tusabes

I have a 2000 s430 , and like all of our cars, it has the red SOS button/light at the top of the rearview mirror. I dont have any cellphone service subscribed to this car, and as far as I know, the incar phone cant even work anymore since it was analog in 2000 and there is no more analog cellphone service in the US in 2010.

So my question is..does pressing ths SOS button actually do anything anymore? Does it somehow summon anyone using satellites or something else, if the car has no cellphone service??

And if it doesnt function anymore, what is the way , if any, to make it function as designed?

my06clk

Mercedes sent out letters a long time ago that subscribers to their version of Onstar had to upgrade their systems n order for them to work. so yes you can get it to work but you have to get the system upgraded to the latest and greatest. If i'm not mistaken it cost somewhere around 1500 for the older cars.
Plus you stll have to subscribe to their service in order for the SOS function to do anything for you. It's not free and never has been.

Blk04cobra1

You need to have it upgraded to digital. I believe it's close to $1000 to do the upgrade.

Skylaw

The previous responses are correct; however, not all MY '00 can be upgraded. It's by VIN (I don't know the magic number). See http://www.benzworld.org/forums/audi...displayed.html (it's an old post, and some of the links are no longer available).

Also: The equipment + 1 year Tele- Aid subscription runs around $900; the equipment + 3 yr subscription was around $1500.

Tele-Aid is changing over to a new service during this year - MBRACE, with more features; some have transitioned, but it has not been smooth in the early changeovers.

Read about MBRACE at http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/#/mbraceOverview/

tusabes

thanks all, well im certainly not paying $900 or $1500 to make the button work...i was always a little afraid that pressing it would summon 911 or something with my car coordinates so i never wanted to try it.

If this new MBRACE thing is cheaper and works on our cars please bump this thread in the future. AFAIK my car is still analog and original.

Has anyone here upgraded to Mbrace?

Corsa9000

If you push the SOS or "i" or wrench button, you will get the loudest "fast busy" signal for minutes, very irritating.

Skylaw

MBRACE is a service using digital Tele-Aid equipment; it is not less expensive for you to install the equipment. MBRACE is essentially Tele-Aid with some expanded services.

A forum search will get you posts by folks who have "upgraded." Reference to the MBUSA site will get you Mercedes' discussion of MBRACE.

cameraman123

Oh well. Not worth paying to upgrade. Kind of sucks considering they advertised all these cool features that stick with the car, and they've all expired. Phone, tele-aid, SOS, new map discs. I mean, I wouldn't expect anything different. They are 10 year old cars after all. Just minor annoyances. Especially when they break and screw up your fiber optic ring.

shellshock

+1 If they are going to put all these cool gadgets on their cars, they could at least support it for a couple of decades.

Corsa9000

MB should have supported the new digital wireless systems but it would be very costly for them to upgrade all older analog units.

tusabes

The way I look at it,its cheaper to simply get a new doubleDIN dvd/nav etc stereo, plus that $150 wood bezel that matches the car, and put in an aftermarket headunit with bluetooth, dvd etc.

That would be around the same price as just upgrading the analog to digital Tele AId.

shellshock

And tacky at that. I'm not about to go hack up my fiber optic and great sounding stock audio equipment to do something like that. In a car that just had standard audio equipment, yes, but not in these cars. I'll just keep my SOS button inop. With today's modern cell phones, I can live without this feature.

tusabes

there is nothing tacky or hacked about this

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ash-piece.html

cameraman123

+1

It does have "standard" audio equipment. While it may be a nice Bose system designed for the interior, MB didn't spend 10K on it either. And by now, it's pretty old.

When stuff in your loop starts breaking down, and the cost to fix is 5 times what a new setup would cost, you'll see what I mean.

TurboSpeed

Anybody got some sense on hooking up an aftermarket radar detectorto your SOS button. It should work but will it cause any malfunctions on dash? SOS system is expired and it be perfect to use the button to turn on your Radar detector when needed. Any and all input be great I found nothing online. Thanks