Convenience Feature
What is the Summer Opening and Convenience Closing Feature
On a really hot day as you walk up to your parked car, point the tip of the Remote Key at either Front Door Handle and press and hold the Open Button.
The Radio Frequency signal emitted by the Key will unlock the car. The Infrared signal emitted by the tip of the Key will initiate the Summer Opening Feature which does the following:
- All Windows will open,
- The Tilting/Sliding Sun Roof will slide open, and
- The Front Driver’s Seat Ventilation will turn on.
This immediately allows any build up of hot air inside the car to be dissipated.
Once underway you can close the sliding sunroof and side windows using the Convenience Closing Feature. Press and Hold the Recirculate button on the Automatic Climate Control (ACC).
Like wise when leaving your car parked, if you wish to close all of your windows and sunroof by a single command, point the tip of the Remote Key at the IR receiver in the Driver's Door Handle, and push and hold the Lock Button.
Issue 1
The Summer Opening and Convenience Closing Feature does not work properly or at all.
Solution 1
The windows and sliding tilting sunroof must be synchronized using the Global Synchronization technique explained in the Benz World Encyclopedia.
Refer to: W220 S-CLASS ENCYCLOPEDIA - START HERE. http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/
Issue 2
The Summer Opening and Convenience Closing Feature stops working due to cracked solder joints on the IR receivers in the door handles, presumably due to vibrations caused by the constant opening and closing of the doors.
Solution 2
Fortunately with a small amount of technical expertise they are easily fixed with a DIY repair.
Refer to BenzWorld Publication Version 01 posted 2012-02-02:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/1620660-convenience-opening-closing-feature.html
Testing Using C-Class Door Handle
A BenzWorld Member with a 2003 E320 and an intermittant summer convenience feature, was told by an independent garage that he needed to order a new IR receiver for the door and as this is a security item it can only come from a dealer @ $450 AUD + Labor to fit.
He tried a little experiment. He got a C-Class door handle that had an IR Receiver, connected it to his car and then tried using his own key. The summer features worked fine. This confirmed that the IR receiver was faulty. He didn't say whether he was able to transfer the C-Class IR receiver into his door handle.