keithjbrama

Dealers obviously know of this issue but don't disclose? Didn't make noise on test drive, but did on day 2, so tells me dealer likely recalibrated before test drive knowing the issue. Current solution presented by our dealer is to put foam or rubber in walls of car to lessen noise. Ridiculous - CA lemon law attorney anxious to represent us but seems like a year long process.

stktyz33

So, what does the diagnostics say exactly? This thread is getting a bit old as we keep speculating about calibration, when diagnostics can likely tell you if it's calibration or not.

Ask the dealer to hook it up to diagnostics and drive with you. Multi-function camera and parktronic modules have two data point exposed something like: Initial calibration - Performed or Not, then who performed it - Factory or Service, then there is "Drive calibration" that shows current drive calibration status. They should be able to see if Initial or Drive calibration is not completed and camera open / close events correlate to diagnostics calibration status. If it's indeed related to one of these two calibrations, they can file a request and ask MB WHY calibration never finishes or doesn't persists after that, not just "the camera opens and closes". Additionally, dealership likely can perform initial calibration by themselves but they may need some extra equipment from MB for it.

keithjbrama

From the work order:

126 C/S THE BACK UP CAMERA IS CONSTANTLY OPENING AND CLOSING. PERFORMED INITAIL ROAD TEST TO VERIFY CONCERN. PERFORMED SHORT TEST SHORT TEST FOUND NO RELATED CODES, PERFORMED ROAD TEST AT 9:55 AM TO MONITOR REAR CAMERA. NOTICED SDS SAYS CALIBRATED SUCCESSFUL, BUT CALIBRATION PERCENT IS AT 0. ROAD TESTED AND CAR IS RE CALIBRATING REAR CAMERA UNTIL IT REACHED 100%. THIS WILL STAY AT 100% AND WILL NOT RE CALIBRATE UNLESS CAR SITS FOR 120 MINUTES OR SO THEN STARTS CALIBRATION OVER AGAIN. PERFORMED ROAD TEST WITH SDS WITH STOCK UNIT RJ602007 AND THIS CAR PERFORMERS IN THE SAME MANNER. OPENING CASE TO SEE WHY CAR IS LOOSING CALIBRATION AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CALIBRATION HAS ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED. WILL UPDATE AFTER RESPONSE BACK FROM MERCEDES ENGINEERING. Case number245821940 This is a normal function. LI54.65-P-066284 does apply. Please also see March of 2021 PCTT as this has more information on this calibration process. The cameras are calibrated at every sleep cycle. This is not a malfunction, but an intended system behavior: Calibration of the reversing camera is in progress. For this, the cover on the camera is opened for max. 5 minutes in forward travel. The calibration can be performed as long as the vehicle speed is < 18 mph and the steering wheel angle is < 10~. If these criteria are no longer satisfied before calibration is complete, the calibration sequence is aborted and the camera is retracted. The sequence is restarted when the criteria are met again.

stktyz33

Ok, it seems like they actually were pretty thorough investigating it. The problem I see here is that their stock unit performed the same way so they had nothing to compare it against, which is unfortunate. The reason I believe it's important is that if you have two cars that perform differently, MB can no longer say "it's normal", they'll have to explain why the units are different.

mikapen

That work order explains the difference.

I wasn't aware of any of these calibrations.

stktyz33

I actually don’t think the work order explains the difference. The tech actions align perfectly with my suggestions above, that’s why it looked to me like a rather thorough investigation. However, because their stock unit (as in another GLE they had on a lot) behaved the same way, they had to accept “it’s normal” answer from MB Engineering as they didn’t have a car without the issue to compare it to and call MB on it.

Scott1978

We have this on my wife’s new A200 and when we took it back for inspection they told us it was normal. Hard to believe that MB would produce cars knowing they make a noise like that. I have a GLE 450 on order and I’m considering cancelling the noise is far to loud

Hollington

We are having this same problem here in the UK on the GLA and A Class saloon ( Sedan) It is driving us nuts also. I have returned my car to the dealership and they are fully aware of the problem but are unable to alter the software as it is set by M/B. I have also sent a number of Emails to their customer services, but they just come out with the same old twaddle !! that it is not a fault but a characteristic of the vehicle, well all I can say is that it is a damn stupid characteristic.

Mercedes Benz client of many years standing but will never buy another.

PeteInGilroy

Shoot...I was going to order a GLE450, 2025 when available, but now will hold off until I see this issue is resolved by following this thread.

Hollington

"The camera is open for max 5mins in forward travel" That has certainly not been the case in my 2024 GLA, mine will still be clanking away after 45 minutes or so, and still M/B refuse to anything about it.
M/B client for many years, never again.

Crito

MB's mindless marketing nonsense is part of the problem. When I disable "paktronic" from the main screen button the camera keeps popping out. But when I do it when "parktronic" is actively looking for parking spots it stops popping out. So I guess I 'm talking about two different "parktronic" systems.

Anywhosies, I'm just glad the new G comes with EQ technology. That's much less confusing.

gwilli

Have a brand new 2024 EQA250+ facelift. Can confirm it’s doing the same thing in this model too. Being a quiet EV the noise is really noticeable and annoying. Going to take it into the dealership soon to see what can be done but it sounds like it’s a common issue.

Shanabenz

For everyone still having this issue, MB has issue a repair for this that includes a foam kit... sounds similar to what someone posted above that a dealer did as a workaround before the official fix- Having it done shortly hopefully it mitigates the issue.

Benzman33

Mine does this as well? I hear it every time. So it's not normal?

Benzman33

They better not be shoving foam up my camera's coochie hole

freiwill01

Do you happen to know what is the official repair instruction? I could take that to my dealership instead of trying to verbalize it.

Hollington

Thank you so much for the very interesting information. Not sure where you are based but this is a big problem here in the UK. Although I would have preferred a fix for the software which is responsible for this ludicrous situation I would be very grateful if you could let us know if this "repair" helps. Regards

stktyz33

This whole situation is weird.

Mercedes keeps claiming that it's normal operation for the camera system to do the calibration on every cold start. Having that said, they are plenty of users on this forum, including myself, that do not observe this behavior. It's unclear why it happens exactly. Different software version from the factory? Different hardware block on the same MY? Different end user cold start scenario?

It's somewhat hard to compare the software and HW versions without a full Xentry report but we can probably talk about end user cold start scenarios?

My typical cold start is:

1. Turn the car on (camera closed)
2. Back out of the garage (camera open)
3. Drive 150 feet from the driveway to the public road (camera open)
4. About 20 feet from the road, the camera closes and never opens, with an exception of situations when it's expected (backup up, car wash mode, collision detection (getting too close to something), manual or GPS based activation).

It's possible that these 150 feet is enough for it to calibrate but really hard to test.

Benzman33

Mine is
Turn the car on Camera closed
Put the car in Drive ( I pull out not back out) I get Camera system unavailable Top view camera shows
Drive down block, slow down for first stop sign ( Camera Pops out)
Does it for the rest of the drive.

Hollington

Advice from MB quite a few years ago and still they refuse to rectify this problem.
As I have mentioned before, Mercedes Enthusiast of many years standing, never again.

any years standing, never again.

mikapen

That's a Park Assist bulletin, for a different model.

I don't really understand the problem in this thread. Is it a park assist problem, or is it a proximity sensor problem?

I also wonder if somebody could explain how calibration entered into the thread. I can see how low speed calibration might be necessary with Park Assist, but only that.

I haven't experienced this problem on any MB, and I'm having trouble following the logic.

Shanabenz

For those that have asked for more details, I will post them as soon as I get my car back, along with eval of the 'fix' (remediation really). As to comments about normal operation, if that is the case then its on them for installing a horrendously noisy camera assembly that is totally out of place on a vehicle at this price point...

Hollington

Thank you. As I mentioned in my post, I am aware that this is a very old document but it explains succinctly exactly what we are having to put up with on these 2024 models, both here in the UK and in the USA.
Perhaps it would help if you would be kind enough to enter this into Google search, "GLA 200 Reverse Camera calibration every time you start". which hopefully will bring up a UK forum called MBClubUK in which everything is explained, including the appalling response we have received from MB customer services.

Shanabenz

To clarify, at least in my instance, the 'calibration' is never complete, the behavior never stops over whatever time frame, does not matter. constant cycling in and out between ~14 and 20 mph.

Ryanville

From Canada, I took my car into the dealership yesterday and they had no information regarding the foam kit. They said Mercedes hasn’t released any solution for this issue and they were not willing to makeshift a solution or add foam/insulation without instruction from Mercedes. The service manager drives the same car (GLE450) and he said the camera is super annoying but he’s just had to live with it.

Can anyone provide a communication or something from MB regarding the “official fix”? The dealer I went to said it doesn’t exist.