ho1105

I just had my 07 S550 command unit updated so that I can use the traffic function. Had SD-flash CD and the new ver 5 DVD nav map loaded at the dealer. Everything works-- bird's eye view, DVD play back, etc, except for the traffic info. Nothing lights up on the Freeway. I pressed the "Traffic" button, but just shows "No Traffice Report". Is there anything else I have to do before the traffic info shows on the map? How does the car acquire Traffic report? Help please

konigstiger

Is Dynamic Route Guidance on?

Here is copy of the CL manual: http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/e/cars...ng/flash8.html

In depth - left column COMAND - Navigation system (dynamic route guidance with RDS-TMC)

ho1105

I don't think there is dynamic route guidance in the US. It doesn't showup on the menu. Does the US traffic report uses Sirius satellite for the traffic info?

steveb9771

It displays lots of traffic in the LA/Orange county area every morning during rush hour. Almost every freeway always shows RED during rush hour. The traffic data does not appear immediately. It can take as long as five minutes to acquire the traffic data from the time you start the engine or turn on power. It appears to have data for all LA area freeways EXCEPT for CA22.

The traffic data is always available. There are no controls to turn it on/off.

Eddie Knopp

When did you try - in another post I spoke of a Navteq outage (at least here in the NYC area - it's back now. When it was out you would see the no messages message.

ho1105

I tried it yesterday. Does anybody know if traffic info requires Sirius sat subscription? How does the NAV receive traffice reports?

konigstiger

"NAVTEQ Traffic RDS (Radio Data System) is now available as a standard, lifetime traffic service in all 2008 Mercedes-Benz S-Class and CL-Class automobiles."
http://www.motortrend.com/features/newswire/91/31048

Market coverage:
http://www.navteq.com/rdstraffic/

Eddie Knopp

As of now with current HUs the data comes in over the normal radio - stations vary depending upon market with a refresh rate of approx 15min. From what I've heard starting in June there will be new HUs where the data comes over Sirius every 5 min.

scriber

I wonder if the sirius info is any better than the current rds data? Other than maybe better refresh rates is rds pretty good with detail and accuracy?

trumpet1

Much of the confusion about RDS versus Sirius stems from the misunderstanding of salesmen about this issue. Many salesmen, including mine, swears traffic data comes from sirius satellite and that I must pay a subscription for it. I keep telling him it is radio and that it is FREE. He won't believe me.

steveb9771

Mercedes uses RDS data from NAVTEQ transmitted via FM radio. It is EXACTLY the same NAVTEQ data that SIRIUS provides. Mercedes does NOT use SIRIUS to receive traffic data. See http://www.navteq.com/rdstraffic/ for areas where data is available. This also identifies the FM radio stations that are used for for some of the areas.

If you are in Southern California, have a recent navigation map update and the firmware update, it will show lots of traffic every morning on almost every freeway.

trumpet1

For many of you 2007 S class owner who feel you were shortchanged by not having the Traffic Update feature on your command system, don't feel too bad. I upgraded my car with the '08 system but rarely get to take advantage of the traffic info because in my region of the country , this feature is inactive. Birmingham, Chattanooga and Knoxville apparently don't have this system in place and therefore I have rarely gotten any use of this feature. The only city in my vicinity that has that setup is Atlanta, and I rarely go there.
On the other hand, I have really taken advantage of the "video" feature as I have lots of concert videos that I listen to.

So check about availability before jumping onto this upgrade.


I wish Navteq used sirius satellite for this feature.

trumpet1

This weekend is my first real chance to experience the version 5 Navigation update. I'll have to say that I'm a tad dissappointed. It tends to be too late in warning me to turn. It will say, turn in 700 feet when in fact I'm less than 200 feet from the turn (missed that turn yesterday).
After missing the turn, I just kept going straight and all of a sudden the arrow with the circle around it on the screen showed as if I were driving right over where houses and buildings were supposed to be! It wasn't even on a street. I knew where I was supposed to go because I've been in Pigeon Forge, TN a hundred times but I thought I would see how long it would take the system to correct itself. It never did and in fact continued to say I was not on a known road. I was on a major highway that has been there all my life! Hwy 441N.
Also, it did not know of the locale of two of the restaurants we were looking for. If it weren't for the video feature, I'd go back to my original 2007 comand and nav setup.

Diesel Benz

I understand the MB POI database is limited but do you mean a restaurant would appear on an older version but not on the new one (and the restaurant is not supposed to be closing)?

There is an issue with late turn announcements. Do you know which SW version your Comand has (not the map version)? I would assume this being solved with the one supporting traffic info (in the US) and bird's eye view.

trumpet1

I'll touch base with my SA and see if the command can be looked at. T
The restaurants are old (over 10 years).
The thing that puzzled me was the total loss of current position.

Diesel Benz

I didn't notice that when first reading your post. Sounds really odd if it first has a fix and then soon loses position info (almost) completely, even gyros alone should give decent info and satellites should not lose position completely if a fix first exists, not even in a city with high-rise buildings.

trumpet1

Update. I need to make a slight recap to my above post. I went back through that same intersection yesterday and retraced my actions. I discovered that some of the reason I missed the turn was because I was relying only on the audible commands and not paying attention to the turn-by-turn graphics on the screen. The screen display was dead on accurate, I followed its instructions and made the turn successfully. If I had been paying attention to it as well as the audible commands, I would not have missed the turn. It was a tricky intersection to begin with. I simply learned a lesson that I must not only wait for the voice commands but to also keep one eye on the screen for immediate details especially in areas where turns are only within 300 feet of each other.

Just goes to show I don't travel much out of my area and haven't gotten used to the system as I should have.

trumpet1

I also must apologize for this too. Later that day, (after I posted), I was talking to some local citizens of the town and they revealed to me that the streets I was traveling on when this anomaly occured were a part of a new routing of the traffic to aid in lessening congestion. I knew that of all the years I'd been there that this was all new to me. Seems the V.5 was not updated for this particular problem. Probably a very rare problem within the system.

So, long story short, I realize most of my post was written due to user-error. ME!