Hi All-

I’m having issues getting hands free access to work on my new GLS. Its a 22 so believe was supposed to come standard. We also got the trailer hitch so not sure if there is a compatibility issue there (hitch is where I think you would normally swipe your leg). Does anyone else have a hitch/does hands free access work for you?

Thanks,

 

I have a 2021 GLS 580 with a trailer hitch. It seems to me that the sensor for the hands-free rear hatch is located to the left of the hitch as you are facing the rear of the car. Sometimes it works like a charm on the first kick, but on other occasions you can kick the air all around the area to the left of the hitch all day and it will not work. Of course, if you are trying to attach the trailer pigtail to the plug on the car, the rear hatch opens every time. So I guess I would say that it is reliably unreliable, kind of like many other features of the vehicle. For example, sometimes when I drop my iPhone on the charging pad with the ignition off, that act turns on the radio and sometimes, if the ignition is on and I move my iPhone in the charging pad, it changes the radio station.

 

It seems to be a bit finicky across all models. It's sensitive to how far you are standing from the bumper. If you are too close it won't work. You have to be just about the right distance as mentioned in the owners manual and then do a smooth kick motion that's not too slow, but also not too fast. If it doesn't work and you keep kicking it disables itself and you have to wait 10 seconds before trying again.

 

On my 2020 GLS 450 with a trailer hitch, the sensor is just to the right. If I make a steady kicking motion under and back, more or less lined up just to the right of the license plate, it works. The wireless charging spot is hard to access, so I have found that I accidentally swipe the front part of the touch pad, which toggles through the radio station presets.