessary. There's something to be said about a mature system shipping from the factory w/o needing constant fixing and updating. I hope MBUX 2.0 works better in the all-new cars with the larger center screen that is placed in a way that makes it usable w/o having to lean forward and you can rest your arm in order to actually hit the target. The new interiors were designed with MBUX in mind.

 

The camera screen Zengshenglui posted comes up on mine in several ways…maybe more than these. 1. You can set it to pop when stopped at an intersection with a traffic light. The idea is if you are facing the sun with your visor down-it gives you a better view of the intersection and traffic light. 2. Parking it will display at times if you ease into a spot. 3. Using Mercedes Nav it can be activated to show the actual view of the camera with onscreen directions for a turn. 4. If you put your car in reverse and then in drive it switches to front view. 5. I have the hardware for Dash Cam but it wasn’t available at build…I’ve read that you can replay the Dash Cam on screen. I think there another way to activate the front camera but I don’t recall it at the moment.

 

This is what I see on my screen but never I see it detect any traffic signs posted on the side of the road. I even tried going through a stop sign (no one is around) and it did not do anything.

 

That's all you pretty much get. It won't detect or show stop signs or do anything about them. You still have to read the signs yourself and drive accordingly. Seeing the speed limit is more of a piece of mind if you missed the last one, or you can set it to flash if you are driving faster than the speed limit to alert you. Don't expect it to read all the signs for you. That's still your job for the most part.

 

[QUOTE=shotgun_banjo;8526388]This is what I see on my screen but never I see it detect any traffic signs posted on the side of the road. I even tried going through a stop sign (no one is around) and it did not do anything.
QUOTE]

Traffic signs display like that but only manage speed and braking when using Distronic and then over a speed of 39 mph in the US.
Sorry didn’t answer your question. The sign should change in your display as it reads a new one. If not it’s not working properly.

 

[QUOTE=Ron.s;8526391]Can you try it in your car and post a picture what it will show let us say when you are about to see a STOP sign or something. thanks!

 

[QUOTE=shotgun_banjo;8526564]I should have said speed limit signs. It does no show stop signs. It will Show two signs at times when you enter a school zone or on curves for example. It shows the speed limit and below it a school zone speed limit sign in orange. If you have HUD it will also show there.
My car also recognizes intersection traffic lights to open the camera view of the intersection.

 

I have AR, so the central camera under the mirror, but my car is not optioned with speed sign recognition. However it does have the two camera ports above the AR camera but only the right side one has a camera in it, the left side one is blanked off. You can see it in the picture below.

Maybe this is why Raj wasn't able to get enable speed limit assist? He can get the MBUX to display the options but only the 'Limit Adoption' item is able to be enabled. The others all say "Function Unavailable".

 

Mike,

They did the alcohol before with no luck. This time the work order also referenced using isopropyl alcohol to clean things prior to installation. After an all day drive it appears to have mostly resolved the speed limit errors. I got one error where it read the lower sign limit for trucks instead of the top one for cars…but got about 10 others correct. It also read another sign warning of reduced speed ahead as the actual and changed route based speed both times. But in all cases it read the sign speed number correctly.
My head scratcher is wondering what outgassing does to the camera that requires replacement. I can’t complain about getting a new
camera, just curious how it damages the camera.

Now when they enable turning off route based speed, I’ll be happy with the Distronic.

 

Unless I'm not understanding the proper option but I have the ability to disable the route based speed. I have this enabled all the time but don't use the speed limit sign option.

 

You may have missed some earlier posts. The issue isn’t with the 450…it worked as it should on my 2020 GLE 450. As I posted earlier I had the setting on my GLE 53 until last summer but it has never worked, on or off, it was always on. A software update removed the option from the menu last summer. Personally I would never use Route Based Speed in a car but right now I have no choice.
Edit: I forgot to add that Traffic signs is an option but just the same, on or off nothing changes in the Distronic functioning.