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Old 07-08-2008   #1 (permalink)
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Default Very slow SLK

I haven't had the car very long and last night I set out home only to find that it would only trundle along at a snail's pace. After pulling in to the side twice (to let the queue get past!) I finally realised that I had knocked the speed limiter and it was set to 16mph. I hope that I'm not the only one that has done this!
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Old 07-08-2008   #2 (permalink)
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Huh? The cruise control? Or do you have something else? If it is a speed limiter, how did you "knock" it?
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Old 07-08-2008   #3 (permalink)
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One of my gripes with MB is why the cruise control is situated so high up and not put underneath the indicator stalk.

I've known many first time owners to have knocked it a coupe of times (on C-Class etc..)
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Old 07-08-2008   #4 (permalink)
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When one accidentally hits/knocks on the cruise control, the MFD will show that it is under cruise control. Even under cruise control, one can accelerate still and after letting go of the accelerator, the vehicle will slowly come back to the speed set by cruise control.

Perhaps the cruise control work differently in different countries.
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Old 07-08-2008   #5 (permalink)
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:-) So my C class has a "speed limiter" function built in to the cruise control - basically lets you set a max speed. I've never actually used it, and assumed that it would beep or something - not actually limit the speed!

I'll have to play with it on the drive to work tomorrow!
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Old 07-08-2008   #6 (permalink)
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Is handy for 30mph speed cameras here.
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Old 07-08-2008   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohnson View Post
I haven't had the car very long and last night I set out home only to find that it would only trundle along at a snail's pace. After pulling in to the side twice (to let the queue get past!) I finally realised that I had knocked the speed limiter and it was set to 16mph. I hope that I'm not the only one that has done this!
I did that the first time I test drove a SLK. Very embarrassing.
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Old 07-08-2008   #8 (permalink)
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I still don't get it. Do some of you have a speed limiter? Accidentally knocking the cruise control stick should not limit your speed if you use the accelerator. Unless you take your foot off the accelerator.
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Old 07-08-2008   #9 (permalink)
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I still don't get it. Do some of you have a speed limiter? Accidentally knocking the cruise control stick should not limit your speed if you use the accelerator. Unless you take your foot off the accelerator.
I think it might be an optional extra, but when you press the cruise control inwards a light comes on the stalk and it becomes a limiter instead of a cruise control. If you then nudge it up or down it sets at the speed you are doing at the time. The obvious answer is don't leave it set as a limiter. I know that now!
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Old 07-08-2008   #10 (permalink)
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Hmph! I'll be darned. First I've heard of that...
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Old 07-08-2008   #11 (permalink)
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People in the US don't have it fitted but its on the cars sold in other countries.

As others have explained you can use either the cruise function or the limit function, cruise is normally used on motorways and the limit around towns for obvious reasons.

To the guys who have been caught out by it - The system stops responding the requests for more throttle when you reach the set speed unless you use kickdown and at that point it goes to full throttle in a manual gearbox car and the kickdown function is enabled if you have an auto, it wont stop gradual acceleration like the cruise system does (i.e. It wont apply the brakes) so you can overshoot the limit speed on a downhill but it does alert you when that happens so you can brake manually.
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Old 07-08-2008   #12 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohnson View Post
I think it might be an optional extra, but when you press the cruise control inwards a light comes on the stalk and it becomes a limiter instead of a cruise control. If you then nudge it up or down it sets at the speed you are doing at the time. The obvious answer is don't leave it set as a limiter. I know that now!
Looks like in US spec vehicles, pulling the cruise control stalk towards the driver initiates the RESUME mode and not speed limiter mode. (per Owner's Manual)
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Old 07-08-2008   #13 (permalink)
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What it is Eddy mate is that you push the stalk inward toward the center of the steering wheel and a light illuminates to tell you that your in limit mode.
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Old 07-08-2008   #14 (permalink)
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What it is Eddy mate is that you push the stalk inward toward the center of the steering wheel and a light illuminates to tell you that your in limit mode.
Thanks mate. I'll check this out.
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Old 07-08-2008   #15 (permalink)
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I recently bought a car for my wife which is Euro spec and has cruise control and learned about the limitter on Monday while driving it to the dealer to have some work done. It got bumped while doing 165 kph so it wasn't much of a problem, but it was confusing for a minute while I had the throttle pushed and it wasn't going any faster. I guess it would be nice if you could set it permanently with a code or something for when your spouse or kids are driving the car.
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Old 07-08-2008   #16 (permalink)
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Some of them have a permanent speed limiter (i say some because its hit and miss with the different years and models) that you can set via the operating system but its for winter tires so has a fairly high limit.
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Old 07-08-2008   #17 (permalink)
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Besides the fact that all US spec SLKs have a pre-set electronic speed limiter (it's 147 mph on our SLK 280), I know of no driver-adjustable speed limiter on them. To change that speed limiter would require some hood-up tech work, and is not something that can be done from the driver's seat.

I'm still unclear if the European spec SLKs have a driver-controlled speed limiter. Do they?

If I did have one of those, I would want it disabled as soon as possible. Dangerous! What if it were accidentally activated, and it became necessary for me to get out of somebody's (or some thing's) way, and I couldn't?
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Old 07-09-2008   #18 (permalink)
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I just checked, US spec cruise control stalk has no speed limiter setting. Pulling the stalk towards the driver activates the RESUME instruction for cruise control. I am unable to push the stalk in towards the center of steering wheel.
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Old 07-09-2008   #19 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolebludger View Post
Besides the fact that all US spec SLKs have a pre-set electronic speed limiter (it's 147 mph on our SLK 280), I know of no driver-adjustable speed limiter on them. To change that speed limiter would require some hood-up tech work, and is not something that can be done from the driver's seat.

I'm still unclear if the European spec SLKs have a driver-controlled speed limiter. Do they?

If I did have one of those, I would want it disabled as soon as possible. Dangerous! What if it were accidentally activated, and it became necessary for me to get out of somebody's (or some thing's) way, and I couldn't?
I have a user-adjustable speed limiter in my CH-speced 2009 SLK280. Well actually two. One is a hard limit programmed from board computer and best used for permanent limitations, like for use with winter tyres with different speed ratings. This limit cannot be overridden once set; it can only be reset wit board computer. And there is no way to set it beyond the maximum speed of 250km/h.

The second is a soft one and is easily adjusted with the stalk on the left of the steering. Push the stalk towards center of steering wheel and an orange light comes up on the stalk. Press up (parallel to steering wheel) and the limiter is set to current speed. Press up again and the limit is raised by 10km/h ot the nearest multiple of 10. Press down and it comes down by 10km/h (reminder : the granularity on cruise control is 1km/h).

The speed limit is displayed in the bottom part of the dash display.

When you accelerate, the car will go up to that speed and will not further accelerate. It indeed feels a bit numb once there. :-) In an emergency, kick down and the car will jump forth as the limit is removed. I have tried that and it works fine (minus the delay for the 7G to react of course, but that is independent of setting the limiter).

A press on the stalk towards center of steering wheel will turn off the limiter.

I very often use this in city driving. The limit around here is 50km/h so I set the limiter to 60 and do not have to worry (too much) about speed cameras. Quite handy on highways too if the traffic is dense and precludes use of cruise control.

Well of course, now and then I forget that I have it on and start wondering why the engine is so wimpy. A press on the stalk and all is back to normal.

All in all, a very nice feature. May be one with the occasional (mild or limpy) surprise... but the consequences are not dramatic.

All the best.
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Old 07-09-2008   #20 (permalink)
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Quote:
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To the guys who have been caught out by it - The system stops responding the requests for more throttle when you reach the set speed unless you use kickdown and at that point it goes to full throttle in a manual gearbox car and the kickdown function is enabled if you have an auto, it wont stop gradual acceleration like the cruise system does (i.e. It wont apply the brakes) so you can overshoot the limit speed on a downhill but it does alert you when that happens so you can brake manually.
In the manual it does say that it applies the brakes, which made me wonder if it would wear out the pads, but I suspect that the manual is wrong. It feels more like an electronic limiter but a soft one, not a sudden limit. It would be better if it made some sort of noise to alert you to what was happening. When I stopped for the second time I was actually going downhill and it still seemed not to go over 16mph.
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