GLE owners with HUDs — have you noticed that the text (street names, directions, etc) that shows up during navigation is blurry (double image)?

The current speed etc aren’t the sharpest, but don’t see any double images with the larger bold text. Just want to be sure before contacting my dealer. Thanks!

 

Mine is clear. Has the windshield been replaced?

 

Thanks for your reply
No windshield replacement — still factory glass. I’ll post a photo for y’all to compare to and contact my dealer.

 

Are you wearing polarized sunglasses?

 

regarding polarized glasses…. I have a question.

Polarized glasses dim the HUD image because it is already polarized. You can see this by tilting your head or turning your glasses by 90 degrees. The HUD image brightens.

Since all polarized glasses are polarized in the same alignment to maximize the dimming of the sky, why not polarize the HUD display in a different direction to get maximum brightness when wearing polarized glasses?

 

Interesting thought.
I sure wish I didn't have to buy a new pair of sunglasses just to see my head up.

 

Nope no sunglasses

 

This is the best photo I could get while my wife was driving. Needed to show the turn by turn — the smaller navigation text is almost unreadable when you’re in the drivers seat. I’m planning to compare with my friend’s 25 GLE 450 this weekend.

 

Unsure how to access the workshop menu in the refresh GLE but here's my old video of the HUD workshop settings, maybe these settings could make it clearer but I'm guessing most likely not:
https://mbworld.org/forums/gls-class...ml#post8905660

Did you try cleaning the HUD screen on your dash with a good microfiber cloth?

 

The HUD is not polarized per se. What polarizes the HUD is the windshield as it reflects the light. Light reflecting from smooth, flat horizontal surfaces is primarily horizontally polarized, minus some imperfections of the surface. That's just physics. Polarized sunglasses are designed to filter out these reflections. That's their whole purpose. The HUD image is reflection, just like glare, so it gets filtered out by the polarized sunglasses. That's the problem with HUDs, they work based on the same physical properties as the undesired glare you get from windshields, bodies of water and other surfaces. Polarized sunglasses do not just dim the sky. That's what all sunglasses do, but in addition, polarized sunglass filter out horizontally polarized light, because that is all the undesired glare etc. and unfortunately the HUD gets mixed up in that as it's technically just glare.

As for your double image. Thoroughly clean the glass on the inside with an alcohol solution. Because it's just light reflection off the windshield, the film that builds on the glass from the gassing out of the plastics will distort the reflection.

 

Thanks! I’ll do some research to see if I can get into this menu on the 2024+ GLE. I did try cleaning both the windshield and the HUD itself. Car is brand new and has been like this since I bought it.

 

Here are some photos using the workshop menu’s test images — hopefully this better illustrates the lack of clarity and double images. Thanks for the help y’all!

 

I would say you are half right. Yes reflection off water is mostly horizontally polarized. And polarized sunglasses do make the sky darker due to polarization not just sunglass dimming... take your polarized sunglasses off, look at the sky through them and rotate the sunglases and you will see the sky change darkness.

As for the HUD image horizontal polarization being from refelction, I think that is an oversimplification. There is more material science to it that that, including windshield coatings. Kia has rotated the polarization of their HUD to 70 deg off horizontal.

 

Yes, I wrote this somewhat quickly. You are correct, polarized sunglasses remove half the light from an unpolarized source such as the sun and then due to clouds, atmospheric distortions etc. causing polarization, you can see shifts in that. My point was that all sunglasses darken light sources. That's their purpose. Normal sunglasses just do it with a tint only, and/or with reflective coating.

As far as reflection polarization goes, no it's how I explained it, but a windshield is not completely flat, so you can use curvature to try to influence it and even with polarized sunglasses, you can still see the HUD partially, because again, the windshield isn't 100% flat and the surface also isn't perfectly smooth, so there is always some light that bounces off in different directions, but the majority is horizontal. So, yes you can roughen up the class or put some kind of coating on it that makes the glass less smooth, so more of the light gets reflected in different directions. I'm just saying it's ultimately flawed, because it relies on reflection. I'm waiting for transparent displays to go mainstream.

 

Oh, I also just realized what you are talking about with the rotating the sunglasses thing. Yes, polarized sunglasses get darker as you rotate them towards 45 degree. That's because the polarization is now at an angle and filters both vertical and horizontal light. At 45 degrees you get maximum darkness and then as you keep rotating towards 90 degrees it gets lighter again and at 90 degrees they are then only filtering vertical light. Perhaps you need to study the subject a bit more before telling somebody they are half right.

 

It looks like the dealer will need to fix it. My HUD had light bleed and they fixed it. It does require dash removal but I've had my dash taken apart twice with no issues: HUD and actuator.

 

Thanks for the info — I compared to a friends 25 GLE450 and it was way sharper… definitely an issue with mine

 

Example of my friends car. Way clearer.

 

I took my car to the dealer who then contacted MB. Apparently, this is a “known issue” for which they're working on a software update to fix.

Anyone else experiencing this issue and/or were you told the same thing? I would assume that this would take more than just a software update.

Thank you!

 

I don't have HUD but my car was in for service last week and the loaner I got did. It was a 2025 GLE 53 and the HUD was very sharp and clear.

That being said, it's not something I would want in my car. I found it to be distracting. Nothing wrong with it, just personal preference.

 

I’ve seen plenty of other GLE/GLS with a crystal clear HUD. No clue why mine has an issue. IMO I think it’s a physical, not a software issue, but I can barely get this dealer to respond to me.

 

I wonder if cleaning the HUD screen in the dash, someone inadvertently pushed it too hard and now it's physically out of focus? Just a thought.

 

I would be thrilled if that’s the issue, sounds like an easy fix. Any ideas on how I might be able to check?

I may end up taking it to another dealer or calling MB corporate to get things moving quicker.

 

If it's under warranty,they should fix it. I had mine replaced under warranty. It was leaking a lot of light and made it cloudy looking. It requires removing the entire dash but they put it back without any issues.

 

I tried pushing them to do that and they disagreed saying I need to wait for this “software update.” I’m hoping another dealer may agree to do it.