Beware Remote Boot Opening - it could cost you!

[Gordon-Hunter]

welcome!
As far as we are aware, MB don't monitor this forum so I doubt they will pay much attention (or any more than they have done thus far). Might be worth buying a cheap RFID wallet and popping your key in there as soon as the car is locked and see if that solves it for you. I think I've seen these in petrol stations for a couple of quid, certainly Amazon.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I also posted on the FB page, and the reply was "Hi Gordon, we are sorry to hear about the issue you are having with your boot. Have you already been in touch with your local retailer regarding this so our colleagues can investigate this?" No doubt, they'd love to charge me to investigate what is obviously a design flaw!

 

[Gordon-Hunter]

Some folk must be wering some very tight trousers to press the key fob to open a door....

Ha ha! That gave me a laugh. It's actually quite easy if you are sitting in a soft armchair, where the cushions wrap around your legs. Especially if you have other things in your pockets.

 

[S500 Pete]

I have registered here especially to send a warning to other Mercedes owners. My husband collected his first Mercedes 5 weeks ago - an absolutely beautiful brand new Mercedes C-Class Elegance - we loved it. It was going to be a lightly used car because we have an old run-around for work etc. We did a few trips but only put 500 miles on the clock in the first 3 weeks.

At the weekend, we took it out of the garage to wash it and then returned it, locked it and closed the garage door. The boot was firmly closed and in fact was not opened that day. The Mercedes keys were put safely in a drawer. Three days later, my husband decided to use the car - he put the keys of the Mercedes in his pocket and went to move the old car out of the drive.

Then he opened the garage - but the door stopped with a clang before going fully up. He thought it had just jammed so took it down and tried again with the same results. When he crawled under the door to look and see what was going on, he was horrified to discover that the boot was fully open and the garage door had hit it on the way up. It was scratched, badly dented and twisted out of shape through being pushed beyond its limits.

As you can imagine, we are absolutely sick about it. The car is now in the repair shop waiting for a new boot to be delivered. Luckily, he has a protected no claims bonus but he still has the excess to pay and cannot afford another mishap in the next year. Worst, the chances are that the car will never look as good again.

The only way we can see that this happened, is that the remote boot opening button on the key fob was accidentally pressed while the key was in his pocket and this opened the boot behind the closed door of the garage. The manual says you have to press and hold the button - but its only 2 seconds hold. The boot itself goes up like a bullet when you raise it - very powerful and quick.

We contacted Mercedes who say the boot opens like that because that's what their customers wanted - we reckon its downright dangerous. What if someone were leaning over the boot when the button is accidentally pressed? It could brake their jaw or worse! They say that all cars are being manufactured with this facility - I don't think that's true. Remote boot release Yes - swinging wide open at speed, No.

Mercedes also say there is a warning light if the boot is open - fat lot of good that is behind a closed garage. They say it is really difficult to press and hold the button accidentally - we disagree. The buttons are not recessed in any way and they are rounded outwards - pressing against any flat surface could do it.

I saw a post on another forum from a VW Passat owner who had a similar issue - he had his keys in his pocket, inside his house and leant over a kitchen work-surface to open a window. He didn't realise he had pressed the key against the edge of the surface and opened his boot.

Our problem is deciding what to do now. Mercedes say the facility cannot be disabled and suggested reversing into the garage every time. Yeh great - who wants to do that in a modern garage which is built to be just big enough to hold a car? The only other thing we can think of is to put a window in the garage wall and check every time to see if the boot has opened!

So beware all - don't walk away from your car with your keys in your pocket. Just bending down to tie your shoe laces could mean you leave your boot wide open - rain, snow, thieves, anything could result.

Sorry this is so long - but I really think it's worth it to warn people. Has anyone else had similar problems? What's your view on how easily this could happen?

Would locking the boot with the key when the car is in the garage work?

 

[Rappey69]

Ive had my w204 estate bootlid open whilst im at home, either twice or 3 times now..
I try to be extra carefull handling the keys to avoid it but it happens.. the car never unlocks, but then it locks itself if a door is unlocked but not opened so i guess i would never know. i dont think the tailgate even has a key hole?
The remote range is far more than it ever needs to be..