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Mercedes has showcased futuristic safety features that could one day be commonplace on mainstream cars.

The car maker has created its first Experimental Safety Vehicle since 1974 - the ESF 2009, based on an S400 Hybrid - which features over a dozen safety innovations, most of which are fully functioning.

One of the most interesting systems is an auxiliary brake fitted into the floor of the car. The braking bag inflates when the car senses an imminent crash, creating friction and in...Read the full article

Still can't beat good old passive safety and decent driver education.

Accidents happen, it is a fact of life and a fact of driving.  It's admirable that Mercedes are trying to reduce the risk to their drivers, but this is treating the symptom not the cause.

Autocar:

One of the most interesting systems is an auxiliary brake fitted into the floor of the car. The braking bag inflates when the car senses an imminent crash, creating friction and in...

That will be nice. Some fat cat sliding his bloated S Class on a cushion of air into the side of my car, jacked up to cause maximum damage to me and none to his smug mug. I'd rather his steering wheel was fitted with a large steel spike to encourage safer driving.

TegTypeR:

Still can't beat good old passive safety and decent driver education.

Accidents happen, it is a fact of life and a fact of driving.  It's admirable that Mercedes are trying to reduce the risk to their drivers, but this is treating the symptom not the cause.

 

Cannot help thinking that you are missing the point a little Teg. I do not see anything in Mercedes is doing as treating symptons and not the cause. Naturally I agree that passive saftey and driver education are absolutley vital, but having active systems to compliment this is surely only a good thing? Other innovations in the past like Airbags and ABS have worked out well, why not these systems?

I suppose you could argue that people will rely on these things to get them out of trouble, rather than prevent it in the first place with more considered drving, and you would have a good point. The alternative is not to introduce these systems. Imagine someone you love dies in a crash and the death could have been prevented by any of these innovations. Not a pleasent thought, but worth considering.

TegTypeR:

Still can't beat good old passive safety and decent driver education.

Accidents happen, it is a fact of life and a fact of driving.  It's admirable that Mercedes are trying to reduce the risk to their drivers, but this is treating the symptom not the cause.

Teg,there are no buts in this situation. if Mercedes want to invest billions of pounds

in safety gear that will save lives then thats to be commended. historically whatever

innovations appear on the S-class will filter down into the lower range models and

indeed into mainstream cars too.

i also agree that driver education is important too but for once lets all applaud Mercedes

for helping to protect lives !

Autocar:

One of the most interesting systems is an auxiliary brake fitted into the floor of the car. The braking bag inflates when the car senses an imminent crash, creating friction

 

They've been watching too many Hannah Barbera cartoons at Mercedes.  Didn't Fred Flintstone use this technique to brake with his feet :-)

Howey:

for once lets all applaud Mercedes for helping to protect lives !

I do applaud them for doing something.  The point I was trying to make is perhaps if we educated drivers rather than cosseting them we wouldn't need these features.

There are too many drivers who consider themselves to be infallible because of the various protective features.  People seem happy bowling along in their cars at 100mph because they feel safe.  Give them a Morris Minor and let them do it then!

Consider the cost implications of all these extra features, and not just at purchase time.  I have a friend who had a Renault Clio with side impact bags.  They hit a kerb sideways at a low speed, setting off the side air bags.

Even though there was no damage to the car (wheels, bearings, suspension etc), the deployment of the airbags, tensioning of the seat belts and subsequent breakage of the seat itself and trim in the car that the repair bill totalled over £2000.

Now, whilst in a serious accident there is no cost that can be put on someone life, this sort of every day situation is ridiculous.  Where does it all stop. 

I know this is a grey area, and there are argument for and against.  In the real world though, accidents happen.  Fact.

Autocar:

Mercedes has showcased futuristic safety features that could one day be commonplace on mainstream cars.

Existing features such as side impact bars could be inflated by pressures of between 10 and 20 bar, saving weight when they are deflated and allowing for other safety measures to be fitted in the saved space.

How does having a deflated metal tube save weight? surely you need a pressurised canister with the gas in that adds weight, not reduces it.

I doubt MB would need to fit gas canisters as they could use the compressor from the Airmatic Suspension as fitted to all current S-Class's to power the system?

And by replacing the current, solid side impact bars with hollow items, a weight saving would be surely be realised.

TegTypeR:

Give them a Morris Minor and let them do it then!

I'm pretty sure that accident statistics show that roads were far more dangerous when the Morris Minor and its ilk were common place. I'm all for better driver training, but I don't see that as being mutually exclusive to safer cars. Mercedes can do something about the cars we drive, but they're not responsible for the driving test.

Howey:

i also agree that driver education is important too but for once lets all applaud Mercedes

for helping to protect lives !

They aren't protecting my life, as I seem to die a little everytime these people think of another way to add weight to cars and remove responsibility from them.

The airbag, ABS, front and rear crumple zones...most of the major safety inventions were introduced by Mercedes, and they are still being used today.

What might seem extravagant or unnecessary now might be viewed differently in a few years time; old people didn't like the refrigerator when it came out because they were doing fine without it, but when they started using it, they saw its advantages and found it difficult to live without it; the mobile phone was an unnecessary object, especially with the SMS function, but now nearly everyone uses them and we would never dream of not owning one.

What these have done is made our lives less complicated, and certain things we do now are much more simplified than in the past, which saves time and hassle.

That's what Mercedes is doing: creating yet again world-first safety features which will reduce stress while driving and make it easier for the driver to concentrate on more important areas, and help us if we forget to do something in the moment of panic. Driver training is important, and people who abuse this technology to drive faster should be condoned, but that doesn't mean that those who make a genuine mistake should suffer because of these idiots.