HotRodW

I continue to be baffled by the electronic gremlins in my GLE. I've had a number bizarre false perimeter alarms and one particularly troubling situation where my car abruptly braked to a stop and screamed at me while in the process of parallel parking. The stop (while in reverse) was so violent I thought I actually hit something and had to get out to confirm I did not. The rate of these incidents has been increasing. Yesterday while attempting to back out of a perpendicular parking spot, the car continually braked and screamed in the same manner. Four times I removed my foot from the brake only to be immediately stopped and alerted to, well, nothing. There was nothing there ... nothing behind me and no movement in any direction. The parking lot was nearly empty and the camera showed no obstructions. The parking space was clearly painted and the spots on either side were vacant. No potholes, no rubbish, and the car was just washed so the sensors are clean. So what is my car "seeing"? Or is it possessed? And do other people have this problem?

Steve Armstrong

This has happened to me twice now. The only thing I can attribute the incident to is the bush/hedge casting a shadow on the ground I am backing out of - but I can't be 100% certain.

It is scary when it happens like you say......"so violent".

mb2be

You don't need an engineer. You need to take it to the dealership. But it's hard because it's probably intermittent and they won't be able to reproduce your issue. It sounds like RCTA or pre collision kicked in. I remember similar behavior on my X5. When I backed out of the garage it sensed the side walls and braked like you described. I turned that feature for rear off. I know how you feel. It almost felt like you bumped into a wall. Maybe worth trying to turn some of these features off to see if the issue goes away. Good luck!

HotRodW

Sooner or later it's going to happen to my wife, and she will not take it well. Fortunately her GLC has never done it.

I mentioned it to the service advisor in the past that it was an issue I was monitoring, but it seems to be escalating. It's on the list of items to have looked at the next time I take it in, but I'm not going to make a special trip knowing they won't be able to reproduce it. Just like the all perimeter alarms I experience sometimes -- audible alert with camera showing 360 degrees of red for no reason, but without the auto-braking because I'm already stopped. Then it clears as suddenly as it appears.

mikapen

I had similar problems with my 2020 450, and more. Locked brakes are like hitting a wall!

Although I got rid of it without finding a solution, I suspect it might have been outgassing on both the glass from the supplier, and the camera.
Both of those were covered by individual TSBs, requiring alcohol cleaning and / or baking the camera.

After I got a replacement windshield for my 53, the camera wouldn't calibrate, so they applied a TSB.

You might ask them to check the calibration. I and @Ron.s posted the TSBs last year. I'll see if I can find them.

Fast996

Is there a way to disable the software?

wildta

Maybe have your phone ready to record a video when it starts to show the dealer. When it brakes a 2nd time, get it on video, toss it in park and walk out and show your surroundings in the video. It might bolster your case.

HotRodW

I believe you were getting some type of camera error message, correct? I don't get that. I'm just getting the collision alert in conjunction with auto-braking.

I can turn it off completely, but that defeats the purpose of having it. I'll try changing it to "late" reaction, but I don't know that it can make a difference since there's nothing actually there.

That's pretty much what I've concluded I'll have to do since it doesn't seem to be a common and obvious issue here. It'll definitely have to be video because the errors just flash - no time for a still pic. Most of the 360-degree errors happen when I'm moving, so it's unlikely I'll ever get video of one of those incidents unless I happen to have a passenger at the ready.

Frenetic

My sympathies, HotRod. This sounds similar to the issue that was plaguing my car where it would try and forcefully steer me back into my lane while under a blinker on a five lane freeway without a car behind me for hundreds of yards. Someone recently left a message on my profile complaining about the same thing but I haven’t heard from him since.

The dealer likely won’t even look for it unless you force them to drive around for hours trying to replicate the issue. Just watch the car in your app and it won’t even move while it’s at the dealership. Good luck, I hope you lucky and it does get fixed. I absolutely hate wasting my time going to the dealer on issues that I shouldn’t have to be dealing with let alone them not even attempting to fix it other than plugging in their laptop and giving it a clean bill of health when there is obviously something wrong with it.

HotRodW

Fast996

I wanted to order a 2023 SUV but I checked with dealers and only the coupe was being built. You can't find a vehicle without all this AI crap. I wanted a car without it.....driven all my life without it. I will disable mine if i can. Please let me know how the "late" adjustment works out. Good luck.

HotRodW

There is something to be said for simpler times. Some of the latest tech can genuinely be helpful when it works correctly. The 360-camera is one of my all time favorite advancements, and I will definitely miss it if I ever have to go without. And cross-traffic alert is extremely helpful if you find yourself blindly backing into traffic. Most of the other stuff I can live without. Still, I will be pretty disappointed if I end up turning off my collision alert to put an end to ghost auto-braking.

joe72camel

Same thing happens to me at least once a week at random places..
Initially I thought i was reversing too fast, slowed down during parking but still happens. Have learnt to live with it.
Stranger thing is that it doesnt happned when i was driving the W205.

mb2be

yeah you can turn them off. The weirdest thing about all these safety features is it screams at you when you’re turning left. It scared the **** out of her and freaking annoying.

TexAg91

So after reading through your description of the issue, it sounds like it only happens in reverse. Is that correct?

If correct, that narrows the issue down to the sensors used for backing up. I believe there are redundant radar and ultrasonic sensors in play. One of them is either out of calibration, or it is faulty and is giving false readings and needs to be replaced. You need to get the issue documented ASAP. The dealer is going to have to either ID the faulty sensor, or replace them all. Mercedes can decide. Have them give you a loaner car and don’t give it back until they figure it out. Let them know giving it back with a can not duplicate and no action is unacceptable.

My two cents.

HotRodW

Well the exact source of the problem isn't obvious to the Service Advisor either. He did mention that the occasional full 360-degree alerts I'm also seeing are suggestive of a failing radar sensor, which may or may not be related to the auto-braking problem. The car goes in for exorcism/diagnosis and the window trim recall the first week of April (when a loaner is next available). Fingers crossed.

HotRodW

UPDATE: Diagnostic testing was inconclusive (no codes), although one front radar sensor appears to have been damaged by a stone strike - potentially leading to some or all of the false warnings I've been getting. A new sensor has been ordered and will be replaced at my expense. The dealer was also able to determine the driver side mirror was the source of the whistling I've started hearing. The mirror assembly will be replaced under warranty. The 48v battery Service Campaign was completed along with two open recalls, and the MBUX software was updated to correct the faulty nav system (detailed in another thread). Assuming the replacement sensor corrects the bizarre behavior, I think we're making genuine progress. If only the harsh downshifting could be completely corrected ...

MBguy013

Have you tried resetting the transmission so that it relearns your style? That worked for me.

HotRodW

I did, but nothing improved. The dealer did a software update last year that helped a lot. I still have the issue at times, but it's neither as severe or as frequent as it was.

Frenetic

I’ve had two cars back-to-back with the same transmission. I think that’s enough experience to qualify me to say that transmission is pure garbage designed by idiots.

chassis

Truer words have never been written on mbworld.

mikapen

Wait!!! Mercedes parking sensors are designed by their transmission engineers???
Glad we know the culprits....

TexAg91

A damaged front sensor. I can buy that. It only takes one faulty proximity sensor to slam on the brakes from an object it senses is too close -- even when backing up you can turn the front into an object...so it does make sense. I'm hopeful this corrects the issue for you -- fingers crossed.

HotRodW

Transmission worse than ever. Absolutely miserable to drive in any stop-and-go situation now. Remote start wouldn't work Saturday because the MercedesMe app indicated a window was down (it wasn't), then it mysteriously worked on Sunday. And I noticed today the passenger side BLIS is completely non-functional. Dealer has added the items to my list, but I've been warned they likely won't get to everything in the time allotted for my next service appointment. Maybe it wouldn't be so frustrating if the dealer isn't constantly scheduling at least 4 weeks out and/or offered pick-up and drop-off.

I can't believe expected reliability was a factor in choosing this over a Defender. In the past I frequently criticized people for buying reliability first - arguing that driving something dynamically superior is worth an extra trip to the service department now and then. My disastrous BMW experience had me rethinking that logic to a degree. I had hoped my MB experience would be better - something more like the way our stellar GLC has treated us. But my GLE has had more problems in less than 10k miles than our 50k-mile GLC, 80k-mile Touareg and 90k-mile Q5 combined, and it's not even close.

wildta

Is BLIS blind spot assist? Those work on radar so this could add to your case? Booking 4 months out is crazy. My closest dealer is like that and so now I go to the ones further away (15-20min further drive) where I can get appointments next day.