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.
Long story short... car battery was completely flat.
Opened the door with manual key. Popped the hood. Jump started the car using a jump start battery. Drove the car around the block twice and parked the SLS back to the basement parking of my building. Shut down the engine and I could not get out because there is no power.
I was stucked inside the car for 5 hours... 1:30am in the morning until 6:30am. Underground parking has no phone network.
Im pretty sure I was breathing my own carbon dioxide in the end...
Is there an escape plan that I do not know about or have I found a deadly fault in our flawless cars?
Long story short... car battery was completely flat.
Opened the door with manual key. Popped the hood. Jump started the car using a jump start battery. Drove the car around the block twice and parked the SLS back to the basement parking of my building. Shut down the engine and I could not get out because there is no power.
I was stucked inside the car for 5 hours... 1:30am in the morning until 6:30am. Underground parking has no phone network.
Im pretty sure I was breathing my own carbon dioxide in the end...
Is there an escape plan that I do not know about or have I found a deadly fault in our flawless cars?
There is no mechanical means of opening the door? If so, major deficiency!
Sorry to hear. Obviously have a dealer look at it then contact AMG Engineering. This is from the manual so it sound like you have a mechanical problem. It should be as simple as pulling up on the button.
Coupe
You can only open a door from the inside if it
is unlocked.
The vehicle locks the doors automatically,
when you drive faster than 9 mph
(15 km/h).
The doors are automatically unlocked after a
journey if you switch off the engine.
! The doors swing upwards and out when
opened. Therefore, make sure that there is
sufficient clearance above the vehicle.
X To unlock the door manually: press
the % button of central locking =.
or
X Pull locking knob : upwards.
X To open the door: pull handle ;.
X Swing the door upwards as far as it will go.
X To close the door: pull the door down by
handle ?.
X Allow the door to engage in the lower
position.
X To lock the door manually: press
the & button of central locking =.
or
X Push locking knob : downward
Last edited by NewportSLS; 02-16-2017 at 02:44 PM.
When I shut down the engine, the doors did unlock. However, the door handle is non responsive, did not open. Although you can clearly see the doors are unlocked!
I was able to grab the attention of a gentleman heading off to work at 6:30am. From inside the SLS, I unlocked my G55 and asked him to grab the jump start battery, hook it up under the hood and straight away, I was able to let myself out from inside.
And I just realized, he could have just lifted the door handle from the outside and release me that way also!
Yes, its no joke. I have told my wife that we should get into the habit of opening the door before we shut down the engine of any modern vehicle.
I'm not so sure the outside handle would have worked either. My guess is that both handles (in/out) are electrically actuated. No juice, no workie.
Someone ought to read through the manual (I'm too lazy) because there has to be a way to manually actuate the door...usually though, it is extremely non-obvious and involves removing a trim piece to reveal a pull ring.
The real habit you should get into is not letting your battery go flat. If it's flat from age then replace it. If it's flat from non use, then don't do that (or at least put it on a trickle charger).
Someone ought to read through the manual (I'm too lazy) because there has to be a way to manually actuate the door...usually though, it is extremely non-obvious and involves removing a trim piece to reveal a pull ring.
I'm not so sure the outside handle would have worked either. My guess is that both handles (in/out) are electrically actuated. No juice, no workie.
Someone ought to read through the manual (I'm too lazy) because there has to be a way to manually actuate the door...usually though, it is extremely non-obvious and involves removing a trim piece to reveal a pull ring.
The real habit you should get into is not letting your battery go flat. If it's flat from age then replace it. If it's flat from non use, then don't do that (or at least put it on a trickle charger).
I did tested out yesterday morning..(my battery is still flat) and can confirmed that, you can open both doors from the outside. But not from the inside.
This is my first supercar and I honestly did not know the battery would go flat that easily from having the car stationary for a few weeks. Not to mention the existence of a trickle charger...
Im booking the car in for a battery replacement and will make sure the battery never go flat again. Thanks for the advise!
I flipped through the manual (thanks NewportSLS) and I'm genuinely mystified. Can't find any failsafe option to get the doors open.
I wonder if perhaps you shut the car off before putting it in Park. This would force the car into Neutral (according to the manual) and probably circumvented the automatic unlock feature. When the car is put in Park, it unlocks itself. I know this because my passengers are always in a hurry to get out and clawing at the handle before I've hit the Park button (muwahahahaha).
Based on your test yesterday, I'm starting to think that while the exterior handle seems purely mechanical, the interior handle may be electrically actuating the catch release when you pull the handle and since there is zero juice, it simply can't do its job.
It would be interesting to see if you could recreate the situation. This time though, after the jump-start, roll the windows down so you can grab the exterior door handle or wiggle out.
Last edited by Sandy Eggo; 02-18-2017 at 12:21 PM.
I flipped through the manual (thanks NewportSLS) and I'm genuinely mystified. Can't find any failsafe option to get the doors open.
I wonder if perhaps you shut the car off before putting it in Park. This would force the car into Neutral (according to the manual) and probably circumvented the automatic unlock feature. When the car is put in Park, it unlocks itself. I know this because my passengers are always in a hurry to get out and clawing at the handle before I've hit the Park button (muwahahahaha).
Based on your test yesterday, I'm starting to think that while the exterior handle seems purely mechanical, the interior handle may be electrically actuating the catch release when you pull the handle and since there is zero juice, it simply can't do its job.
It would be interesting to see if you could recreate the situation. This time though, after the jump-start, roll the windows down so you can grab the exterior door handle or wiggle out.
Im pretty sure I pressed the Park button before shutting down the engine. the door did unlock (you can see clearly the tab next to the window frame popped up). I shut down the engine and all lights out. The door handle is unresponsive, same as when the doors are locked.
I literally had this exact same thing happen to me the other week! Jumped it, drove it for 15-20min, pulled into my basement garage, went completely out. I freaked out because, like you, I had no service and not a lot of people go to the lowest level to park. When I put it in park, the doors "unlocked" and heard the sound but once it went completely dead, the door wouldn't open. For me, even though the door pin was "up" next to the window, I was able to pull it even higher and then the door opened. Not sure if the door pins have a 2 stage unlocking system but did you try pulling the pin even though it was up?
I literally had this exact same thing happen to me the other week! Jumped it, drove it for 15-20min, pulled into my basement garage, went completely out. I freaked out because, like you, I had no service and not a lot of people go to the lowest level to park. When I put it in park, the doors "unlocked" and heard the sound but once it went completely dead, the door wouldn't open. For me, even though the door pin was "up" next to the window, I was able to pull it even higher and then the door opened. Not sure if the door pins have a 2 stage unlocking system but did you try pulling the pin even though it was up?
I guess you're smarter than I am! I tried twisting it but did not try to pull it up higher... I might give it a go tomorrow! Thanks for that!!
Best practice might be to roll down Windows when parking. Then use smart key to roll up window and lock door when you step out. Damn. I will cut myself out of the soft top. LOL
Best practice might be to roll down Windows when parking. Then use smart key to roll up window and lock door when you step out. Damn. I will cut myself out of the soft top. LOL
First thing I thought of was using my phone to break the window lol would've had to replace a window and probably my phone so thankfully I was able to get out.
Next time, cycle the door lock pin. The actuators they use on cars are pretty weak, and probably the voltage dropped enough with all the other things the car does electromechanically when it shuts down that the actuator didn't have enough juice to fully unlock.
Also, driving the car around the block a few times is not enough to put a good charge on a dead battery. Need to either put it on a charger for hours or drive it for a significant amount, at least 30 minutes. Longer if you run electrical, like headlights.
02-16-2017, 08:53 AM
