johnny13oi

Hey guys, I have a 2010 S550 and I am looking to disassemble the area around the COMAND knob. Could anyone please send me in the right direction? I am trying to repair the hazard light switch and a few LEDs have gone out in the area too.


Thank you

Nuru

There are a few threads discussing how to remove the COMAND HU. Just do a search for it.

Mike5215

He's referring to the haptic knob in the center console. Actually I need a DIY on removing the entire console assembly. It's creaking like crazy and I already replaced the lid assembly which stopped some of it. Got a used one from EBay sitting in the garage.

konigstiger

This may help.

Mike5215

That did help indeed! Thanks!

BenBoosted

I have a 2011 S550 and my hazard lights weren't working. Multiple searches on the W221 forum here, as well as other sites, kept leading me back to this thread. I want to include my experience here so others may benefit from what I've learned.

First thing, check the fuse. My hazard fuse was still good so I made the assumption that my hazard light switch was bad. My "back" button, next to the hazard light switch was sticky when pressed so my guess is that the previous owner spilled a drink in this area. The issue I have is that you can't change out just the hazard switch. You wind up having to replace the entire command knob module that contains all of the switches in that immediate area on the center console. I found a used one on ebay for about $250. Of course after receiving it I found another one for about $150 the very next day. C'est la vie.

The documentation in this thread helped me figure out how to get the center console up, which I'll briefly list the steps to:
- Remove the arm rest. There are 4 rubber caps that you can see when you open the arm rest. Under those caps are 4 screws.
- Move both front seats as far forward as you can because there are 2 small screw covers on the bottom back portion of the center console. Pry the plastic covers off to expose the screw heads. Undo those 2.
- Move the front seats back, take out the cup holder/separator and the rubber mat that's underneath them. This will expose 2 more screws. So far so good, only 4 screws hold the entire center console in the car.
- There is a curved pad that goes behind the command knob but in front of the arm rest. This is simply held in place by clips. Pull up and backwards to pop it out. Under this pad are 2 screws, remove those.
- Pull the center console towards the rear of the car and lift the rear portion up at the same time.
- There's several wire harness plugs in the front half of the center console (relatively easy to disconnect) and some in the rear part. I wound up not disconnecting the rear ones. I left the center console in the car and just angled it up in order to work on it. I could easily disconnect one of the rear plugs. One was a royal pain in the butt for my fat fingers... and the 3rd I couldn't see or feel where it connected to. So I would up doing all of this work in the car instead of on a work bench.

This is where I got frustrated and called a friend over for a 2nd set of eyes on how to get the command knob module out. You can barely see any of it when looking from underneath the center console and it's certainly not coming out of the top of the center console.

- Open the flip cover that exposes these phone dial number pad right above the command knob. This keypad will pop out if you use a small screwdriver and carefully pry on the side. Unhook the wire harness that's clipped into it and remove the screw that's underneath it.
- If you look at the center console from the cup holder area looking back you will see 2 slots in the top corners (one on each side) where you can see a black plastic "prong" over a flat piece of metal. These are the retaining clips for the command module area (and the trim piece that they are attached to). While prying on these plastic prongs push on the command knob forward to the front of the car. I used a screwdriver to pry it forward as it took some force to get past the prongs holding it in place.
- The top center area of the command knob dial is a plastic cover that is held in by 2 plastic clips. I used a very small screwdriver (like the kind of screwdriver you would use to adjust eye glasses) to carefully pry around this plastic cover and lift it up. Once up and out of the way a screw will be exposed. Remove the screw and you can lift the command knob up and off.
- From underneath the command module you will find a couple of screws that hold it into place. I can't remember if there are 2 or 4 but they are all exposed and easy to see.

Once my 2nd set of eyes showed up it was maybe a 3 hour job from start to finish. I could probably do it now in an hour since I know how everything comes apart/goes together.

Now my hazards work and I didn't have to drop a ton of coin at a dealer/indy!

mercedesmorten

Hey!
Sorry for reviving this old thread!
Ben, can you help me a little? Im stuck somewhere near the end.
I managed to get the center console out of the car and I have it on the bench.

My goal is the same as yours, changing the buttons and command knob since someone spilled coke in them so they are all sticky.
I cant seem to seperate the trim panel from the rest of the console. - It seems like there are two ways;
Either seperate the whole long wood trim piece (shaped like a big U, and goes the whole length of the center console), since ive seen them on ebay parted out this way.
Or, somehow disassembling the front part of the thing. -
The part where you write - I cant find out this step. I can try to upload some pictures later.

When i prong out the 3 silver metal "hooks" down the length of each side to seperate the trim piece (also containing the buttons and knob), i can only seperate the first 2. - The 3rd and last towards the back end of the center console (where the hinge is), I cant seem to seperate. Is this supposed to seperate?

Sorry if this is a huge mess of text. - Been spending the last 4 hours trying to get in to the command buttons and knob.

Thanks so much!
Best,
Morten.

BenBoosted

That, in a reality, was the toughest part to figure out!

The trim plate that "holds" the command knob (and associated buttons) is made out of metal and painted to look like wood grain. It slides forward, towards the cup holder area. The only thing holding it from sliding forward are some locking tabs/prongs that you can barely see in some slots, 1 on each side of the cup holder area. You can see an opening on each side/corner when looking from the cup holder area back into the console (as if you could put your head in there and look towards rear of the console). They aren't big and the opening to get to them is narrow. Or you can remove it as I did with a big metal screwdriver and use it as a pry bar to push the trim piece forward (towards the cup holder) until those tabs/prongs give way. In hindsight I'm surprised I didn't break break them but they are metal and pretty stout. After it was off you could easily see the tabs/prongs that hold this trim piece in place.

I hope that helps. I would offer to take pictures for you but I no longer own the car.

mercedesmorten

Ok Hurrayyy!
I finally got it disassembled. -
What I hadn't managed to do was to unscrew the lid-hinge in the back of the console so that the lid can move backwards and out of the way. (it sits on top of the trim that runs along the sides, so you cant get it off until you have the lid off.)
There is a black plastic cover. Pry on the sides of it, and it hides a bolt. Off it goes, and then the trim including the entire command knob and button module comes off.
However on my model (2007, S600 with rear A/C) i see no way the trim could have come off forward (towards the cupholder?). - Maybe there are differences?

Thank you so much for replying Ben! It gave me the courage to go out and try some more until i finally figured it out!

Best regards!

Morten.

BenBoosted

Congrats on getting it! Interesting that's there's changes between the models/years like that.