After driving an EQE recently when my car was in for service that had DIGITAL LIGHT enabled, I think I'm ready to move forward with having the featured enabled in my '22 S580. I know a number of you have had this done, so want to ask a couple of clarifying questions before moving forward.

1. Would you do it again?
2. Any downsides to having it coded?
3. Was it worth the cost you paid to have the coding done?
4. Has there been any issues with warranty or when taking your car in for service at Mercedes dealership?
5. I know a couple of people overseas offer the coding service. Any recommendations on anyone specific?

Thank you in advance!

Mark

 

As far as I know, most (if not all coders) are not coding the W223 USA models at this time. There are some older threads on this when something changed. I have utilized RJ Auto and when last in contact he did say they will hopefully again in the not too far future

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...-w223-now.html

 

That rumor is often started by RJ Auto; usually combined with fearmongering about warranty. Been spouting it here for years, while people happily get their cars coded without issue, even as they were saying it.

I didn't just read that BTW, I had my lights done while they were posting that it was impossible, and even if it weren't, my car would explode and no warranty would be honored. Oh, but let me not forget: They hoped to soon be able to do it, at which point everything will be fine and dandy, and for some reason the car won't explode. Sound familiar?

My car never did explode. In case anyone was curious...

 

I waited to see if anyone would let the poster know that some of the coders have stopped on the W223. I did not insinuate it will void a warranty or any other adverse things may occur if someone has it done. I do know last I inquired RJ and Benz Ninja at this time are not coding the W223. I do not know the "why" nor have I researched to find out. I only know they were not as I inquired as I was interested in enabling IHC on a W223

Apparently by this post there is someone doing it. I have not used them and I have no idea what they charge. As such I am not offering a recommendation nor a condemnation but hopefully assisting the poster with this information https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...-mode-ihc.html

 

I'm not calling you out, I'm calling out RJ, and yes, Benz is more of the same, except to my knowledge Benz Ninja has never been doing it, only saying maybe soon, and fearmongering on the warranty aspect.

I should also clarify that warranty is a valid concern in some cases, engine tuners and the like are particularly concerning. But the lights, nah, you're not going to have your warranty voided in the US. That can only happen under limited circumstances: ODO tampering, salvage title, so modified as to change the product purpose from one thing to another, a few others. None of them will apply to the mods people typically do to their cars. Even engine mods will not void a warranty in total; although they could void your powertrain warranty, which is enough to scare off this poster.

In any event, I can see how that might have been construed as being directed at something you said, it was not. My bad on that, and I apologize. I just dislike some of these tuners who are being somewhat disingenuous in their posting. I should have taken more time, and been more clear.

 

So, what does this do for the car? Or the driving experience? I have heard of digital lighting but am not certain as to what it does. Do you have to buy new headlights to make it work? Crabman, sounds like you had it done...what is the verdict?

 

On the W167 it does this. Not positive if the W223 is the same but I assume...

 

Very cool - I see when my 223 auto high-beams engage they do so in a staggered pattern that sweeps from the middle outward. I wonder if that is a preliminary form of this or if it means my headlight hardware is already capable of doing this butit needs programming? I wouldn't spend $5-10K to get new hardware but I may spend $1k for programming if it converted my existing hardware to function this way...

 

On my EQ with the Digital Light package, not coded, the car can project images (and supposedly words in other markets) on the ground at night. For example, if driving at night and I drift over a solid lane marker, the steering wheel vibrates, active ambient light turns red and flashes and the headlights project an arrow on the ground pointing to the line I crossed over. When coded you can have constant high beams that turn off individual LEDs so as not to blind the car ahead of you or oncoming traffic while otherwise maintaining increased lighting.

 

This I assume?

 

I have the ILS installed and I love the feature, HOWEVER, since our lights are not the Higher-End "DIGITAL" headlights (as marked within the headlamp housing), I have very limited control for aiming these headlights once the ILS has been installed. The projection of light is mode is more of a "dot matrix" look in normal light mode, instead of one big smooth blob of lighting projected onto the road surface; it appears to look like a series of small blocks of light that illuminated around the bends like the Knight Rider's Car (named KIT) with the red center light moving back and forth (I just dated myself with the Knight Rider reference). NOW, as far as the high-beam assist, here is where the magic happens, the lights actually black out the oncoming traffic headlights, as well as "boxes" out the car's tail lights in front of you while continuing to provide high-beam assistance around the leading automobile. This install has neither voided my warranty nor interfered with any other functionality in my car. Again, the only problem is aiming the new installed projection as it will make your passenger light appear to be "dipping" when hitting bumps or rolling over small indentations in the road. It's annoying at first because at a stoplight, when you're coming up behind another car, your headlights look "lopsided" (with the passenger light being aimed farther to the right of the car); you can adjust it closer toward the left (center of focus) but it's limited to only go so far, and that's due to the actual ILS pattern and the passenger light's "dot matrix" pattern tendency to aim more to the right.
The E-Class YOUTUBE video (below) is exactly what it looks like in my S580:

 

Thank you all for your feedback. What I thought was going to be an easy - chat-with-someone-and-get-it-done-quickly doesn't seem like that's in the cards. I like what @DonS550 wrote and this seems like it would be the experience I would get in my car, so may consider it if I find it to be easy to contact someone have it done without any drama.

 

We’ve been coding new MBUX vehicles since their launch 4 years ago. Over the years, we’ve successfully completed ILS+ headlight coding for thousands of MBenz models, including W223/W206/W214/EQE/EQS/CLE/SL/G465 vehicles worldwide. We’re proud to have a lot of happy users on MBWorld, as well as countless satisfied clients across other models.

Feel free to reach out anytime to learn more about our services or check out our YouTube channel for more insights.

WhatsApp at https://wa.me/6597335000

some demo video for your reference:













Price for ILS+ coding

 

Wow...a THOUSAND pounds?? Pass. I heard other sources (I may be wrong?) doing it for $250-$300!!

Also, what happens when the vehicle goes in for service? Is this code wiped and in need of reinstallation? That is a big question mark for me, personally.

 

Currently, for EZS223 models: coding service has no free Re-do service now.

 

So, spend a grand and roll the dice. Thanks, but no thanks.

 

The lights were 300ish US dollars, or something like that, when I did it. Hard to believe it tripled in price in just a few years. Cant blame a man from running away at 1k, that's a lot of ching. You're talking an hour labor on mine, and I had to stop and dig a longer cable out to move my router up to where the car could see it in the garage.

 

Indeed, we recently provided ILS+ service at a cost of approximately $300. Considering the comments above, I’d like to share some additional information.

The official mbenz software access costs have significantly increased, and despite this, we are among the few businesses in the world that still offer services for these cars (W223, and new mbux) even with the higher software access costs. However, please note that even though we charge more now, our final earnings are substantially lower compared to our earnings when we charged $300. In other words, I’ve decided to absorb a larger portion of the software access costs than my customers.

As a result, some businesses have temporarily suspended providing coding services for EZS223 models entirely. Even in the past, securing knowledge and software access for this purpose was extremely challenging and only few businesses offered it. We, as part of the Mercedes & MBWorld community, our primary objective is to ensure that services remain available regardless. If the current price is prohibitive, we share your disappointment, but you may consider waiting for a more favorable time and pricing. My accounting manager informed me this morning that we expect the price to return to normal soon. We’ve already secured several one-time software access at very favorable prices months ago and are currently working to do the same.

My goal is to ensure that all users here have a positive experience with their vehicles and never leave any service we can assist you with.

It’s worth noting that coding charges remain reasonable for non-EZS223 models.