This weekend I got to try out the distronic system for the first time and so far I like it. Does anyone use this in stop and go traffic though?

I was in traffic for about 1 hour where the cars would go from 1mph to 40mph constantly. If it was just me in the car, I wouldnt mind the not so smooth braking, but the passengers started to complain after about 20 minutes of my ambitious car that really didnt see past the car in front of the car in front of me. Problem here in NJ is that most drivers are tailgaters and wait to the last minute and then slam their brakes and of course my car responds with brake slamming.

Made me a little nervous on those sudden stops though so I had my foot right over the brake in case I had to take over but the thing worked perfectly and never required my assitance.

Only thing I need now is for the car to read those dotted lines to prevent drifting and I can play video games with my 5 year old.

 

When I ordered my car I thought I would only use it at higher speeds on the highway like regular cruise control. But after learning how to use it I find that I'm using it everyday on my commute. It's great in stop and go traffic, however sometimes people will sneak in front of me because the spacing is too great. My right foot was over the brake for a while also, but now I only do it when the proximity alarm goes off. My wife also complains that the braking isn't as smooth as when I'm actually doing it, but after a hour or so in stop and go everyday I'm glad I spent the $$. Another nice feature is if you want to speed up the system goes into passive mode and then resumes all of the fdistronic plus features when you take your foot off the gas.

 

I get nervous just reading about such a device. My goodness Mercedes had better hope this never, ever fails in the field!!!

M

 

I tested it only in highway..

 

OK so I almost had a little smash in my new 600 showing off again. I am not sure if this is normal but, I was using the distronic on a local road. The car in front of me stopped for the red light and my car came to a complete stop using the distronic .. all good...
Than I waited for it to take off again as the car moved in front of me after the light turned green. I guess its normal for the distronic not to start from a stop because it did not. However I slightly pressed the gas pedal and released and the distronic started again accellerating toward the car in front of me. However this time it was not slowing down when approaching the car. I waited to the last second and slammed the brakes.

So what about that? someone else want to try that? Does it seem normal for this new system?

 

dont you have to tap resume on the cruise control to get distronic to work again, not just press the gas?

 

Either tapping the cruise control stalk or tapping the gas pedal will work.

 

Yes, but is it supposed to engage distronic or just like cruise control without distronic? because it was not slowing for the car in front of me. Either that or my car was just trying to play chicken with me.

 

Glad to hear driver imput is required to get moving again. I was imagining someone having a heart attack in stop and go traffic and having the car travel a bunch of miles with a dead guy at the wheel.

 

CMCJO- Cruise control only works with Distronic, you can't use cruise without the Distronic function. It sounds like the Distronic was off and the car was responding to you pushing on the gas pedal, or someone had cut in front of you and the sensor didn't pick them up fast enough. But, I've had some strange things happen. Every once in a while while making a low speed turn behind another car, the system looses sight of the car in front and turns off the Distronic. Or, when pulling out and passing a slower car, the Distronic seems to lag a bit before accelerating back up to speed. The owners manual is full of legal warnings and doesn't explain the system well at all, and the dealer is equally clueless. I hate to say it, but the best way to learn is to take your $100k+ car out and try it out. I don't want to sound negative because it really is my favorite feature on my car, I use it everyday on my commute.

 

cmcjo - 1st off, I haven't driven a distonic plus ( different from distronic ) equipped vehicle. 2nd I don't work for M.B. Canada. 3rd, my dad has a 2004 S500 with distronic with which I am completely familiar ( IMHO ). 4th, everything I am telling you is correct to the best of my knowledge but I make no promises & if anyone else notices a mistake in my comments please correct me.

You refer to distronic but it is apparent by your posting that you have a W221, which has distonic plus, not distronic. May seem trivial but it isn't. There is 1 thing above all else that you must remember if nothing else - For distronic plus to work properly at the time of activation both vehicles must be doing the same thing. In other words, both vehicles must be moving or both vehicles must be stationary. When you pressed the gas pedal to resume your car, the vehicle in front of you had already moved off & you were still standing still. As a result your cars' distronic plus didn't recognize the vehicle in front of you & so would have collided into it if you hadn't interceded. This is exactly how the system is supposed to work & is clearly explained in the owner's manual. For the system to resume safely when stopped behind a vehicle at a red light, do the following. Once both vehicles are stopped completely, ( and your vehicle by the distronic plus - i.e. it is active ) tap the gas pedal lightly or pull and let go the cruise control lever toward you. This will tell the system to resume on its own once the car in front moves away. This is clearly explained in the owner manual on pages 386 - 400 ( of 705 ). Note however, there are situations in which if you do exactly what I have told you, you will still have an accident! ( see "Obstacles and stationary vehicles" the middle scenario of 3 on page 400 )

Based on the brief info you have provided & making certain assumptions your vehicles' A.C.C. is working normally.

If you want to learn more about the distronic plus I suggest you find & read the press release about the technology. It is very informative.

I hope this answers your question.

 

I recently received my 07 S600 and have been testing the distronic feature on the NY/NJ area. Here is what I have found.

1 - In stop and go traffic situations I find it important to specify the top end speed and distance from car in front. For me I find keeping the car in front close is much better to avoid others from getting in front of me. I also avoid setting the speed to a high number since I find it can cause my car to over accelerate. Yes at times the car in front my stop suddenly and cause my car to do the same. It takes pratice to feel out the correct settings to smooth everything out.

2 - As the manual shows on highways, if a car jumps in between my car and car in front it will close the radar distance and slow down my car. This is normal and I personally do not see any other way to avoid. Same goes if car in front decides to leave my lane and opens the radar distance in front.

3 - Yes the system is far from perfect and does require driver to pay attention and properly setup the system for the driving scenario. You do have to engage the car by tapping on the cruise control arm or hitting the gas pedal. I personally think it's better since it keeps me still focused road.

4 - When using the distronic feature I always set my display to the "DISTANCE-DISPLAY" to keep any eye out on my settings.

5 - DON"T FULLY TRUST THE CAR TO DO IT ALL. In these stop and go traffic conditions if you let the car stop suddenly I find it more likely for the car behind me to rear-end my car. If you feel the car is about to stop suddenly I would prefer to brake on my own to a full stop to avoid any problems. It takes practice to gauge when the sudden stops can happen.

I will be driving more this week and testing out. Hopefully others can share tips and experiences so we all can enjoy using this neat little tool in our cars.

 

Some great responses. Thanks very much. I will be reading the manual soon. And yes it is distronic plus in a 2007 S600.
Thanks

 

Sounds interesting. I didn't realize it was so "automatic". I recall when C&D tested a car with this feature a year ago. They thought it was the greatest device yet. They suggested setting it at 130 mph and the trailing distance to MAX. Then, find a fast moving rabbit and follow him permitting the Distronic to match his speed....right foot poised over the brake pedal for those V1 alert moments!

 

lmao!!!!

 

What a crappy first post! I laughed at a member's comment...
Anyways, I hope the Distronic system lives up to its expectations...if it does then it will be another hit for Mercedes Benz. However, it probably feels akward to let the car do everything...

 

I dont drive the car that much, but I find myself using it now most of the time. I guess its good if you momentarily take your eyes off the road and someone cuts in front of you, your car will hit the brakes for you. Not that you should take your eyes off the road but its there if needed and I would think its not designed for that but it works.

Its also a great way on the highway to relax your foot for extended periods of time whle your car is locked on to the car in front of you.

I use the greatest distance setting. Anyone using the closer distances and why would you not choose the greatest distance?

 

What is the difference in Distronic and Distronic Plus? Also, since I'm new to the present Mercedes world, what's with all the letter and number designations (W221 and such)? Mags

 

Distronic - worlds first active cruise control that maintains a set distance between you and another car, and will brake up to 30% if needed.

Distronic Plus- active cruise control that will bring the car to a stop if needed, perfect for bumper to bumper traffic, really the best cruise control system in the world.

those are model designations for generations of cars. W221 is the latest S class. W220 was the previous S class. W210 96-02 E Class, W211, 2003+ e class, etc.

 

Thanks for clearing things up! Mags

 

So now its May and I dont think I have used the distronic plus cruise since November.

Today going to the shore I decided to try it again and I can say I hate it. It really has a mind of its own and will sometimes scare the crap out of me. I try to let it go on its own but sometimes it waits until the last minute to slam the brakes and even then doesn't slam them enough needing me to brake or we are crashing. I tried all distance settings and they all are not reliable.

Another issue is that to maintain the set distance it will continuosly brake and accelerate. The cars behind you get very angry here in NJ if you do that. That is where the human comes in since he could see one or more cars ahead to plan the gradual slowdowns without using the brakes.

So comon who really uses this other than to show your friends how cool it is?

And I wont even mention how useless the front camera is. More distacting than anything else. At first I thought it was the coolest thing going.

I do appreciate the power though. From 80 to 120 in like 2 or 3 seconds.

 

Could it be that your Distronic Plus is not all in order, or are you using it at a traffic where you should not? Distronic "only" brakes at 40% brake power, normally that already is inconvenient for the people in the car, the driver should detect this situation in advance and brake smoothly him/herself.

If you keep the distance at the max, the car will brake smoothly and allows the distance vary to avoid heavy braking. If you want to drive with the minimum distance, the car has not too much room for smooth braking. I understand that you tried all settings and weren't happy, that makes me feel your car is not working right.

I take the system being intended to follow cars in front who behave reasonably, if they brake hard suddenly, how could Distronic do much more than brake hard, if 40% is not enough, the driver should have taken control (not only after detecting that 40% is not enough but first when detecting the car in front, or one further, causing this case.

I am not using Distronic all the time but almost always and it works fine to me. I do keep the distance at the maximum normally, I understand that it leaves too much space at places where other cars always take it in front of you, then it is not Distronic failing but the other cars in your city.

To me Distronic is a bit too conservative taking off from traffic lights. I normally take control myself first and then take my foot off the gas pedal and let the car do the rest. I still feel this is better than the car being more aggressive.

I feel the same about Night View, if it was using some sort of HUD, it could be better but of course it should not block the normal view.

 

I used it the other day to tailgate an idiot. yep, I did have my foot over the brake, but it was definitely not going to let me crash into it. I wonder if this is a precursor to future technology, as to start deploying the airbags when an accident is imminent?

 

I have had my 05 S600 for close to a year now and I have never used the Distronic feature... I will do so on my commute back home!

 

You mean you have never activated cruise control? Or do you mean that you have disabled the radar? I find it "interesting" if one has never activated cruise within a year of ownership. What sort of traffic is the car driven in?