Sonic Boom

If the doors were previously locked and you unlock BUT not open a door they will retract and lock after some time.

However, if door lock was previously open the handles will retract after certain time and remain unlocked.

Regarding you other point, that’s odd, or else they would pop out randomly when parked in public and people walking by it. I think it’s because your keys are in the room above the garage and triggering it when your moving about.

Vegas Benz

I was working in the garage yesterday and the the door handles were out. I reached my hand in to get into the car and it started to retract on me. I pulled on it pretty hard as I though it might crush my fingers. At this point I think these handles look cool, but even since the '80's there have been flush handles on some cars. These seem overly complicated and thought out. Simple might have been better.

ColeBlooded

My handle closed while I was reaching for it. It didn't crush my hand. I think it might have some kind of spring mechanism.

W205C43PFL

Agree, simple is better but I guess MB's goal is to make their car as complicated as possible, make it a computer on wheels.
Hopefully they did weather testing on these handles, at least they are heated (hopefully)? Don't want it failing in the winter.

W205C43PFL

It does but it does want to retract as shown in the video above, once the reviewer pulled their hand out the handle retracted with immediate force.
Not quite sure why they didn't just use the sensor in the handle to detect a hand or another object is there to prevent it from retracting in the first place.

jack67

Same problem with my w223 400d.
After fully charged the starter battery I can drive maximum 1 to 1,5 week. And then receive notifications that battery must be charged. Also the auxiliary heating is disabled 😡. Car already went to dealer but “I am the only one with this complaint “ and they Have no idea how to fix this.

mbsl550.19

I kept measuring the voltage on the starter battery which is in the rear. Even after charging it it only sat
at 12.2 volts. Their is "some" parasitic loss from the cables but not almost a 1 volt. The AGM battery
should be at 12.8 at least. So I charged it up with my ctek and it was at 12.6 volts still low. And then
the next day dropped to 12.2 volts. Took it to the dealership and asked what voltage should it be.
Never got a good answer. They replaced the battery, my thinking is that is sat a long time at the port.
The car was built in 1/21 and I bought it in 8/21. I escalated the voltage question to MBUSA customer
and they really had no specific answer about what voltage it should be. So at this point we'll see.
I will keep measuring the starter battery voltage from the front. It's a PIA to remove the cover in the
back to get to the starter battery.

RealtorLance

Hello everyone. I bought a new ‘22 S580 at the end of January, and after a two week trip recently, also received the same critical starter battery alerts. Now it happens even if I leave the car stationary for a couple of days. Similar to another here, I reported to the dealer that I frequently see random interior ambient lights on, or the door handles illuminated, if I walk into the garage for something (key fob not present on me). I also leave the car unlocked in the garage; ME always messages me asking if I want to lock it. The dealer advises that I move the keys as far away in the house from the car as possible, and in a location where they won’t be moved (they sense movement and wake the car up). They advised me to have a trickle charger installed on the car, and plug it in if I will be not driving it for a couple / few days. What a pain in the rear, and I told him that was absurd. I might try locking the car in the garage, and see if that resolves the issue. I’m not okay with popping the hood and plugging the car in constantly. But, I can deal with locking the car despite it being in my closed garage.

Has anyone had any experiences akin to this? Any words of wisdom?

Thanks.

Andi C

hi,

As i posted before, u can solve the problem by always locking the car. I had all the updates done to the vehicle, I also had the battery changed at the dealer and no luck. So I changed my habit and now I always lock the car, even inside the garage. If I occasionally forget to lock, I always get the low voltage massage and mail after about half and hour after leaving the car.

ColeBlooded

I don't think that's normal. I've gone without driving mine for 3-4 days with no low battery warnings.

MikeWorkman

It's interesting that my 2023 S580 has the same problem you described. I went through hell to get them to replace the battery which ultimately died due to a failed cell, and the new battery is exhibiting the same exact problems. 1000+ miles a month and still constantly get "Starter Battery Critical" warnings even after a 50 mile drive.

You'd think that the Exec management at MBZ might have engineers looking at these forums: The problems are frequent and provoke loyal owners (this is my 3rd S-Class) to question their loyalty. Whatever is provoking this failure mode, it should be fixed ASAP with the highest priority. The Engineering Team should be embarrassed by this.

crabman

I don't know if you read the thread, but do lock your car. If possible get the fob far enough away from the car it can't see it or place it in a signal blocking container. As to blocking the signal you can do a search for ideas or even purchase a pouch made for the purpose. It's easy, not at all troublesome if you give it a little thought . That should fix you up.

Sleeper Benz

That gave me a really good laugh, haha

Yes: lock you vehicle, put your key(s) into a Faraday case, shut off the auto stop-start, don't "glide", run vehicle in sport engine and transmission mode to keep the engine/ charging speed up, take trips longer than 30 minutes above idle, feather your braking so that the regenerative charging kicks in earlier and check the multitude of ground connections in the engine bay as some earlier production runs painted over the studs and counted on star washers to cut through the paint= bad grounds. These will help maintain the charging system in a vehicle that has a very high operating current draw on both batteries.

RealtorLance

Hey guys, I hope you're well. I did start locking my car in the garage and keeping the key fobs at the far other end of the house in a drawer that only is opened to access the fobs, and that seems to have worked. It's crazy, but even opening and closing the drawer resulting in movement of the key fob "awakens" the car and starts battery usage. There remains an issue with the starter battery being in a critical state if I don't drive the car for a week or two, but otherwise it seems to have solved the issue. My dealer suggested that I buy a battery charger for the car if I'm not going to drive it for extended periods, which seems kind of outrageous as I'm not going months without driving it or something.

Streamliner

Did you make sure that the drawer you put the key fobs in is painted lime green? It must be that color for it to work properly. AND—this is really important— you need to carry the key fobs ONLY in your left hand when you take them to the lime green drawer. Lastly, you must whistle the “Lemon Tree” song while carrying the fobs. My SA told me the whistle trick, which is not widely known and came to him in a confidential telegram from someone in Stuttgart.

I apologize for being so ridiculous, but are we out of our minds for putting up with this crap? Reading how owners of $150K cars have to jump through hoops so the batteries don’t die? This is just NUTS! Everyone of us should call MBUSA TODAY and file a complaint. I cannot believe that so many well to do folks will futz with these workarounds. CALL MBUSA TODAY!

tx170754

I'm not driving may car daily, so, it sits in my climate controlled garage sometimes a couple of weeks.....no problems so far ....

RealtorLance

Hey Streamliner, thanks for the humorous reply. My designer forbode me to paint that drawer lime green, but she did allow me to use a lime green key chain. I am righthanded and carry my keys in my right front pocket, so perhaps I will make an adjustment. I prefer to whistle Dixie.

In all truth, it's a pain to have to keep the car locked all the time. Don't you ever accidentally leave something in your car; who wants to walk all the way across the house and back to retrieve and hide the fob so you can get whatever out? First world problems, I guess...

Streamliner

It's just plain unacceptable for a ridiculous issue like this in a flagship--or any model--from any car company, let alone Mercedes-Benz. We should have to play games to enjoy the vehicles.

RealtorLance

You have a car problem like I do, it appears. LOL. So, I think my favorite S TBH was my 2016 S550. It was magnetite black which I thought was absolutely gorgeous; what a shame they don't produce it any longer.

martinlarose

I
I know this is an issue for some S class owners but other than my ambient lighting staying on for at least 20 minutes or a bit more once I put my car in my garage unlocked I have never had this problem or message pop up about the charging being at a critical level...Strange but to me locking the car in my own garage seems ridiculous

Frenetic

My BMW and Audi would automatically go into sleep mode if left unlocked for a certain period of time with no activity specifically to prevent battery drain. I’m surprised Mercedes didn’t build in the same failsafe. It probably wouldn’t be hard for them to code in.

crabman

You folks are making it out to be harder than it is... You just put something that blocks the signal between you and where you must travel to get to the car. Done; no walking out of your way. Chances are, your keys already go to some such place now.

I also fail to believe going back to the car for forgotten items is an onerous burden. I can't remember when exactly I last forgot something in the car; it happens, but not so often I weep over the difficulty of reaching for a fob, which like any person with a functional brain, I have situated on the way to the car.

The owners manual states explicitly that the car should be locked at all times when not in use and as can be seen here, not without reason. I bring it up because it might be argued that you shouldn't have to read the manual to operate the car and in general I subscribe to that concept. If basic functionality like leaving the car without risking a flat battery requires reading, one or more things weren't done right.

So what's wrong here? Right off I'd say the door handles themselves are a triumph of foo-foo over function. I gotta admit, it's cool, but it doesn't actually do anything to make it easier to enter the car compared to handles that don't pop out. Whatever a man thinks of them you have a car which now needs the doors locked to flawlessly perform it's party trick with the handles. This stacks on the other reason they want you to always lock it; battery issues. These being the case why not have walk away locking? The car locks itself after checking the interior for a fob. Some cars do it, some give you the option. IMO it should be SOP for this car. You're already told owners they must leave the car locked, why not lock it for them?

I'm not calling anyone out. It's a problem, and we shouldn't have it. I do think the complaints exceed the difficulty involved in overcoming them. I actually want my car to lock itself. There is no way that the occasional forgotten item requiring you to take action outweighs the number of times you need to take an action to lock the doors when away from home. IMO on a car that requires you lock it, there is no reason for it not to lock itself. Problem solved.