When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Peter at Benz Ninja performed more magic on my ‘15 4matic this morning. Amazing what he accomplishes from Europe!
I asked about doing something with the frequent and annoying prompt to place a hand onto the steering wheel during the auto pilot setting.
He told me that Mercedes made it unavailable for re-programming. He has tried but up to this point hasn’t found the way around factory setting.
He suggested auto pilot steering wheel weights to trick the wheel to recognize the weight of my hand(s)
Anyone have experience/suggestions with these?
Thanks!
Chuck
Seattle
I might be wrong, but I don’t believe it’s the weight of hand on steering wheel that the system is looking for. I believe it’s literally any amount of steering wheel input, even the slightest amount.
Around me there are highway stretches that are completely straight. With auto pilot activated, I can have my hand on the steering wheel and it will still complain if I haven’t moved the steering wheel. Only when I turn it, even a minute amount, will the warning go off.
BTW- Golden Shellback here [/QUOTE
WOW…Equator at International date line…Rare
Navy? What year?
I’m Shellback since April ‘68.
Polaris submarine out of Guam so the longitude was classified and not included on our King Neptune’s Realm certificate.
Last edited by SSBN629 Seattle; Jan 14, 2026 at 06:51 PM.
MB changed the way the self driving works on the facelift..I call it the V2. I thought the 2017 was pretty pointless because of the frequency of driver input that was neccesary. But they changed it on the W222 V2 cars (2018-2020), far less frequent input with less force needed to satisfy the nannies. I normally just tap the bottom of the steering wheel with my knee and I'm good to go. Completely different experience as far as I'm concerned.
BTW- Golden Shellback here [/QUOTE
WOW…Equator at International date line…Rare
Navy? What year?
I’m Shellback since April ‘68.
Polaris submarine out of Guam so the longitude was classified and not included on our King Neptune’s Realm certificate.
MB changed the way the self driving works on the facelift..I call it the V2. I thought the 2017 was pretty pointless because of the frequency of driver input that was neccesary. But they changed it on the W222 V2 cars (2018-2020), far less frequent input with less force needed to satisfy the nannies. I normally just tap the bottom of the steering wheel with my knee and I'm good to go. Completely different experience as far as I'm concerned.
You are correct. A big improvement by going to multiple cameras with the facelift. Mine takes sharp curves without any input needed. I ordered one of those ebay weights to try. I can see how it tricks the car. The wheel is naturally going to pull the car left or right so the car thinks the driver is still holding the wheel and lane assist kicks in. It's actually genius solution lol.
When you get both at the same time you become a golden shellback. It's the dateline cert.
That would have disclosed our longitude coordinate.
Where we were and why we were there was classified at the time.
We were headed to the South Pacific to conduct a missile test. We launched 5 dummy warhead Polaris II missiles . One explodes about 100 ft above the surface, the other 4 landed on target 1800 down range.. Coolest experience of my life..
Be well shipmate
Last edited by SSBN629 Seattle; Jan 15, 2026 at 09:35 AM.
That would have disclosed our longitude coordinate.
Where we were and why we were there was classified at the time.
We were headed to the South Pacific to conduct a missile test. We launched 5 dummy warhead Polaris II missiles . One explodes about 100 ft above the surface, the other 4 landed on target 1800 down range.. Coolest experience of my life..
Be well shipmate
You are correct. A big improvement by going to multiple cameras with the facelift. Mine takes sharp curves without any input needed. I ordered one of those ebay weights to try. I can see how it tricks the car. The wheel is naturally going to pull the car left or right so the car thinks the driver is still holding the wheel and lane assist kicks in. It's actually genius solution lol.
Gotcha, thanks for explaining how it works. It seemed pointless prior to your explanation.
The suggestion to get a "weights to trick the wheel to recognize the weight of my hand(s)" is wrong and will not work. Steering wheel is not pressure (squeeze) or static weight based. It will not work with those static weights. That used to work on older Tesla cars only, but not for Mbenz.
For pre-facelift, these weights will provide (static) weight and that's not how the W222 pre/facelift steering wheel logic work. pre-facelift has torque sensing and is based on tracking micro-torque changes. If the torque doesn't change frequently enough, like a knee touching the wheel, or human hand touching it which won't be static all the time, then the car will send a signal to touch the wheel or move it slightly again. IF the weights are too heavy and wiggly enough, perhaps the car chassis movement on rough roads may help sometimes to trigger that torque change, but it's still not going to work all the time on smoother roads.
For the facelift, the steering wheel has capacitive sensing embedded under the leather of the steering wheel. Just like your smartphone screen, it detects the electrical conductivity of your skin. Weights will NOT work because of the lack of electrical conductivity like our skin. I do not know if frequent torque changes or wiggling will work without electrical conductivity (probably will work in case driver is wearing gloves) just like pre-facelift as a backup sensing logic but am not sure. Weights will not work regardless unless u move them left to right, which is useless then.
If you drive straight down a highway that requires no steering input, the lack of steering input causes the system to think you don't have your hands on the wheel--EVEN when you DO !!
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
[/QUOTE
