My 2015 S550's Distronic is SUPER aggressive at even the most conservative setting. It barrels down on top of vehicles at frightening speed - like the long range sensors are malfunctioning; then slams on the brakes. I've owned 3 prior MBs w/ Distronic Plus, most recently a 2012 CL 63 that worked perfectly as did a prior SL65 and S65. Anyone else experiencing this? Hoping there is a SW fix - my wife has refused to ride in the car if I use it! Dealer is resisting bringing in a MB zone engineer..

Crazy.

 

Is it possible that you have the distance setting with the least amount of distance between your car and the next car in front of you? If so, try to change the setting on the instrument cluster to the farthest distance, ie, the farthest distance between your car and the one in front. I have a feeling that will change the outcome. On my '14 S550 4matic, I experience the same as you if I have it is set to the closest setting to the car in front of me but if I change the distance setting this changes the outcome.



You may have already done this based on your post of "most conservative setting" but I just wanted to state maybe the obvious.

Just a thought.

 

I find it aggressive too. It goes up fast then brake. It needs to back down on the throttle and let things catch up. And I do keep it at the closest setting otherwise it would be cutoff city. It really needs a NY mode.

I'm also surprised how long it takes to tell a car just jumped in front of you. Only once the vehicle is fully in your lane does it then jam the brakes to set the right distance. They need to tweak the software....

 

Long time since I posted anything here. I became very ill as bacteria got into my blood stream (sepsis) from inflammation caused by diverticulosis disease. This also lead to a blood clot between the spleen and liver. On coumadin now and it will take a while for the body to dissolve it. I was in hospital for about 2 weeks to get rid of the sepsis and also treatment for the clot which is immovable (good thing). I feel much better now that I am home and the poison is gone from the blood. I'm over the hump. Sorry to bother you guys about this but just wanted to explain why I have been silent here for quite a while.

To answer your question, I find that the distronic plus works quite smoothly on my car. You still have to keep your eyes open to make sure everything works as advertised, but I am very pleased how my car works with distronic in the city and highway driving. I know that they installed several software updates for various things on my car over the course of the past 9 months.

 

Thanks for the input. I did rotate the cruise control / Distronic stalk knob to the farthest distance - I could not find any other adjustment in the steering wheel control options...there are plenty other setting you can change, but cold not find anything for this. is there a way to change following distance from there that I missed?


Many thanks.

 

Will be praying for your continued recovery Beantrader.

 

I didn't like,or trust,the Distronic cruise control in my Bluetec.Far too "aggressive" (as you put it).My basic verdict was,and still is,"interestng concept that needs a *lot* of work".

 

MB's sensors are all very aggressively tuned IMO. If the blind spot sensor goes off and you change lanes, you are basically pushing in front of that car with very little space in-between. Our BMW keeps on indicating and blinking long after the cars are already visible in the mirror.
I prefer the MB approach but some fellow drivers had openly indicated their displeasure

 

Wish you a speedy recovery! All the best to you

 

Wish you speedy recovery bean trader

 

Thank you everyone for the good wishes.

 

May you have a speed recovery and never pick any disease .Your health is more important

 

When I first got Distronic I had to learn to trust the vehicle. My partner will not use Distronic no matter what.

 

I agree it is a bit too aggressive, particularly on icy roads. I compare distronic's breaking choices to what I would have done, and I do wish it had a little more foresight and could see that the cars way ahead are going so much slower that it is not beneficial to join the pack of sheep ahead.

Also - while I find that I can adjust the distance to the car ahead of me, I don't think there is enough of a delta available in the adjustment the end user can do. It's always closer to the vehicle than I would want, and I really have some doubts that it would save my vehicle from being rear ended.

All my life I have hated cruise control and I never ever used it, but now with distronic I am using it daily in 30Km/hr school zones and at 50Km/hr and 60Km/hr city traffic. I think I drive safer that it does actually.

As for multi-lane freeway traffic at 90Km/hr I really hate lining up like sheep, and I always avoided that my entire life, but now with distronic, I am almost "forced" into driving like a sheep. It goes against my grain, and I think it's more dangerous to be in the line of sheep. I have been trying to obey speed limits, and find that it is more dangerous than my old style of driving - definitely. If distronic could be tuned a little better, it might give me some happy space room, but right now, I just see it as putting me at risk to be a part of those multi car pileups. I'm letting it do it's thing, but observing what it does carefully. I was better off driving a bit faster than the sheep, and just finding my happy place away from the tailgaters and settling in there.

We have speed ****'s here now, tons of speed traps and zealous enforcement. I almost think it's worthwhile getting a few speeding tickets instead of putting myself at risk for being rear-ended just for the sake of "following the speed limit". It's stupid actually. Anyway - that's just my opinion, but I am pretty sure I am right.

 

Not sure if the owners manual mentions this(I would have to look), but the aggressiveness of acceleration with Distronic, is dependent on the transmission mode switch. In "E" mode it should be more tame, whereas in "S" it should be more aggressive.

Additional details are available in WIS in the GF documents.

 

The distance from the car in front is how aggressive Distronic is. Look at it this way. If you only decide to brake when you are 100 ft from a car going 35 mph you might have to really brake hard. But if you are 200 or 300 ft behind you do not have to brake as hard. I figured this out when I came up on a traffic jam and thought I was going to hit the car stopped in front of me while i was going 70 mph. I had it set on 1 or 2. After that I set it further away and I feel very comfortable with the results. Also when you brake slower you are not in as much danger of being rear ended.
NOW New York drives complain about people jumping in the gap. Well you cannot have it both ways. I see them junp the gap in front of me but I am retired and now don't give a s--t!

It really helps me on highway trips or in stop-and-go highway traffic. I am safer and I am more relaxed when I reach my destination.