Streamliner

On more than one or two occasions, when the exterior door handle is in the extended position and I grab it to open the door, the handle immediately starts to retract, while my fingers are in there. I’ve always managed to pull my hand out before getting pinched, but it is annoying at the very least. Would hate to see one my grandchildren get their fingers caught in there. Has anyone else experienced this?

js_cls

Never. Have had zero issues with the handles. Handles shouldn't be retracting unless they've been out for a long period of time without being engaged with.

chassis

If the worst case happened, don't the handles sense obstruction, and reverse direction? Like anti-pinch power windows.

crabman

They're supposed to extend back out if they meet resistance. In one of the many, many, videos I've watched about this car while I was waiting for mine to be built showed it closing on the hand and popping back out; the description was firm but not painful.

W205C43PFL

You mean this? Skip to 19:48

Sleeper Benz

Yes, Twice now but a bit more painful.

I was sitting on the rear bumper with the trunk open as it is a nice place to sit for tailgating. I won't do this again AND swing my feet as the trunk close sensor detected the foot movement under the bumper and "bing" the chime sounded and a second later "ding" was the sound of my head getting rung like a bell from the trunk lid closing on it. Now the vehicle does sense the impact and automatically reverses course. Hopefully I'll have enough muscle memory next time and don't swing my feet when I sit there.

Also had the door handle closed a few times on my hand but no pain associated with that before it reverses.

W205C43PFL

If you want to do it again and also swing your feet to the trunk close sensor while sitting, make sure to disable your smart key first (as you already know, through double pressing the lock button in quick succession) but don't put it back in your pocket as you might accidentally sit on it and activate it again or you could remove the battery or leave the key away from the trunk, like in the glovebox or the centre armrest storage. I am not sure if it is different for the W223 but for a W205 the sensor doesn't activate even if the vehicle is unlocked without the key with you in the rear, only the trunk button works.

I would suggest to try it out without your head in the way first though, you don't want to risk injuring yourself.

places

So you basically need to be a contortionist.

SW20S

Make sure you’re feeding it 3x a day, then it won’t be as hungry.

mjr24

Glad I didn't buy a W223......my AMG GT has not tried to eat me nor has it stabbed my finger.

crabman

Are we sure it's stabbed anyone's fingers?

SW20S

Just don't cross it when its drunk!

rnpalmer

Yes, on several occasions. In one case pick left me with a blood blister. These door handles work perfectly, UNTIL THEY DON"T!

Sean._.S

Sometimes too much technology is just that

Streamliner

Very well said!

VinceF

On a related note, is there any way to stop the handles from automatically 'greeting' as you approach the car? I would prefer to simply tap the handle to extend as opposed to greeting every time I walk near the car. Dealer can't help me either. Thoughts?

Thanks.

js_cls

Only way to disable the greeting would be to put the key in sleep mode by double pressing the lock button on the remote. However, this also disables the handles in general unless you hit the unlock button on the remote. If you want to use keyless entry, you have to use the greetings.

rw594

The handles on W223 seem to be a bit of a lottery. Mine has been working as intended, but already two friends of mine have encountered faulty and unresponsive handles, which thankfully their dealers fixed by replacements.

I've had the handle bite me on two occassions, but this was very rare and I assumed some error on my part was involved (maybe I accidentallt touched and triggered the square indent while pulling on the handle).

Overall it was a minor inconvenience for me, and considering that the retractable handles provide better aerodynamics and thus lower wind noise at high speeds (I assume so?), I feel it was worth the occasional annoyances.

I have to say though - considering all the things your car has done to you this far, dear old friend Streamliner, I am surprised that you have yet to sell it and move on 😂

SW20S

Any difference in wind noise because of door handles would be imperceptible to human ears

rw594

Roof mounted luggage racks on cars have been known to increase highway wind noise considerably. Perhaps the effect will be relatively muted on door handles, given the much smaller scale, but still, flush ones are still going to perform better aerodynamically. I'd happily take them, so long as they work properly...

SW20S

Sorry, but thats silly. For roof racks, it depends on the roof racks. Big square add on roof racks like THULE racks sure will create wind noise. Factory OEM racks that were designed with the car not to create wind noise, don't. For example just the other day I put the factory hidden crossbars on my Pacifica to go get our Christmas tree...they create zero additional wind noise on the highway. Door handles on cars are designed and tuned to not create noise. There is no practical purpose for these silly door handles, its all techno-vanity.

rw594

Yeah, I agree that OEM designed roof racks are going to be better than aftermarket ones at minimising wind noise, but are they ever going to beat a perfectly smooth and curves bare roof?

And by extension, are traditional handles ever going to offer better aerodynamics than flush counterparts? I'm not convinced they would.

SW20S

Perhaps not, but its not necessary for them to. That's the point. You will never hear any difference in wind noise. What frustrates me and others about these handles is they weren't changed to make them better, they were changed to be more on trend which is not a very "Mercedes" thing for them to have done. Regular door handles might not "look as cool" but they would be more functional in every way. This is form over function when what appeals to many of us about a fine German car is that there is typically more emphasis put on function...

crabman

A small tale of two door features I didn't know I needed...

Before mag doors made it into a car in my garage it seemed like a useful but underwhelming feature to me; once I'd had them I very much miss them every time I get in and out of this car.

Pop out door handles on the other hand are not something I miss when I get into a different car. Mine have been flawless and it's actually kind of cool that they pop out when you walk up. Rather than use the swiping motions others describe which works poorly for me when the handle is in I figured out in the first couple days you can just gently push in on the center of the handle and it pops right out every time. No problems at all with them. It's just that auto popping handles isn't something that changes my day for the better and so of course I don't miss them when they're not there getting into other cars.

Cool for the sake of cool is all right with me but I'd rather have cool and useful like the mag doors.

SW20S

Absolutely, those two features are totally different. Even if the pop out door handles worked perfectly every time, its still a gimmick.