In my center console what is it for?

Phone cradle.

As Piet says... cradle for a puck/phone
old school...

get your free datacard for more info on your car

It's called the UHI or MHI. It indicates your car was originally wired to take a phone cradle, a device which attached to the plug you have found in your armrest. A phone (usually specific to the cradle) could then be slotted into the cradle which allowed hands free calling and also charged your phone. In that era, phone technology changed rapidly and the cradles fell out of use. For starters, you can't stream music through them.

Most people have by now changed their radio (head unit) to a blue tooth unit that is used to make/take calls from a paired phone and will also stream music, all using the buttons on your steering wheel. The advantages can also extend to navigation, internet and in some cases car-system monitoring.

Mine was missing and ordered from Amazon from a distributer in Germany. Unfortunately it is no longer available on Amazon but found on eBay MERCEDES MHI Bluetooth Module Adapter MHI Hands Free 2004 - 2013 | eBay

As otherels already said,you can connect a bluetooth cradle to it. In my experience a HFP cradle like this works best. They are out of production,try to get the latest version,B67880000.

Can anyone give any advice on how to remove it? Can it be done without removing the center console? The item takes up quite a bit of space in the center console and it would be great to remove it. Bearing in mind technology has moved on and I ams ure it will never be used again.

JayceeUK said:

Can anyone give any advice on how to remove it? Can it be done without removing the center console? The item takes up quite a bit of space in the center console and it would be great to remove it. Bearing in mind technology has moved on and I ams ure it will never be used again.

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posts 11 n 18 in this thread might help

JayceeUK said:

Can anyone give any advice on how to remove it? Can it be done without removing the center console? The item takes up quite a bit of space in the center console and it would be great to remove it. Bearing in mind technology has moved on and I ams ure it will never be used again.

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Those pucks still have value.
Price on commandonline a uk site.

jbanks15 said:

posts 11 n 18 in this thread might help

Phone cradle removal

I learned from a search that to remove the phone cradle, one needs push the little button at the upper left, push down on the unit and slide to the rear. Well, mine isn't moving. In fact the little button does not move. I even tried pulling the button up with a pair of needle nose pliers. It...

www.slkworld.com

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I think that is to remove the cradle that clips ono the interface. I have tried that but the unti wont budge.

JayceeUK said:

I think that is to remove the cradle that clips ono the interface. I have tried that but the unti wont budge.

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Maybe this helps. It is for the retrofit of the 386 option. On page 10 is the retrofit of the cradle contact plate. Maybe if you follow the steps in reverse order?

@55russamg is away at present, but he did quite a bit of work there to fit a phone charge point, or two.

Although he didn't do what you intend, he may have some tips.

Sneaky Pete said:

Maybe this helps. It is for the retrofit of the 386 option. On page 10 is the retrofit of the cradle contact plate. Maybe if you follow the steps in reverse order?

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That looks perfect thank you

Well I thought It looked perfect until I went out and then realised the diagram is for 05/06 mins is 08 where they have attached it somehow to the side wall of the center console compartment. I will work it out and report back

I use mine, it's a Bluetooth module and works fine with modern phones.
I have the original HK head unit. If you change to a modern unit it will be redundant.

I have now removed it as I have an aftermarket HU

Richard Harrison said:

My recently purchased SLK55 has the original Motorola phone thingy - keeping it for giggles... pretty much worthless with the Sony AX4000 upgrade on the car.

View attachment 628251

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Nice phone with the slk nose design

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