'Surround Lighting' Stopped Working

[Ron240]

Most cars for many years have had a feature that turns on the exterior (DRL) lights when unlocking the vehicle, which then stay on for a set number of seconds or until the engine is started.
Mercedes call this feature Surround Lighting and it can be enabled or disabled in the vehicle settings.
I always have this feature turned on because it is pleasing and reasurring to have my car light up when it is unlocked at night.
A few days ago I unlocked my car during the hours of darkness and I immediately thought something didn't seem right but I couldn't put my finger on it...then I realised that while the interior light came on the exterior ones did not.
The first thing I tried was to go into the settings and make sure the Surround Lighting was turned on...which it absolutely should be because I am the only person who has access to my car and I knew I hadn't turned it off.
As expected it was still enabled in the settings.
There is nothing wrong with any of my exterior lights because they all work as they should, just not now when the car is unlocked for some reason.
My exterior light switch off delay is no longer functioning either.

I am at a loss to understand why this feature has suddenly stopped working on my car, but if it has happened to me then it will surely have happened to others.
The only other thing I can think of trying is to reset everything to factory settings and see if that cures the problem.
I will do this at the weekend.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

If that doesn’t work check the voltage of the main battery it should be 12.6V anything under 12.4V can lead to consumables not being enabled. I’d give the battery a good charge and see if that helps

 

[Blobcat]

I'd turn it off in settings lock and then turn it back on

 

[mioba]

I'd turn it off in settings lock and then turn it back on

I would change the settings and confirm the changes, go for a walk and then go back to change it how you want.

Sometimes a case of electric magic.

 

[Ron240]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
I just went out to my car and disabled Surround Lighting in the settings then locked it and came back inside.
I checked the Mercedes me app on my phone and it is confirmed as off.
I will leave it till the morning to enable it again and see if it has cured the problem.

 

[anyweb]

check the setting of your light switch in the car, is it set to Auto, or off (0) ?

 

[Ron240]

check the setting of your light switch in the car, is it set to Auto, or off (0) ?

Always set to Auto.
I remember on one of my cars a few years ago auto lights was a default setting and could not be turned off...which I felt a little annoyed about at the time because up till then I had not used auto lights and preferred to make my own decisions when to turn on my headlights.
It didn't take long during my ownership of that car that I came to appreciate the benefits of using auto lights and have never looked back since.

 

[anyweb]

double check though, i tested my car just now, when it's not set to auto the lights behave exactly as you describe and don't come on... setting back to auto resolved

 

[Ron240]

double check though, i tested my car just now, when it's not set to auto the lights behave exactly as you describe and don't come on... setting back to auto resolved

Well...is my face red at the moment!
My first reply to you was very genuine, I always use the auto light setting and wouldn't use anything else now so I knew (or thought I knew) it couldn't be that.
However when getting in my car this morning and just before I went into the settings to re enable the surround lighting I glanced down at the light control dial...and it was set to On!!

Since this problem first occurred a few days ago I have only been driving my car in dark or near dark conditions so I wouldn't think it strange that my headlights always turned on with the engine because auto lights would do that anyway.
I can only assume that I have brushed against the light control dial and accidentally moved it to the on position without realising.

Lesson learned then, but I do very much appreciate everybody who took the time to reply.

P.S. I had seriously considered not owning up to this and just putting it down to one of those weird unexplained things that magically seem to fix themselves.

 

[mioba]

hahahahha

 

[anyweb]

Well...is my face red at the moment!
My first reply to you was very genuine, I always use the auto light setting and wouldn't use anything else now so I knew (or thought I knew) it couldn't be that.
However when getting in my car this morning and just before I went into the settings to re enable the surround lighting I glanced down at the light control dial...and it was set to On!!

Since this problem first occurred a few days ago I have only been driving my car in dark or near dark conditions so I wouldn't think it strange that my headlights always turned on with the engine because auto lights would do that anyway.
I can only assume that I have brushed against the light control dial and accidentally moved it to the on position without realising.

Lesson learned then, but I do very much appreciate everybody who took the time to reply.

P.S. I had seriously considered not owning up to this and just putting it down to one of those weird unexplained things that magically seem to fix themselves.

I'm glad you got it sorted,
it's really nice when the lights do the 'dance' when you turn on the car at night..

cheers
niall