@LeccyLen

Is there some menu somewhere stupid that has an option to turn it on automatically below a fixed speed rather than just when you select Reverse? I'd also wonder whether the reverse switch might be weird.

 

The fix is to drive in a straight line at 15mph or less for at least 100m, perhaps a fair bit more. This then enables the camera to complete the calibration process and from then on it shouldn't keep popping in and out at low speeds. Certainly mine is OK now, but the lanes around here are pretty narrow so driving slowly is normal and this gave it time to complete the calibration process.

 

Thanks! Is this required every single time you start the car? If so, that is a bizarre design decision.

 

It is a safety feature as pointed in one of the above post. There are several reasons for it and one of them is the self parking ability of the car. Everything works together: sensors, front camera, rear camera. I don't really see what the issue is that the camera pop out when you start the car. It happens ONLY once when you drive away the car, our car doesn't do this at every stop. So if the OP have an issue with this happening all the time, he should visit MB service to sort it out.

One other reason for the camera to be activated is location. The car seems to remember (GPS/Maps/Location) where you are using the reverse/camera/parking frequently and pops out even before engaging reverse (my wife EQA does it). As soon as we drive the car, passing the front gate and the camera pops up because we always reverse our cars in front of the house to face toward the gate.

 

How can you say that this is not a problem? You have to drive crazy slow in a perfectly straight line AND during daylight. Anything else and the camera fails to calibrate. Is Mercedes now saying that they cars are not designed to drive at night? There are hundreds of Mercedes owners complaining about this design fault and Mercedes is simply closing our complaints with a response "camera works as designed". I also have a BMW with reversing camera, which does not have this design fault.

 

My 2021 EQA has never done anything like this. When I select reverse to go out of my garage the camera operates and by the time I drive around the garage it closes up and will only operate again when I select reverse. Very occasionally it will attempt to open when moving forwards if one of the rear proximity sensors thinks I am too close to an obstruction but that’s really rare.

 

Seems only to affect late 2023 onwards cars (i.e. the facelift models with NTG7) from what I can gather. I'm not 100% sure, but believe this behaviour is linked to the newer Rear Cross Traffic Alert system. Some have suggested that the newer system ties the ultrasonic sensors with the rear camera to enhance this capability, and the calibration is needed to ensure the two sensor systems are properly synchronised. No idea if this is correct, though.

 

I've just been in the car testing a few things and still haven't been able to resolve it. The camera pops out a random number of times. I tried driving in a straight line for about 300 yards at 15mph. This made no difference. I think made a short 1 mile trip to some local shops. this involed going over a lot of slow speed bumps and thus, activating the rear camera constantly.

One the way out, I counted 6 times and on the way back, I counted 11 times before the camera stopped popping out. It is pretty easy to replicate. I accelerate to 20mph+ and as soon as I slow to <16mph, the camera triggers. This happens every time for a random number of cycles before it stops completely, so this kind of illimates the theory of the Rear Cross Traffic Alert system being the cause, as this would and should happened 100% of the time.

 

Sounds like it's not getting to complete the calibration sequence. Those are the classic symptoms that have been very widely reported on other MB forums since the release of the NTG7 cars towards the end of last year.

AFAIK there is nothing you can do about it, others have taken their cars in to try and get them fixed, all MB do is say it's normal behaviour, apparently. Not just the EQA, seems to affect other models in the range, too, including ICE models. Apparently it's particularly noticeable on the A class hatchback, as the noise of the camera popping in and out is reputed to be about the same as the sound of the central locking.

 

This raises a couple of questions for me, the cross traffic alert is supposed to warn you of other vehicles approaching when you’re reversing out of a parking spot I don’t see how the rear camera is going to help as it doesn’t have a 180° field of vision and so would only detect a vehicle when it’s within a few feet of being right behind you.
If the camera is a necessary part of the safety system it would presumably not be performing its function if it isn’t calibrated and there would be many instances where the criteria for calibration aren’t met, as in the above cases where the camera has multiple unsuccessful attempts to calibrate, so I can’t really see the point of this system as there will be a lot of time when the camera will not be aiding the rear cross traffic alert anyway.
I wonder why the calibration only occurs when the car is moving forward, you would have thought that if the idea was to help with the rear cross traffic alert it should be calibrated when reversing.
In Jeremy’s post #7 he said it needed driving at below 20kph that is just over 12mph so maybe 15mph is too fast for the calibration?

 

This raises a couple of questions for me, the cross traffic alert is supposed to warn you of other vehicles approaching when you’re reversing out of a parking spot I don’t see how the rear camera is going to help as it doesn’t have a 180° field of vision and so would only detect a vehicle when it’s within a few feet of being right behind you.
If the camera is a necessary part of the safety system it would presumably not be performing its function if it isn’t calibrated and there would be many instances where the criteria for calibration aren’t met, as in the above cases where the camera has multiple unsuccessful attempts to calibrate, so I can’t really see the point of this system as there will be a lot of time when the camera will not be aiding the rear cross traffic alert anyway.
I wonder why the calibration only occurs when the car is moving forward, you would have thought that if the idea was to help with the rear cross traffic alert it should be calibrated when reversing.
In Jeremy’s post #7 he said it needed driving at below 20kph that is just over 12mph so maybe 15mph is too fast for the calibration?

I may well be completely wrong, but having read several threads on MB forums about this, with various (often conflicting) replies from MB, I think that the way the system works is this:

MB have tried to sync up the ultrasonic proximity sensors at the rear of the car with the rear view camera, to enhance the rear cross-traffic alert system.

They have found that atmospheric conditions can alter the calibration used to sync these two different systems (changes in air density from temperature and humidity alter the ranges detected by ultrasonic sensors, due to changes in the speed of sound).

To get around this they've opted to try and calibrate (really just sync up) the apparent distance measured by the ultrasonic sensors to that measured by the camera. For whatever reason they have chosen to do this calibration when the car starts and is driven forwards in a more or less straight line (guessing here but I think they may be using the distance from the road behind the car as the reference).

If the car exceeds the low speed calibration window before the process has completed it goes back to square one and starts again when the speed drops below the set calibration speed threshold. This can happen several times, as the system seems to be too dumb to recognise things like normal traffic stops at junctions, etc.

The result is that some owners will regularly experience the system taking multiple attempts to try and calibrate the sensors, simply because their driving pattern doesn't fit with the daft set of constraints that MB have implemented. In theory this should be something that could be fixed by a software update, but for the past 8 or 9 months it seems that MB have been in denial about this being an issue.

 

There is something wrong with your software/calibration. What you are describing @LeccyLen in your post 14 is just so out of line that it is hard to believe that is happening. You definitely need to take your car to a dealer.
Good luck and keep us posted if they managed to sort anything (they bloody should)

 

There is something wrong with your software/calibration. What you are describing @LeccyLen in your post 14 is just so out of line that it is hard to believe that is happening. You definitely need to take your car to a dealer.
Good luck and keep us posted if they managed to sort anything (they bloody should)

Very common issue - MB will not fix it, they say it is normal!

A class rear view camera constantly opening at slow speed | Engine

Just joined this group and have a question for A class owners. Bought a new 2023 A class 180 in April and I have an issue with the rear view camera. When I first set off the rear view camera opens then closes once you get to about 20mph. Thats no problem so far. What happens next is a problem...

forums.mbclub.co.uk

Rear camera opens at speed below 25km/h - MBWorld.org Forums

GLE Class (V167) - Rear camera opens at speed below 25km/h - Hi there, thanks letting me join this family. I have an issue found at my 2024 GLE Rear Camera opens when speed below 25km/h. I knew it is doing calibration; thus I ran a straight road at speed less than 15km/h, then camera did...

mbworld.org

https://www.aclassclub.co.uk/threads/facelift-model-switching-sound-from-back-of-car.23850/

GLA 200 Reverse Camera constant recalibration each ignition start

If you have the same issue please read the details below and My dealership spent 3 weeks with software update, renewed camera control unit and replacement camera then to be informed this is per design is a ploy to stop complaints. I have sent this to cs.uk@cac.mercedes-benz.com as I was informed...

forums.mercedesclub.org.uk

https://www.benzworld.org/threads/clunking-noise.3128292/

 

I just had a thought about this that might be wrong but at some point just prior to the time I bought my EQA there was an announcement from Mercedes that they were having to discontinue the self parking feature on their cars due to some unspecified safety regulations, what they did was to remove the ability to parallel park and only allow the car to be able to self park perpendicular to the kerb. I wonder if this camera calibration malarkey is an attempt to regain the autonomous parallel parking ability. Just wondering if any of you with constantly calibrating cameras have the parallel parking function? Or maybe they’ve not got to that stage yet but could be working towards that.
It’s just a shame that Mercedes are so reluctant to communicate with owners about this, judging by the posts on the other forums mentioned they seem to not care about losing customers good will.

 

Mine will self park into a parking space, not tried it parking next to a kerb yet, though. TBH it does a pretty good job of finding a parking space, just need to drive past a spot, let it detect it, then hand over control and let it back in.

 

There is a button on my centre console and I was quite surprised this came with the basic model however, I've yet to be able to get mine to work yet, but that's probably just me.

Earlier today, I pressed the park button and the parking screen appeared on the left display like it was scanning fog a spot. This was right beside about 10 lined empty parking spaces and it didn't recognise any of them. Certainly no 'P' symbol popped up which is what I think is supposed to happen. Am I missing a simple step? It's not something I've really looked into. Thanks!

 

My 2021 model does the perpendicular parking thing too but won’t parallel park, I think I read Mercedes removed that facility from most of their cars around 2021 due to some UN regulation as some of their sensors weren’t sensitive enough. Ford were in the same position but Tesla & VW, probably others were able to carry on. I thought Mercedes May have found a workaround by increasing the accuracy of the rear camera and linking it to the proximity sensors. They might be trying out the extra camera calibration bit first to see if the camera motors are going to stand the extra workload before committing to the whole parking bit.

 

My 2021 model does the perpendicular parking thing too but won’t parallel park, I think I read Mercedes removed that facility from most of their cars around 2021 due to some UN regulation as some of their sensors weren’t sensitive enough.

Hmm, this is interesting 🤔. Our EQA is January 2022 build car and it does self parking both ways (parallel and perpendicularly) without a problem.
If MB have changed the software to prevent parallel parking features they for sure missed out our car 🤣

 

Update: The car was with my local dealer to look at a few minor issues, of which the camera repeatedly popping out was one of them. As expected, they said no fault found. Considered normal operation, without going into any detail. The service advisor explained that it was used for parking. I think this is nonsense, because it would come out EVERY time when slowing down to park and the P light on the dash comes on. This doesn't happen, so I'm still not convinced this is normal operation.

I brought a few other issues up too, of which none of them were fixed, and the advisor I found was extremely patronising, so it was a poor and pointless visit. Now I'm not sure what to do next!

 

FWIW, my EQA definitely doesn't do this, I checked a while ago but forgot to update this thread. The rear camera only opens when it's definitely needed, not at any other time. It's also pretty quiet, I can barely hear it opening and closing. After reading your issues @LeccyLen I'm sure that you have some sort of problem, as that doesn't seem to me to be normal behaviour.

My car is a 2024 EQA AMG Line Premium +, but I doubt that the actual model variant makes any difference, given they all have the same camera AFAICT.

 

Thank you. It's good to find another owner with the same car but doesn't have this issue. Mine is only the basic Sport Exec model, but I'd be surprised if the camera is any different.

I'm not really sure where to go next. I'm still seething at the condescending attitude of the service advisor.

 

Totally confused by this my EQC and EQE have never done this and the EQE has NTG7 EA 445.

Paeallel parking was removed in 2021 my eclass had it the EQC did not and it was because the car did not meet the specifics of the UN rules which came into force at short notice albeit they were expected. I think the EQE (Dec 23 built Sept time I think and then it had to be shipped from the states🙄)I will have to look into it but never use the parking aids just avoid parking parallel to the kerb too much risk of my fellow citizens squeezing into non existant gaps as they do!

VW use a similar camera which pops out in the same way so the physical items are pretty standard the software of course………

Mine has lost some of our profile settings several times this last week and I am beginning to wonder if we are getting wretched OTA updates having read Mercedes were going to give the EQE automatic lane change facilities that way (model year 23.01) would be good if they did as I find activating the lane change assist a bit fiddly and a pain (flicking the indicator with a perfect degree of force too much and the indicator just comes on too little and again the short burst indicator works…..)Everytime it has had software updates in the garage so profiles have needed attention….hence my wondering.

UK dealers seem absolutley dreadful no wonder Mercedes wants to deal direct only they do not seem to realise they need a matching Tesla service operation too……….

 

I read that in the US, where the consumer rights are much stronger, Mercedes started installing a foam kit, to at least muffle the annoying sound the camera makes all the time and work around this design flaw. I contacted Mercedes UK and asked about the foam kit, but they refused to provide any answer and just closed my complaints with the usual response "the camera works as designed".

 

If the camera coming out when driving at slow speeds and the P light comes on then clearly the car thinks you want a parking space!
So the next question is have you left a setting on for the car to search for spaces automatically? I do not use the self parking at all but know if I want to I can hit one of the buttons on the always displayed bar at the bottom,Ihave noticed it come on once of it’s own accord but took no notice. I am therefore pretty ignorant of what settings options it has.
The cars and MBUX are very complicated and many users are not as tech savvy as others. MBUX is in general very intuitive to use for all the simple stuff but starts becoming very user unfriendly when you want to personalise options, I was tearing my hair out trying to switch between km and mph last week and it is there when the car is switched off buried in a sub menu which I have forgotten yet again! Yet the car can automatically swaps between time zones and RHD and LHD light adjustment but not the speed units.
On this issue I think it is a simple software issue, either a glitch in the system or a settings issue and a decent service centre should be able to deal with it either with explanation to the customer or a software update (assuming it is corruption).
And this issue will no doubt be exactly the same in the current ICE. The EQC worked flawlessly and my EQE has no issues. Do remember if you have the 360 view the rear camera will pop out as it is needed to generate the image, on moving forward off a friends drive last week with vehicles parked ahead the front sensors brought up the park tropic with its 360 option so of course the rear camera popped open and my friend said our boot was open…….VW use the same system as far as I can tell too as their badge pops out in the same manner it does keep the camera clean though!

 

I think I've got to the bottom of this. I routinely turn off or on several things that are on or off by default when the car starts, one of those is PARKTRONIC, another is Active Lane Assist, another is the audible speed limit warning, plus I turn on dashcam recording. As an experiment I left PARKTRONIC turned on just now. This results in the rear camera flapping in and out every time the car slows to 20mph.

It may be possible to get the car coded to reverse the default setting, so that PARKTRONIC is off when the car starts and needs to be actively selected when you want to use it. I'm planning to get my car coded to change several of the annoying defaults, so will ask if it's possible to change this setting as well.

 

Hi Jeremy, my 2024 C43 has the camera issue. It’s driving me crazy. I only purchased my car early November 2024.
Did you manage to code the car to change the default settings?
Thanks for your help

 

I have a real beef with Mercedes with the naming of all their different systems which I find confusing and less than clear so there is Parktronic and then there is Active Parktronic and already my eyes are glazing over…….I expect the car to warn me automatically when I am close to obstructions when I am manouvering which mine does and that incls an image in the heads up plus the 360 camera coming on with images on the main screen which change from Birds Eye to front or back as the manouvere progresses. I can also pull up the 360 image whenever I want and then choose front back or side (so long as the speed is slow enough) and I have it set to automatically come on as I enter our drive. Now am I using straight parktronic or active parktronic or something else…….that is something I simply cannot be bothered to try to unravel as the manual is not that clear either. Does Active Parktronic only refer to putting the car in a parking space I am not clear and not really bothered actually as the car does what I want ….. but I am a Mercedes driver of 17yrs and am still unsure of all the nomenclature.
I wish the car would default to Dauto by the way!

 

@Parkwood ,

I share your frustration! This is only the second Mercedes I've owned (the other was an SLK about 25 years ago) so I'm still working out exactly what each of the inconsistently named features really does. I'm working on a list of things I want to try and get re-coded to change their default behaviour, mostly turning annoying things off by default, rather than on. Around here Active Lane Assist is a PITA, as it flips on and off all the time because it struggles to find the edge, or middle, of the lanes. The audible speed limit thing is also irritating, as there's a long stretch of derestricted lane that the car believes is still a 20mph zone.

I've found someone that can change the coding in the car to alter some of these settings, but haven't been able to confirm if some of the more obscure ones, like making PARKTRONIC off by default (as I believe it used to be) can be changed.

 

I have an A200 - July 2024 build - with the same problems . According to the Mercedes internal document I got from the service Center this is normal operation for cars fitted with parktronic module Park213M and Park223 and they have rear view camera with code 218 or code 501 ( camera 360). This is the most stupendous system in a car ever and terribly annoying at night when there is not enough light for the camera to self calibrate and stop opening and closing continuously. Whoever designed this should be fired !!!

 

Thanks. The obvious question is why? Why is this normal operation? Why does the camera take 5-15 attempts to calibrate every single time the car is started?

That is absolutely ridiculous. It may be be "normal" to them, but it certainly isn't normal to anyone else.

What's the lifespan of the camera motor I wonder? How many operations before I wears out?

 

I have had this camera system since 2021 on the EQC and the EQE and there is absolutely no issue so what is different Between the EQA and it will be the same surely in any ICE as many of the system cross over the whole range. I am perplexed. I shall dig around in the Mercedes forums as I have not actually seen any other reports other than this thread.
Parktronic used to be a simple button to turn on and off in the c /e I had but there are lots of things that are mandatory to switch in automatically in differing countries and also cars can be differently equipped so that may explain some of the decisions taken by all manufacturers re what they set as standard and not.
Be warned having turned of via third party coding some ”safety” features you could be at risk of insurance issues.

 

Be warned having turned of via third party coding some ”safety” features you could be at risk of insurance issues.

I checked this a while ago. If the feature can be turned off by the driver as standard (which is the case for everything I have in mind) then there are no insurance related issues if you get the car coded to just change the default settings from on at every start (so needing the driver to select them to off) to being off at every start (so needing the driver to select them to on).

In my case the settings I routinely change every time I start the car are to start the dashcam recording (it is set to off by default), turn off ALA (set to on by default, but you cannot turn off ELK) and turn off the audible speed warning (only because the car always gets a local speed limit wrong - it thinks an unrestricted lane is 20mph for some bizarre reason).

I don't get the clacking noise from the camera on my EQA now, although it did happen for a time initially, I think because it had a problem doing the calibration, but I can't be sure.

 

We’ll have done some research and it seems this is an issue right across the range of all MB BUT not all cars display the same problem mine does not for example. One that had passed me by.
In my case I reverse then after exiting the drive have a straight 150m lane to traverse but frankly I can barely hear the camera open or close on mine it was more noticeable on the EQC but even then hardly an issue which would impinge on me.
As with anything Mercedes getting to the bottom of it is difficult but I doubt they are alone with this issue, the camera idea is used in VW Audi etc.
I am a little confused with the ALA I too live in a rural area and have absolutely no issues it simply does not engage as there are no road markings…….so is it a matter the system has been “improved” to include roads and lanes with out markings and this is causing the spurious readings that means it brakes to push you to one side?
Ok I am a Mercedes fanboy ie my last 6 cars have been Mercedes but I can criticise them too however I just find all the driving aids in my car work well and are not an irritant to me rather they make driving less stressful I just wish profiles could remember your favourite settings other than just seating like d auto for a start…..
The new software may well be as troublesome given Microsoft were involved why Mercedes why my experience of using Microsoft products has never been good!

 

ALA constantly tries to engage on my EQA. It's very rare to not have at least one of the lines activated, almost always both with be on, even on single track with passing places lanes. It seems to be massively more sensitive than the equivalent system on the I Pace, possibly even more sensitive than the system on the Tesla (and the Tesla system was a nuisance on some roads).

 

My car is now in for the 3rd time since I got the car new about 6 months ago. The second time it was in for the noisy wipers, they finally fixed them. The noise was horrendous, so thank goodness they sorted it. First time they told me the usual "normal operation" nonsense.

The other faults I mentioned they didn't even bother to address at all, which is very frustrsting.

After being quite firm with them on my 3rd visit, within a few hours of me leaving the car off, they suddenly found a bunch of faults (which I was complaining about even before the 1st visit).

My parking sensors are faulty and 1 or more need replaced, the BMS needs a fix applied and the MBUX system needs an update (mine would occasionally get stuck in an boot cycle, making it completely unusable), and finally, the reverse camera!

They agreed that my reverse camera is too noisy and so, they are replacing it, but they did tell me that the camera will continue to open/close as before as per design

I live in an area with a lot of speed bumps and turns, and now we are in the depths of winter here in the UK, my camera will infinitely pop in/out when it's dark, presumably because it cannot fully calibrate.

I'll just say again, this is one of the worst designed systems in a car I have ever known. I'm still not convinced this is by design. I'd guess they just don't know how to fix it. No one on their right mind would intentionally design a camera to operate in this way. So you would think!

I'll let you know how the new camera performs but if I were to take a guess, it will barely make any difference, it at all.

 

My car is now in for the 3rd time since I got the car new about 6 months ago. The second time it was in for the noisy wipers, they finally fixed them. The noise was horrendous, so thank goodness they sorted it. First time they told me the usual "normal operation" nonsense.

The other faults I mentioned they didn't even bother to address at all, which is very frustrsting.

After being quite firm with them on my 3rd visit, within a few hours of me leaving the car off, they suddenly found a bunch of faults (which I was complaining about even before the 1st visit).

My parking sensors are faulty and 1 or more need replaced, the BMS needs a fix applied and the MBUX system needs an update (mine would occasionally get stuck in an boot cycle, making it completely unusable), and finally, the reverse camera!

They agreed that my reverse camera is too noisy and so, they are replacing it, but they did tell me that the camera will continue to open/close as before as per design

I live in an area with a lot of speed bumps and turns, and now we are in the depths of winter here in the UK, my camera will infinitely pop in/out when it's dark, presumably because it cannot fully calibrate.

I'll just say again, this is one of the worst designed systems in a car I have ever known. I'm still not convinced this is by design. I'd guess they just don't know how to fix it. No one on their right mind would intentionally design a camera to operate in this way. So you would think!

I'll let you know how the new camera performs but if I were to take a guess, it will barely make any difference, it at all.

This is my second car with a rear pop out camera and they must have changed the system the question is why is it the OEM? I have no issues with mine at all. Are the same things happening in the. w world who also have the same🤷‍♀️

 

I've said this before in this thread, but it's not happening with my 2024 EQA either. Also, I can barely here the camera when it does legitimately pop out, I have to really listen out for the slight noise as it does so.

 

I've had 2 different 2024 EQAs as loan cars whilst mine was in getting fixed and they both have the same problem. One of them seemed to be a lot quieter though, but definitely still happening.