CLIFF4781

I have recently noticed that the rear doors won't open with handle after locked with the central door lock. If someone is in the back seat, they have to pull the lock knob up to get out of the car. The door will unlock with the unlock button from either front door.
I checked the 2008 S550 and it opens when the door handle is pulled. Is this a flaw with all 2007s or do I have a problem ? The manual (on the 2007) states you have to pull the knob up and then the door handle.
I wonder if they really unlock after an accident or is the rear passenger trapped !!
I have had 6 Mercedes in the past and this is the only one that does this. The dealer is at a loss what to do, but agrees it is bad.

Diesel Benz

Doors would open (unlock) in an accident. But I tried locking doors on my Euro model, I have the child lock on at the left rear door but not on the right one. When I try to open the left car, the door lock raises but the door does not open (it should not, unless I press to "open doors" button at the front door). But when I try to open the right rear door, the lock button raises and the door opens.

I understood that 2007 US models would not have the child lock at the rear door. It should not be the child lock on "by accident" (I understand the locking system is there anyway but the outermost handle to operate the locks would not exist) if the doors open when you do not have them locked.

whoover

I don't know of any car that allows a locked rear door to be opened with just a pull of the handle. Neither of my 2006 Mercedes do. It would seem to be a safety feature, especially if you have kids.

Are you sure you're used to driving with the car centrally locked? The auto-lock is the first thing I turn off (via the cluster) in a new car.

Diesel Benz

This was new to me, it must be different for US cars then. The specific child locks disable rear doors opening on Euro cars, that is independent of the doors being locked or not. The rear doors then can be made to open from the handle even when locked because that protection is not needed for kids.

I also deactivate the auto lock feature first time I get a new car, in my place I do not need it while driving.

Difficult to say which implementation is more comfortable, I believe the Euro approach allows more flexibility specifically when the child lock can be temporarily passed from the front, when you want to let kids go out. I actually do not have small kids in the car, I just want to decide myself when it is safe for someone to open the traffic side door, like if another car is approaching from behind when you have parked on a street.

whoover

In the US, you can't prevent passengers from opening the door -- they just have to perform two steps. Otherwise they could be trapped. It's actually a federal requirement that relates to door opening in crashes. See paragraph VI subsection C.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/...ocks_NPRM.html

CLIFF4781

I checked 3 new 2008 S550s at the dealer and they all opened with the pull of the handle. I am unaware of any child locks on the S class mercedes. Nothing is in the manual and the service doesn't know about it. The central lock didn't make any difference concerning whether the door would open or not after locking them.

whoover

On the 2008 you're saying that in the rear seat with the door locked, just pulling the handle opens the door? Does that force the pin up or does the door open with the pin still down? The former would seem to be in violation of the federal regulation that I posted, and the latter would probably be too plus it would leave the door locked when you close it (creating a way to lock your keys in the car). Maybe they changed the law for 2008, or maybe these are non-US cars? I'd be interested to know how exactly it works.

CLIFF4781

I'm pretty sure the lock rises when the handle is pulled.

CLIFF4781

Let me add something. I'm talking about the car being stopped and the driver or front passenger gets out of the car. The rear seat passengers can't open the door by pulling on handle in the 2007 S class but can in the 2008 S class.

konigstiger

Request a face to face with the shop foreman and have him physically inspect your vehicle and the MY08 vehicle(s) on the floor while you are present. He should be able to correct and/or upgrade any associated software through SDS or open a case with the EDAC (MBUSA Enhanced Diagnostic Assistance Center) and successfully resolve the matter.

whoover

OK, I think we're getting closer. On all US MBs I've owned, when a front passenger opens a centrally locked door, it unlocks all doors. The pin rises on all four doors. But this is only if the doors were locked centrally, either automatically when the car reaches the preset speed if you use that feature, or if you locked the doors with the dash lock switch. If instead, you manually lock (push down the pin) on one or more doors, the system remembers that you didn't centrally lock all doors and doesn't centrally unlock them when a front door is opened.

There are two possibilities: you might have run this scenario not realizing that the system has this memory and behavior. In other words, test that the rear door is unlocked by locking all doors with the dash central lock button and then opening the drivers door. It isn't a valid test to manually push the pins down on the drivers and rear door and then open the drivers door. The other possibility is that they screwed this feature up in 2008. It could be that the feds made the law more stringent. My bet is on the first possibility.

It's another case where the MB behavior is so "smart" it confounds people.

whoover

Just to be clear, it isn't that pulling a rear door handle is supposed to raise the pin. It's not. But pulling a front door handle is supposed to raise the pin and unlock all four door if they were centrally locked. You probably never had a passenger try to get out before the driver opened his door.