Mercedes warranty...........

[killthecaravans]

I wonder if any of you have experienced this level total stupidity......

Have a three month old Merc as my "sensible" car. I want to have a car phone kit fitted for a Nokia 6310. Orange state that they will ONLY fit the car kit if they use a "body-mounted" aerial. I am told that this is a Merc requirement as apparently glass mounted aerials cause troubles with the car's electronic systems and invalidate the car's mechanical warranty.

However, having a body-mounted aerial fitted invalidates the bodywork/rust warranty. I asked what if a Merc dealer was to fit it, and received the same answer (even if using a £70 Merc aerial!).

Therefore, can have a car-kit fitted, but cannot the mount aerial anywhere is what ever is done invalidates the car's warranty!

Someone tell me I'm not going mad!

[roop]

Surely they're not allowed to produce such badly shielded electronics that a low power RF device such as a cellphone can cock them up. I'd say bugger it and fit one of those tax disc antennas. I bet loads of people have done this or similar and it's just Daimler Chryslers way of getting people to spec their silly-priced phone kits onto their cars rather than get their local installer to fit one.

...apparently glass mounted aerials cause troubles with the car's electronic systems

[pawsmcgraw]

just cos you happened to mention badly shielded electronics i thought i would mention this crazy one.My neighbours Case tractor,50k,a 2002 one,cuts out everytime he drives under the main grid power lines on the paddock.Totally shuts down.You drag it 50 metres away and it starts!Also,if the power take off is running and he puts his mobile phone on the shelf behind him it diconnects the pto.All under warrenty but theres nothing they can do.Its just badly sheilded electronics.
Just incase anyone was remotely interested

[308gt4]

all the new Mercs I've seen have the car kit already fitted for Nokias, tried my phone out on it.

One thing about fitting non-standard car kits, make sure the manufacturer installs it as I had a guy who said he's installed many kits in new Bmers nearly burn the car to the ground as BMW changed the way they wire things up

[DennisTheMenace]

Merc are speaking out of their arse , ive worked on a few mercs ,And ive always put the ariels in the front bumper under the headlight and they have worked fine worked fine

[spnracing]

308gt4 said: all the new Mercs I've seen have the car kit already fitted for Nokias, tried my phone out on it.

This is an optional extra - and quite an expensive retro fit.

[marki]

spnracing said:

308gt4 said: all the new Mercs I've seen have the car kit already fitted for Nokias, tried my phone out on it.

This is an optional extra - and quite an expensive retro fit.

I belive it can not be retro fitted

[phib]

We have a retro fit kit for a nokia 6310 in my mums sl (000 W)we had the same problem to start with but got round it with the Nokia kit that replaces your tax disc holder with the ariel(its like a very thin cassete case) , it just suctions on to the windscreen displays your tax disc and acts as the ariel deffinatly as good as the old style ariels if not better.
We also have the same one on a BMW for the same warranty issues.
If you want any more details just let me know.

[Marshy]

Shirley, if a glass mount antenna would bugger the electrics, then so would a mobile phone used sans
antenna inside the car.

An external antenna, whether body- or glass-mount can probably only have a few dBi gain, so I can't see the extra power being a factor either.

Sounds like a load of old arseblankets to me.

>> Edited by Marshy on Monday 24th February 11:29

[corozin]

I have retrofitted a Nokia kit into my own car, and used one of the new "licence holder" types of aerial (where the aerial doubles as a holder and fits onto the windscreen)

No need for external aerials, doddle to fit, and the aerial cost only £25 at my local Orange dealer (who recommended it!)

John

[davidy]

Since your 6310 has bluetooth, why not use an incar bluetooth kit such as Parrot or a bluetooth headset.

I use a Sony Ericsson T68i with HBH-30 Bluetooth headset, which I find comfortable, even for 4 hours at a time.

A big advantage of a headset over a car kit is privacy from your other occupants (important in some lines of business!), the disadvantage is that you look like an extra out of Star-Trek

davidy

[gbgaffer]

With regard to Merc/Case tractor, I assume that both of these items are CE marked. One of the requirements of CE marking is the ability of the 'device' to withstand interference from other electrical devices. Compliance with this EU directive cost European Industries £illions, and I wonder why these two manufacturers are 'allegedly' exempt?

[spnracing]

Phib - is your Mums phone kit the one that integrates with the steering wheel/computer display? How much did it cost?

Obviously you could fit any normal car kit including bluetooth, but the Mercedes versions tell you who is calling on the dash in front of you (quite cool) and you can page through the SIM card directory using steering wheel mounted buttons.

I had a standard car kit fitted to my Mondeo company car. In three years it developed about 5 annoying rattles - and all five could be attributed to the fitting of the poxy phone kit. The rest of the car was entirely rattle free for 85K.

[davidy]

But you could mount your phone (in bluetooth mode) on the dash so you can see the front LCD and voice dialing renders going through the phone list manually out of date.

I can handle all my call functions by pushing a single button on my bluetooth headset. I can even be busy by telling the incoming ringtone by voice!

davidy

[chrisgr31]

davidy said: Since your 6310 has bluetooth, why not use an incar bluetooth kit such as Parrot or a bluetooth headset.

I use a Sony Ericsson T68i with HBH-30 Bluetooth headset, which I find comfortable, even for 4 hours at a time.

A big advantage of a headset over a car kit is privacy from your other occupants (important in some lines of business!), the disadvantage is that you look like an extra out of Star-Trek

davidy

Are the Bluetooth kits going to comply with the new legislation concerning talking on the phone whilst driving? I thought I read that any headset wold be banned, and only fully wired in kits were acceptable.

[killthecaravans]

Thanks for the input. Well, after speaking to Mercedes and three dealers (all of whom said something different), the way forward is to mount the aerial under the front wing/bumper as this seems to keep everyone happy. Quite what difference this has in terms of R/F to a glass mount aerial on the front or back screen I can't seem to figure out, but there we go.......

[DennisTheMenace]

I fittted a phone kit to a new shape E class yesterday and the ariel was glass mount on the rear window works fine