lboudreau

So I just got a Canadian 2007 S550 today. While I was looking through the car I noticed that there are some standard features that are not installed on mine. Namely: Parktronic, Cellular telephone preparation and Linguatronic.

If you look here: http://replay.web.archive.org/200610...ex.cfm?id=5335

You'll notice that these three items should be installed from the factory as standard items. This car is still under factory warranty until September, I wonder what you guys think about the situation. Should I be able to get the dealer to install the missing items?

Diesel Benz

Considering Parktronic, could it be that the car has Distronic Plus and this would be the reason for no visible Parktronic Sensors?

Some early W221 cars in the US came without the phone kit installed and it was retrofitted afterwards (I believe most parts were present, retrofitting should be easy then). Voice control retrofit is relatively straightforward (cost is a different issue but I understand you assume you would get these for free).

lboudreau

Right on. Well the car doesn't have Distronic. There also isn't a button to turn parktronic off so I would assume it just doesn't have it at all. My question is, will the dealer install this stuff for free. I would think if they sell a car that is supposed to have these features and the car doesn't have them, then they should be responsible for making it right.

skrontz

The dealer cannot install the options that weren't built in from the factory; that is especially true for a four year old car that you had purchased in good faith and -- presumably -- after an appropriate inspection.

Diesel Benz

I guess you mean "the dealer cannot install these options for free"? Parktronic retrofit would involve a lot of work and expensive parts and most dealers would unlikely take care of this but an experienced workshop would be able to install the phone kit and voice control (even the owner could do it) if the owner is willing to pay.

skrontz

An experienced workshop may, but no authorized MB dealer would undertake this effort (warranty implications being a large part of it).

Diesel Benz

Perhaps this applies for the US although there too early 221 cars got the phone kit retrofitted as mentioned above. It does not even have to be an experienced workshop that can retrofit the phone kit and the VCM, I did the VCM myself.

Your experience anyway applies for the OP who comes from Canada (better than my experience from Europe).

skrontz

I believe it's more of a brand policy dictated by MB rather than geographical specifics. They do not want an authorized dealer to perform unauthorized modifications on a (used) car; this creates all kinds of liability issues. I recall someone from Europe complaining here the other day that the dealer refused to activate some option that was on the car but not on the sticker. There are accessories that the dealer can add at an additional fee, but definitely not Parktronic. Frankly, I would have checked the options before buying the car, not after.

Diesel Benz

Sorry but that does not make any sense, globally (even in the US it must be MBUSA dictating the rules, not MB). Have you ever looked at EPC or WIS for retrofit parts and instructions.

Why should an authorised dealer perform unauthorised modifications when they can perform authorised modifications?

Many workshops are too lazy to take care of retrofit installations but that is a different story. I'm sure several dealers are willing to retrofit even Parktronic if the owner is really willing to pay the cost.

I agree it is unfortunate that the OP did not check the car carefully enough before purchase.

skrontz

I'm perhaps more familiar with the legal side of the issue rather than the technical, but do these scary acronyms apply to pre-owned cars?

Again, there are legal as well as brand implications for MB if an authorized dealer performs this kind of a retrofit. I understand your point of view, but agree to disagree ;-)

Diesel Benz

WIS and EPC are for pre-owned cars only (give or take a rare exception). WIS is the MB workshop manual and part of the content is covering retrofitting parts. An example list for a W221 attached. Nothing prevents (technically) workshops performing additional tasks, WIS would give the necessary support for other tasks too, the most common ones have specific retrofit instructions (some features are only available as retrofit options, like UMI or Nav+4 for 204 and 212). However, as already mentioned, it would be unlikely that an average dealer would retrofit Parktronic, even in Europe (Quick Park, the "rear Parktronic" I understand is a common retrofit item in Canada, not for a W221 though).

I think I understand (and accept) your legal view even if I come from Europe (I'm writing this from Texas, USA). Warranty and liability issues do not play an equal role in Europe, common sense is used a lot more. How would you interpret WIS instructions if not coming form MB (not MBUSA) for authorised workshops to help those perform retrofit tasks?

I'm not claiming I would know MB retrofit policy very well but at least I know it a lot better than any sort of legal topics.

lboudreau

The first point I would like to make is that I really don't care if the features are missing in the first place.

Second, my dealer is looking into retrofitting LINGUATRONIC and Phone Prep free of charge with a warranty claim since this car should have had them from the factory and it does not. As for parktronic, I didn't even bother asking about it as I've got two eye ***** which do a much better job.

Diesel Benz

This sounds reasonable, thanks for coming back to the thread after the off-topic discussion. Hopefully we'll know the final response from your dealer.

PS. I think Parktronic is much more important in Europe compared to the US and probably most of Canada too. Two eyes from the driver's seat cannot watch after the first few inches behind the rear bumper which is important in old European cities with less space for cars.

lboudreau

For sure. The S is going in next tuesday so I'll report back once I get word of what they can do. Frankly I don't see why they wouldn't do it since it's just modules and a bit of coding. I highly doubt I would get parktronic if I asked. But regardless, even if they don't, I'll just buy the modules myself and install them.

On another note, when you go in the vehicle section of command, does it give you an option to adjust the ambient lighting? I seem to be missing some settings in there. I just wanted to compare since they just replaced major components in that system and may not have programed it properly.

lboudreau

So the dealer called back and said that those items would have been looked at during PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) and that after it passes through then it is too late. So I'm just going to buy the modules myself and get it coded at one of the indy shops in the area.

skrontz

I believe this is a MY10 feature only; it requires modifications beyond the COMAND.

lboudreau

I could have sworn I saw it in my manual. I'll check again.

skrontz

Perhaps, I misunderstood your question. Are you talking about the brightness or the color?

Diesel Benz

Assuming it was about the brightness, US cars (must be the same for Canadian cars) should have the setting.

This is an option in Europe, meaning there is a version coding setting for Comand that may have been incorrectly set.

lboudreau

hmmm... interesting. I'm also missing the Trunk height setting and the Rear sunshade retract. I also noticed that the built in bluetooth module that allows phone book transfers is disabled permanently. So I guess something went wrong when they reprogrammed it a few weeks ago. They had replaced the HK amp... don't know if that has anything to do with the missing features.

EDIT: It was brightness by the way... I thought I had replied to your message earlier.

lboudreau

So just as an update on the missing modules. My SA printed a build sheet for my S. It specifically shows codes 389 and 396 which are "Preinst. for mobile (UHI) USA/Canada" and "LINGUATRONIC American" respectively. I have been in contact with Mercedes-Benz Canada to see if they can do anything about the missing features. They are looking into it right now.

As for parktronic, the feature is listed as standard on the S550 but was not on my build sheet.

JonMBZ

The dealer can pretty much do what they want so long as the customer knows that the items will not be cover under the factory warranty. Also it was very common issue with all launch 221s to be missing the phone kit and have the phone kit installed under warranty at the dealer afterwards. At this time MBUSA will no longer cover this under warranty though.

lboudreau

Update: Just got a call from an executive who works for Mercedes Benz Canada. He asked me about my S and what the situation was. I told him about the missing modules and he basically said that he would contact my local dealer and get them to order the parts needed and have the missing options installed free of charge. Very happy about this. It's things like this that make me proud to be a client of Mercedes-Benz.

The guy on the phone basically said that the reason the modules weren't there is because it was a Launch Edition and they didn't have the modules at that time.

fbracer

Great service...

lboudreau

No question!