SteveVukelich

I have over 4,000 miles on by 2014 S550 and this morning when I started it the center display stayed black. I repeatedly pushed the on-off button thinking that I hit it by accident. No go. I restarted the car about 5 times without the screen returning to normal (from black). I started to the dealer and after about 15 minutes the displayed returned. It wasn't just navigation; the radio and the telephone were also no-op. Anyone have this problem? I haven't gone to the dealer since they have to see it before they will do anything.

Chucky300

Jesus. That's bad. That's electrical nightmare.

I'm trying to think if mine ever flickered.

lsdreem

I had this problem on my 2011, Command was completely dead but car still functioned. Dealer replaced it and the problem never happened again. It is covered in warranty. Just make sure they could repeat the error otherwise they won't do anything.

SaffsDad

Steve- what did MB do to fix your problem? My center display started acting up yesterday exactly as you described it.

SteveVukelich

The service department did not find any error codes, nor could they duplicate it in the shop. (Of course, everything works fine when it's in the shop.) Prior to taking it in I did a system reset; in the shop I asked them to update all of the software with the latest changes; there were two updates that they applied. Since then the problem has not reappeared (crossing fingers).

texex91

Thanks for update. Let us know if it happens again.

SaffsDad

Thanks Steve! My car is going to the dealer tomorrow morning and I will ask if there are any software updates available.

SteveVukelich

I found the list of service bulletins (a sticky at the top of the forum) is very valuable in talking to the service staff. Some of them they did not know about, nor did they appear in their NetStar system for my VIN.

Quadcammer

take some video of the problem when it occurs. Not a guarantee they'll do anything but at least you have a record.

SaffsDad

Quad - Captured video that night it happened and also demonstrated on/off button and other keys were not functioning. And I agree with you, it is good to have a record of such things.

Steve - They said they're going to scrub through the bulletins for any required updates. I should know more later today.

The car is at the dealer right now, so hopefully this is a simple software update. As luck would have it, the car was behaving normal at the dealer.

AppleFan1

Come to think of it, the command display went black on my car when I only had about 1,000 miles on it. My wife was on the passenger seat at the time and we were both very perplexed about it. Like Steve, I turned the display on off and on a few times but the screen stayed black. I don't remember all the details as to what happened next but I believe that after the car was parked for a while and the engine turned off, everything went back to normal on the restart. I never said anything about this to the dealer or anyone else. I figured it was some sort of software glitch. It has never happened again and I now have 5,350 miles on the car.

SaffsDad

The dealer was able to duplicate the issue.

It appears that they can see the problem when they start the system cold (unit sitting idle for quite a while). I guess they can force it to happen without spending time waiting. Anyway, they said there was a 'patch' for this, but the it doesn't seem to be resolving the issue, so they're keeping my car overnight while they hear from MB. They also indicated they have another car that is exhibiting these same issues.

Bean - I had 3001 miles on my car when this happened. You may still have an underlying issue. Also, I hope this can get resolved quickly and through software only.

More to come...

oswiff

experienced the same problem with my s63 last wednesday for the first time. i have about 4800 miles

car was driven for about an hour with everything normal. I parked in the sun on a hot and humid day for about an hour - thought this may have been a trigger.

i didn't notice the screen was black until i put the car in reverse and the back up camera didn't come on. i waited a minute and still nothing. put the car back in park shut off the engine and tried the usual "fixes"; nothing. Finally i just decided to leave and after driving about 100 feet, the radio turned on and the screen came back on in the 360 camera mode and the rear view camera. It registered some of the inputs i tried to make (change the temp, volume, etc) as if it was trying to catch up. Went to another place and parked the car again for about and hour in the sun and no problems.

Everything has been fine since.

SaffsDad

So, after 3 days, got my car back yesterday.

Dealer was able to verify the problem when the first received the car, but they were not able to duplicate it since then. They were very diligent and ran over the error codes in the system, and all they found was an 'unrecognized device' (my iPod had locked up), and that was pretty much it. They spoke to MB about this, and they were informed that this issue *may* be addressed with a software update available in the next few months. I'm not sure if this is the September update that everyone is referring to in other posts.

Until then, I was advised to 'video tape' the issue (which I had initially done and gave them), and leave my iPod unplugged. This same iPod has been used in other MB cars with no issue.

So much for having advanced tech in the car.

AGS550

I have a carbon copy of your experience, my car (2014 S550) has 10,050 miles on it. I took it into Mercedes of Seattle yesterday, the service manager said they had not heard of any problems like this before.
My route to Seattle involves a Ferry ride, during that time all vehicles are turned off, and yep you might of guessed, when the time came to start the car and drive off the ferry the display as well as all it's functions resumed normal operations.
I hope to hear from the dealer on Monday or Tuesday and I'll check back in with the results then.

AGS550

The car had two codes stored, one for the heater which apparently needed a software update and the other code pointed at a failed display control module, they replaced it under the warranty and it's been good all week.

aliasjav

I had this issue from day one. My dealer said it was an issue with a computer module. When they replaced this, it still wouldn't come on, because they said they then needed different software. The screen would only come on if I pulled the fuse for the screen (in passenger compartment wall fusebox). It was a huge hassle. But, now it seems to be fine.