Safety is paramount to all living beings. No matter who you
interact with, where you go, what you use for daily activities, how you travel
and so on, safety or being in a safe ecosystem while carrying out any of these
actions is a common denominator. Safety in a broader aspect of the term is a
condition of being safe or protected from any harm or other undesirable
outcomes. What safety also refers to is the recognition or awareness of various
hazards which can cause the risk of harm or injury. We live in a world where there is a lot of
reliance or dependency for support and assistance on machines and technology
for enabling us to carry out various activities/tasks. Cars are a very common
means of travel for humans. The risks and hazards involved with car travel are
infamous and common knowledge. While driving a car concentration and awareness
of the one’s surroundings is imperative, the loss of attention even for a split
second can lead to major consequences such as life-threating injuries and or
death. With more and more cars being driven on the road and an influx of latest
technology (for e.g. faster cars) the importance and emphasis on car safety has
never been more important. With the advancement of technology cars are getting
faster, more luxurious, smarter, more efficient and most importantly much
safer. Though there is a lot more technology keeping us safe in cars than what
was about half a decade ago, it is extremely crucial that we not only respect
our other fellow drivers on the roads; but also that we respect our car
equally.
Mercedes Benz has been a car manufacturer that has been
admired and loved across the world ever since its inception in 1926. In the
automobile world Mercedes has been an epitome for quality, luxury, cutting edge
technology and unwavering reliability. Mercedes Benz has also been one of the
pioneers for vehicle safety, striving for excellence in passenger and vehicle
safety. As per their official website, with Mercedes Benz being inventors and innovators
of the car, they claim to have a huge role and responsibility towards road and
passenger safety. With over 80000 patents filled for safety innovations one can
be rest assured that Mercedes Benz is playing a huge role in road and passenger
safety. With many firsts in automobile safety such as the first company to
perform Crash Tests to analyze the performance of cars in accident situations
in 1958, the inventors of Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) along with Bosch in
1978 Mercedes Benz has been at the forefront of passenger and vehicle safety.
Let us now look into the other safety and passenger protection systems
developed by Mercedes Benz.
- PRE-SAFE: Collision Avoidance Systems are very crucial to car safety. They are automobile systems designed to reduce the severity of a collision. PRE-SAFE is the collision avoidance system from Mercedes Benz. First introduced during the Paris Motor Show in 2003, this revolutionary system works with the assistance of a host of other systems such as the Electronic Stability Control (ECS), sensors measuring steering angle, acceleration and brake assist sensors (BAS) for detecting emergency braking and cameras placed around the vehicle. On anticipation and detection of a possible collision the PRE-SAFE system actively prepares the car, passenger by taking safety and preventive measures such as tensioning the seatbelts, raising the headrests forward to enable better support during impact, rolling up of the windows before an impending accident, closing the sunroof in case of a roll over situation. The PRE-SAFE Brake was later added to this system, this allows the car to monitor the traffic ahead with sensors and cameras and warn the driver 2.5 seconds prior to an impending collision and also waning the vehicle behind via the hazard lights. In case the driver does not react the car engages autonomous emergency braking.
- DISTRONIC PLUS WITH PRE-SAFE BRAKE: Distronic Plus with PRE-SAFE Brake is a radar based adaptive cruise control system. An adaptive cruise control system which can be deployed from 20-120 mph, equipped with infrared sensors and cameras the Distronic Plus system actively scans the traffic ahead for possible collisions. As quite a few road accidents are rear collisions, Distronic Plus with PRE-SAFE brake aims to prevent them. The system actively monitors the distance between the vehicle ahead and itself till up to 650 feet. If the gap between the 2 vehicles reduces by more than 650 feet the Distronic Plus warns the driver by emitting audible and visual alerts. In case the driver fails to react the PRE-SAFE brake engages autonomous braking by calculating the braking force required to prevent the collision. Once the distance between the 2 cars is safe (>650 feet) the car again goes into cruise control mode at the desired speed set by the driver.
- ATTENTION ASSIST: Driving can often be a tiring exercise often leading to driver fatigue, often experienced during long drives. This has led to numerous major accidents. Ever wondered if a system could warn you about fatigue whilst driving? Well…..Mercedes Benz has got you covered. The Attention Assist system, monitors the driving pattern of a driver and warns him of fatigue, sleep, tiredness symptoms. Within the first few minutes of driving the Attention Assist system makes an individual profile of the driver analyzing his driving pattern. Over 70 parameters actively monitor the driver over the duration of driving. When the system detects the signs of driver fatigue, sleep etc. it uses audible and visual signs to warn the driver. At the same time considering external conditions such as cross-winds, road surface etc.
- ACTIVE LANE KEEPING ASSIST: Maintaining lane discipline is a very crucial element of safe driving. Accidents often occur when a driver fails to respect the lanes. In order to avoid this Mercedes Benz has developed the Active Lane Keeping Assist. This system continuously monitors the road ahead by a camera mounted on the windscreen. Many a times due to driver fatigue or loss of concentration the driver unintentionally lets the car drift outside his lane causing accidents. In order to prevent this the Active Lane Keeping Assist monitors the driving conditions looking out for signs where the driver has unintentionally let the car drift away from his lane. In case this happens the system warns the driver by vibrating the steering wheel. If the driver fails to react the system automatically breaks the wheels away from the road markers, bringing the vehicle back in its lane; hence avoiding an accident.
- PEDESTRIAN PROTECTION:
The Mercedes Benz Pedestrian
Protection system is designed to protect the pedestrians. It is noted that in
most cases a head on collision can be fatal for a pedestrian. The Pedestrian
Protection system uses an Active Bonnet. On impact with a pedestrian the rear
of the bonnet is raised by about 50 mm. This raising of the bonnet reduces the
injury impact on the pedestrian.
This certainly reiterates the fact
that Mercedes cars are among the safest on the road. Mercedes has been a
guiding light for other car manufacturers and their safety innovations often
continue to serve as a benchmark for the industry.
