Vehicle safety

Our Road to Accident-free Driving. Vehicle safety has always been one of our brand attributes. Our engineers have consistently been ahead of their time when it comes to the development of new safety technologies. Our Road to Accident-free Driving strategy continues to motivate us to make mobility as safe as possible for all road users.

This strategy encompasses four areas of action:

1. Prevention: Avoiding accidents is our prime objective. To make road traffic safe, we do not leave drivers on their own when they get behind the steering wheel. Active safety technologies that are designed to counter frequent causes of accidents help and support drivers perform their tasks. These systems continuously check the motorist’s physiological condition, scan the vehicle’s surroundings, and provide stability during dynamic driving.
2. Response: Our key response system is PRE-SAFE®, which synergistically combines active and passive safety measures. With the help of sensors from vehicle safety systems such as ESP and Brake Assist, PRE-SAFE® can recognize dangerous situations early on in order to warn the driver and prepare the vehicle for an impending accident.
3. Protection: Daimler conducts a large number of different crash tests that go far beyond meeting legal requirements. When developing our safety systems, we also draw on data produced during more than 40 years of our own accident research. These developments also benefit road freight traffic safety, as demonstrated by an underride guard for trucks, for example. Moreover, many innovations that were first used in Daimler vehicles (e.g. airbags, the ABS anti-lock braking system, and ESP) have now become standard features in the automotive industry.
4. Rescue: Whenever there is an accident, the first priority is to quickly rescue vehicle occupants so that the accident’s consequences can be kept to a minimum. We therefore assist rescue workers by providing them with online rescue guidelines and rescue data sheets for our cars and commercial vehicles. These guidelines and data sheets show the rescue workers how to stabilize the vehicles and extract the occupants quickly and safely.

Mercedes-Benz safety research aims to avoid accidents and minimize the consequences of those that do occur. To make this possible, we orient ourselves on real-life safety situations, using a development philosophy based on real-life accidents and their causes. In doing so, we always want to make sure that drivers can travel stress-free and maintain their full ability to concentrate. To help make this possible, we offer comfort-oriented springs and seats, a low-noise environment, effective headlights and windshield wipers, and a simple and safe system of operation. Should drivers nevertheless get into critical situations, our safety systems will help them deal with the danger as effectively as possible.

Taking curves safely. With its pioneering innovations, Daimler has been improving vehicle safety for many decades. The latest of these developments is the ACTIVE CURVE SYSTEM. In the third-generation Mercedes-Benz M-Class introduced in 2011, the safety system ensures smooth driving around curves, thus delivering greater agility, more driving fun, and significantly increased safety, especially at high speeds. Hydraulically operated cross-stabilizers on the front and rear axles balance out the roll angle generated by the driving speed and curve radius when the vehicle is going around a curve. The regulation of the cross-stabilizers is adjusted to the current driving conditions. As a result, the system provides a high degree of stability during highway driving and enables better axle articulation when driving at low speeds in rugged terrain.

Innovative safety systems in the compact segment. PRE-SAFE® celebrated its premiere in the S-Class in 2002, and now it’s also available in the new B-Class. This anticipatory occupant protection system from Mercedes-Benz is thus entering the compact vehicle segment. In the new model series, it comprises safety functions such as closing the side windows and the sunroof in critical situations where high lateral dynamics are generated, reversible tensioning of the seatbelts, and automatically adjusting the power passenger seat with a memory function.

A further innovative assistance system in the new B-Class is COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST. This radar-based system draws the driver’s attention to an impending rear-end collision. In Germany, rear-end collisions cause about 22 percent of traffic accidents involving injuries or fatalities. In the U.S., rear-collisions even account for 31 percent of such traffic accidents. The use of COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST substantially reduces the risk of an accident, as demonstrated by driving simulator tests with 110 motorists.

Using radar, the system measures the distance to the vehicle up ahead and identifies situations where there is a risk of collision. On the basis of the calculated moment of impact, it activates visual and acoustic warning signals. At the same time, the system prepares the brakes to decelerate the vehicle to the degree required. If the driver reacts to the warning by forcefully stepping on the brakes, COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST automatically makes the optimal braking power available. If the driver of the vehicle up ahead speeds up during the braking maneuver, the system reduces the braking deceleration. In the new B-Class, COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST operates in a wide range of speeds, extending from 30 to 250 km/h. This is an advantage compared to other brake assist systems for this class of vehicle, which only operate in a more restricted speed range.

Active engine hood protects pedestrians. If a traffic situation becomes critical and leads to an accident, it is essential that more vulnerable road users in particular do not suffer serious consequences. As a result, vehicles such as the new Mercedes-Benz M-Class of 2011 are equipped with an active engine hood that protects pedestrians and cyclists during collisions. As soon as the sensors in the front section of the vehicle register a collision with a pedestrian, the system raises the rear of the hood within a fraction of a second in order to provide more room for deformation. The improved packaging of the components in the engine compartment also creates room that can have life-saving consequences during a collision.