A question for all american/canadian B-Class owners.
In the brochure it says that if a lightbulb goes defect, another one will replace the broken on. So if the brakelight goes, the rearlights will replace the brakelight.
And that if the front indicator goes that the front foglight will replace the indicator. And so on.
So it says in the brochure. But in real life this function is not available. And according to Mercedes it is an error in the brochure and not available on the A and B class.
So I was wondering of this redundant lighting function is working in USA/Canada ?
I have heard of that - I believe it is in the manual as well. I've never experienced a bad bulb (touch wood), so I can't comment on whether it works or not. I think it was part of the exterior and interior light package that became standard on the '07s but I may be wrong.
I have heard of that - I believe it is in the manual as well. I've never experienced a bad bulb (touch wood), so I can't comment on whether it works or not. I think it was part of the exterior and interior light package that became standard on the '07s but I may be wrong.
Jeff
Jeff. That's correct. It's in the manual and in the brochure (at least in Germany and Netherlands). But according to MB customer service it is not present on the B-Class.
And yet..... Last week I saw a B170 with a defective rightside brake light. But when the brakes were applied the rearlight joined in. So, this car either has a short circuit in the light unit (unlikely) or the redundant light can be turned on.
It's the same with the cornering function of the frontfog lights (you know, when you signal a turn, the foglight on that side joins in to illuminate the road). They say it's not available on the B. But since it is a function of the CANbus system it can be enabled. So yes, I also saw a B with the cornering function enabled.
The Manual says that this feature is part of the "Exterior Lights and Visibility" package (also called "Exterior sight and light" package in some regions).
@BenzBreeze, that's the one. I have that package. And curious as I am, I removed a light and watched what happened. As you may guess, nothing happened, only a notice on the instrument cluster that the light was defect. I tried brakelight, rearlight and front and rear indicator.
Then I called the ever friendy dealer and they looked it up and told me that, although it's in the manual it's not an the car. And they apologized.
But that was bit to easy for me so I wrote an email to customer service. And they also responded that the function is not on the A and B, and once again apologies.
So. It it's also in your manual, please try it for me, remove a brakelight or rearlight (quite easy) and see what happens. And complain to MB if the function is not there.
While I'm anything but an electrical engineer - I wonder if the act of physically removing the bulb effects the system? I wonder if the "circuit" breaks???
While I'm anything but an electrical engineer - I wonder if the act of physically removing the bulb effects the system? I wonder if the "circuit" breaks???
Yes, there is no way for CAN to tell whether the bulb is broken or simply missing. CAN measures the current flowing throught the lamp and not the presence of the bulb. Removing the bulb will simply break the current and trigger a notice of a defective bulb.
MY B200 manual does not show that function with regards to lighting. I received my car in Dec. 2005 and the dealer sales rep said my B was equipped with a compass as shown in my manual. There is no compass in my B. The manual shows my rear bench removes with a single lever motion and that is not the case.(2 bolts must be removed). So we can see there are still bugs to be worked out in the B class and it's hard to get info from our dealers. That's why a full repair and service manual for the B class would be of great help to all of us. One day soon I hope. Cheers, Derek
Today I spoke to my ever friendly dealer and they told me the following.
Yes, most of these things are functions of the CANbus (redundant lighting, cornering without Xenon), and yes, they probably will work on the B. But, if MB-Germany has not cleared the setting for that model and version car the dealer is simply not autorised to make the setting.
He told me that I would probably be able to do it myself, if I had the right setting and the proper equipment. I used to be a member of an European Audi club and we bought our own diagnostic computer especially for this. We used to charge member a small fee (5 or 10 Euro's) to make alterations.
Redundant lighting 
Linear Mode
