6 ms·

Illuminated Mercedes-Benz badge can cause power steering failure

31 points by rconti 6y ago

h2odragon 6y ago
A bad ground connection on a decorative light can kill the power steering, and one of the headlights an wipers... Without more details of the desing and just how that's possible; we can't say for sure... but it sounds as if some incredibly stupid design choices have been made in this vehicle. What other such joys await undiscovered? "Don't double pump the brakes on a Tuesday if its over 60% humidity or the gas tank explodes?" Will each car be individually possessed by some demon that requires a propitiation ritual before the car runs? They learned this from the Chrysler partnership, didn't they.
- linksnapzz 6y ago
  I'm tempted to agree, save for the fact that I don't think anyone at Chrysler (even Lee Iacocca, after a three-martini lunch) would think of trying to sell people on an illuminated Pentastar hood ornament for their LeBaron or New Yorker. They knew their customers, and more importantly, they knew that their customers knew about their q.c. history.
- intricatedetail 6y ago
  Sounds like they picked it from Apple where they like to run high voltage traces next to low voltage ones...
- rasz 6y ago
  No, this is not Chrysler thing. Mercedes and its famous german engineering is a feel good myth. One of their biggest fuckups happened in 1991 when they used bio degradable plastic wire insulation. All 91-96 cars defective: http://www.mercedesdefects.com/2008/04/wire-harness-defect.html http://www.mercedesdefects.com/2008/04/wire-harness-defect.h...
  - op00to 6y ago
    Everyone did that. Same problem with a Volvo of that time period.
    - Andys 6y ago
      Yet mysteriously, Japanese cars of the era proved to be some of the most reliable cars ever made
      - ehnto 6y ago
        I am looking forward to seeing if the later generations have the same longevity.
  - rconti 6y ago
    Is this like the RoHS insulators found on 'deathstar' disks, among others?
- ehnto 6y ago
  One undocumented feature of my car is the taillights being on the same circuit as the dash backlight. This is so when the taillights blow the fuse, your dash goes out, and you think to check the fuse for the dash, and that also fixes the fuse for your taillights. I did not know this, and on occasion I would just drive without the dash backlight. Until a kind motorists yelled at me in Australian and I figured it out. There is a lot about cars that parallels programming, especially if you work on your own cars.
dcormier 6y ago
Those illuminated brand logos are so tacky. I hope the trend ends quickly, with a whimper.
- chanmad29 6y ago
  While not 100% related, I loved the apple logo on a mac
- linksnapzz 6y ago
  I wish I could remember where I saw it, but somewhere someone had the data on Mercedes options. The illuminated logo was most popular on the cheapest models; least popular on the E-class station wagon, which while not cheap, is far from their most expensive.
  - SavageBeast 6y ago
    MB should make that illuminated star standard and charge a fee to remove it. They would make a fortune on the upper models. I sure as hell wouldn't have it on mine. Its not too uncommon for owners to remove the model designation emblems from the rear of the car too. If you bought the cheap engine, nobody will know how much money you didn't spend. If you bought the expensive engine, your boss wont know how much extra money you spent.
    - llampx 6y ago
      I always knew that badge delete was common in Germany, but after living here a while I really appreciate how clean it makes the back of the car look. Once in a while you see a car with like 5 different badges for trim, performance and whatnot on the back, and you think, "that looks tacky". The only thing that's getting in the way of an even cleaner look is that the manufacturer badges are getting massive. I don't need to know at 50 meters that the car in front of me is a VW.
      - SavageBeast 6y ago
        Thankfully for the other German manufacturers, BMW has released a line of grilles for 2020 that will forever distract us from whatever shenanigans are going on out back. MB had the award for Tackiest Grill nailed down forever with that light-up star thing - and along comes BMW to blow them out of the water.
o-__-o 6y ago
I once had a 2000 Audi that had an electrical failure which causes my wipers, turn signal, and a/c blower motor to fail. You see they all operated off of a shared relay which died while I was leaving a toll booth during a bad rainfall in the summer. Lucky for me the rain stopped 15min later and I had a soldering iron at my destination. (The solder did not hold and failed during the return trip but it was a nice day for the trip)
ivan1783 6y ago
Any ideas for the root cause? My guess is this stupid badge is connected to the CAN bus and the bus dies due to lack of ground, causing the other devices on the CAN to go into some safe state. I guess the article is exaggerating "power steering failure" - it probably goes into a safe state rather than completely dead.
- Doxin 6y ago
  I imagine it might just be on the same fuse as the left headlight. Bad grounding on the badge causes a short and hey presto a whole bunch of stuff conks out.

31 points by rconti 6y ago

A bad ground connection on a decorative light can kill the power steering, and one of the headlights an wipers... Without more details of the desing and just how that's possible; we can't say for sure... but it sounds as if some incredibly stupid design choices have been made in this vehicle. What other such joys await undiscovered? "Don't double pump the brakes on a Tuesday if its over 60% humidity or the gas tank explodes?" Will each car be individually possessed by some demon that requires a propitiation ritual before the car runs? They learned this from the Chrysler partnership, didn't they.

linksnapzz 6y ago
I'm tempted to agree, save for the fact that I don't think anyone at Chrysler (even Lee Iacocca, after a three-martini lunch) would think of trying to sell people on an illuminated Pentastar hood ornament for their LeBaron or New Yorker. They knew their customers, and more importantly, they knew that their customers knew about their q.c. history.
intricatedetail 6y ago
Sounds like they picked it from Apple where they like to run high voltage traces next to low voltage ones...
rasz 6y ago
No, this is not Chrysler thing. Mercedes and its famous german engineering is a feel good myth. One of their biggest fuckups happened in 1991 when they used bio degradable plastic wire insulation. All 91-96 cars defective: http://www.mercedesdefects.com/2008/04/wire-harness-defect.html http://www.mercedesdefects.com/2008/04/wire-harness-defect.h...
- op00to 6y ago
  Everyone did that. Same problem with a Volvo of that time period.
  - Andys 6y ago
    Yet mysteriously, Japanese cars of the era proved to be some of the most reliable cars ever made
    - ehnto 6y ago
      I am looking forward to seeing if the later generations have the same longevity.
- rconti 6y ago
  Is this like the RoHS insulators found on 'deathstar' disks, among others?
ehnto 6y ago
One undocumented feature of my car is the taillights being on the same circuit as the dash backlight. This is so when the taillights blow the fuse, your dash goes out, and you think to check the fuse for the dash, and that also fixes the fuse for your taillights. I did not know this, and on occasion I would just drive without the dash backlight. Until a kind motorists yelled at me in Australian and I figured it out. There is a lot about cars that parallels programming, especially if you work on your own cars.

dcormier 6y ago

Those illuminated brand logos are so tacky. I hope the trend ends quickly, with a whimper.

chanmad29 6y ago
While not 100% related, I loved the apple logo on a mac
linksnapzz 6y ago
I wish I could remember where I saw it, but somewhere someone had the data on Mercedes options. The illuminated logo was most popular on the cheapest models; least popular on the E-class station wagon, which while not cheap, is far from their most expensive.
- SavageBeast 6y ago
  MB should make that illuminated star standard and charge a fee to remove it. They would make a fortune on the upper models. I sure as hell wouldn't have it on mine. Its not too uncommon for owners to remove the model designation emblems from the rear of the car too. If you bought the cheap engine, nobody will know how much money you didn't spend. If you bought the expensive engine, your boss wont know how much extra money you spent.
  - llampx 6y ago
    I always knew that badge delete was common in Germany, but after living here a while I really appreciate how clean it makes the back of the car look. Once in a while you see a car with like 5 different badges for trim, performance and whatnot on the back, and you think, "that looks tacky". The only thing that's getting in the way of an even cleaner look is that the manufacturer badges are getting massive. I don't need to know at 50 meters that the car in front of me is a VW.
    - SavageBeast 6y ago
      Thankfully for the other German manufacturers, BMW has released a line of grilles for 2020 that will forever distract us from whatever shenanigans are going on out back. MB had the award for Tackiest Grill nailed down forever with that light-up star thing - and along comes BMW to blow them out of the water.

o-__-o 6y ago

I once had a 2000 Audi that had an electrical failure which causes my wipers, turn signal, and a/c blower motor to fail. You see they all operated off of a shared relay which died while I was leaving a toll booth during a bad rainfall in the summer. Lucky for me the rain stopped 15min later and I had a soldering iron at my destination. (The solder did not hold and failed during the return trip but it was a nice day for the trip)

ivan1783 6y ago

Any ideas for the root cause? My guess is this stupid badge is connected to the CAN bus and the bus dies due to lack of ground, causing the other devices on the CAN to go into some safe state. I guess the article is exaggerating "power steering failure" - it probably goes into a safe state rather than completely dead.

Doxin 6y ago
I imagine it might just be on the same fuse as the left headlight. Bad grounding on the badge causes a short and hey presto a whole bunch of stuff conks out.