CL600 Park Assist

[mpwnbr]

Hi, I'm hoping once again to tap into the wealth of knowledge available within the forum.

My car, a 2007 CL600, has intermittently been acting strange; and in a rather dangerous and worrying way. When approaching traffic lights, a junction, or roundabout (slowing down basically), as I get to perhaps 5mph with the press of the brake, a warning "Park Assist Inoperative" is shown in the Display Console, along with an audio warning. As I then come to a stop, and then attempt to then drive on there remains some sort of lock on the brake eventhough no handbrake has been applied, and my foot is on the accelerator. The car will struggle to move, and to clear a junction I'll press hard to move on, then park up at the nearest safe area.

The only way around this problem is (when the warning is displayed and the unexplained braking occurs) to quickly put the gear stalk into Park, then apply the Park brake, quickly turn off the ignition, ignition back on, and then back into drive. The problem is then cleared. As you can imagine this is dangerous in itself in stop/start traffic or at a junction, and is also a tad embarrassing.

I've had the car in with Mercedes recently to have a couple of ECU's fitted, and asked them to look into the problem, but there's no fault codes displayed, and they cant find anything in their own logs of Park Assist problems.

Some other things to note: the car has Parktronic and Distronic, but I don't believe it has Park Assist. There's no reverse camera on the car, so how would it have Park Assist? Yet sometimes when parking a "P" is displayed with an arrow, like it's about to commence Park Assist?

Confused? So am I.

Any help on this matter would be appreciated, as right now I'm driving a 2tonne car with a dangerous problem that even the experts cannot diagnose.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

 

[s5tuart]

I'm not going to be much help as "I know nothing"
But if it were me, I would find a quiet place to parallel park and try the park assist to see if you have it or not.
Whatever the answer it may make diagnosis easier... Good luck with it.

 

[V6Matty]

could be that something has been activated by mistake in STAR?

 

[mpwnbr]

I'm not going to be much help as "I know nothing"
But if it were me, I would find a quiet place to parallel park and try the park assist to see if you have it or not.
Whatever the answer it may make diagnosis easier... Good luck with it.

Thanks s5tuart, there's that many toys on the car I did a day of discovery not long after I bought the car. This included parallel parking to see if the car had Park Assist. A "P" in a blue box along with an arrow appeared on the dash, however nothing further; no camera view or lines identifying the angle of approach, etc. So I can only assume that the car doesn't have Park Asist.

 

[mpwnbr]

could be that something has been activated by mistake in STAR?

Thanks V6Matty. I'm not familiar with STAR, although from previous references I assume it's something to do with the electronic intelligence of the car?! I've actually wondered whether there may have been a software update at sometime that's been done to the car and maybe certain things have been updated and integrated that shouldn't have been? I'd have thought on a diagnostics test Mercedes would have picked that up. Seemingly not.

 

[s5tuart]

Thanks s5tuart, there's that many toys on the car I did a day of discovery not long after I bought the car. This included parallel parking to see if the car had Park Assist. A "P" in a blue box along with an arrow appeared on the dash, however nothing further; no camera view or lines identifying the angle of approach, etc. So I can only assume that the car doesn't have Park Asist.

I bet there are things on that beastie that you'll never discover!
Clearly something is untoward with the Park Assist system. As above, if it has been incorrectly activated then it "should" be easy enough to turn off.
If you have got it fitted then at least those who should know will have a direction to go in to find the problem.

 

[s5tuart]

Actually, don't you have to put the car in reverse to activate the camera and guidance lines? Or did I dream that!

 

[s5tuart]

OP, you may want to follow this thread...

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=144289

 

[mpwnbr]

OP, you may want to follow this thread...

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=144289

Thanks s5tuart, I noticed the thread earlier, and since posted a comment. I'm keen to see how my Park Assist (or not) operates, and whether through activating it, it may clear the problems I've been having.

Reference your earlier comment; you're right, there's so many toys on the car. Most of them are lost on me though. My nephews however certainly see the benefits of lengthy traffic jams now where they can sit back and relax to a heated seat massage while watching TV........I just like the power!

 

[John Laidlaw]

ok, maybe this bit of knowledge may help.
you don't need a camera to have active park assist, just the beam sensors. the fact that a P with an arrow is showing means that at slow speed (under 20mph) when passing lines of parked cars, the sensors are finding spaces big enough for you to park in.
next time you are crawling along a stationary line of parked cars in this way, go beyond the space and select "R". A display should appear saying 'activate park assist yes/no?'. if it does you have active park assist then follow the instructions.
it works well and using it may cancel out the weird issues you are experiencing....

 

[mpwnbr]

John, thanks for your response; helpful as ever. I saw another thread earlier about Park Assist, and I followed the directions provided by another forum member. However to no avail. I'll follow your guide, and I'll also take another look at the user manual. Like you said, hopefully if there is Park Assist then activating it may clear the urgent problems.

 

[V6Matty]

daft question but do you have Park assist or active park assist?

btw STAR is the diag software used by Mercedes to interrogate the systems on the car, they can check on anything using it

 

[John Laidlaw]

Don't think the OP knows, Matt, thereby lies his problem. I have active park assist

 

[mpwnbr]

It might sound extremely ignorant of me, but I don't know what the car has in terms of the various parking aids.

It clearly has Parktronic, so let's get that one out of the way.

Whether it has Park Guidance, Park Assist or Active Park Assist, or none, well that one is up for debate.

I tried following the instructions provided yesterday, and also referred to my User Manual, but I couldn't seem to get any of these to work. When I come to a stop adjacent to another car, with a suitable gap behind it, I was getting a "P" in a box appear on the dashboard display, but it wasn't accompanied by an arrow. When engaging reverse, there was no further guidance displayed on screen. This would therefore suggest I have no Park Assist on my vehicle.

If that be the case then I do wonder why I'm getting this "Park Assist Inoperative" when driving. The User Manual highlights a problem with the Park Assist (I love the German logic) when this message is displayed, so it looks like the car needs to go back into the Dealership for diagnosis and repair.

One final thought, I'd imagine the cars data card should contain all details of the cars specification?!

 

[s5tuart]

One final thought, I'd imagine the cars data card should contain all details of the cars specification?!

I think that if you post your VIN number in one of the "STICKYs" some kind soul will give you all the lowdown on all the goodies it has.

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=70826&highlight=vin

 

[mpwnbr]

Update........the car has Park Assist. I've managed to get it to activate after crawling along past parked cars, awaiting a suitable gap, and then seeing the arrow next to the "P". I've had this car 8 months yet not used this yet, I should be ashamed of myself. Anyway, the steering wheel didn't do it's things so it's Hereford not Ative Asssist, but at least now I know the car has Park Assist, and hopefully through its activation his might help clear the problems the car has been experiencing. Watch this space. Thanks again for the assistance.

 

[television]

Yes too late now but only the system on a 2007 car is the parking guidance code 230, and the same as mine.

Did you sort out your brake problem.

 

[John Laidlaw]

never too late Malcolm! I suspect this issue still has some solving to be done.
I also suspect the brake issue and the park assistance are linked.
I had a small issue with mine today when leaving a parking space, albeit it was using active park assist- for the first time since having my W212 I had what could be described as a 'gremlin'. I could clearly see that the car would clear out of the space with room to spare yet it displayed 'caution object in the way' or words to that effect, jammed the brake on and wouldn't let me accelerate out. Even when it made me reverse back to have a HUGE space (honestly a bus would fit through!), it appeared to be in retardation, like trying to drive with the brakes on, and no acceleration.I barely got out onto the main road, crawling. then lo and behold it cleared and off into warp speed with no warning. Not good.
Twilight zone moment, and sounds like some similarity to the Op's issue. Maybe not related and just coincidence?

 

[mpwnbr]

Malcolm, the brake problem isn't resolved yet, but I'm hoping this journey of discovering the car does have Park Asssist, will help me towards a solution.

And John you're right, the symptoms exhibited by your car are similar to mine, where the brake locks on and you struggle to accelerate. Your instance however has occurred when leaving a parking space, whereas mine occurs when on the open road, albeit slowing down towards a standstill.

Im sure it's all linked though, with a malfunctioning Park Assist knowing I'm slowing down, the sensors picking up objects nearby, the car thinking I want to reverse park, and then the system not kicking in properly. I think the car will have to go back to the dealership shortly.

On a positive note, what a beautiful car all year round, and even moreso in the summer, with windows down and the sunroof open!

 

[silver CL55]

+1
Did this today, car looks so different all "opened up"

On a positive note, what a beautiful car all year round, and even moreso in the summer, with windows down and the sunroof open!