Originally Posted by bop11

Interesting thought. I have noticed, in both my 2014 GLK and my 2014 C300, that when the engine stops in ECO mode, I don't think I can turn the wheel. I noticed this at an entry to a parking garage in NYC where I stopped to get a ticket. The engine stopped in ECO mode, and before I took my foot off the brake, I tried to turn the wheel so the car would move away from the ticket machine when it started. I don't think I could turn the steering wheel. Once I took my foot off the brake, and the engine started everything was fine. I think the 2014's and later have electric steering? I don't know that, if I tried really hard to move the wheel if it would have turned, but I do know it was much more difficult to move it, if I could have at all, than when you lose power steering in earlier cars.
I will try later to turn the steering wheel on one of them before starting the car. That should tell me if there is a mechanical link so that if the electrics die, the car still can be controlled.