Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Ongoing innovation in the interests of safety: 50 years ago: all Mercedes-Benz passenger cars are equipped with safety steering including impact absorber
august 03, 2017 - Mercedes-Benz

Ongoing innovation in the interests of safety: 50 years ago: all Mercedes-Benz passenger cars are equipped with safety steering including impact absorber

An important step on a long journey: from August 1967, all #mercedesbenz passenger cars are equipped as standard with a new #safety steering system including impact absorber. These are two of numerous key modules of the Stuttgart-based brand in the holistic development of vehicle #safety. This includes details such as the conical-pin #safety door lock, which was patented in 1949, and the retractable Mercedes star from 1957 as well as fundamental concepts, such as the #safety body with crumple zones (1959), anti-lock braking system ABS (1978), airbag (1981) and Electronic Stability Program ESP® (1995). Setting #safety standards – this has always been a special concern of the inventor of the automobile. Today, #mercedesbenz is advancing its vision of accident-free and autonomous driving with the integrated Intelligent Drive concept, which also includes solutions for connected, autonomous, shared and electrified driving.

Stuttgart. The quest for increased #safety for driver, passengers and all other road users is a key theme in the brand history of #mercedesbenz. This vision has always been realised in an ongoing process of #safety development. The result is a host of innovations that set standards for the entire #automotive industry.

With the goal of vehicle #safety becoming ever more complex, since the 1960s engineers and researchers have made a distinction between active #safety (driving #safety, physiological #safety and operational safety) and passive #safety (interior and exterior safety). Today, the focus is on holistic solutions for integrated vehicle #safety that combine various systems. With Intelligent Drive, #mercedesbenz offers its customers assistance and #safety systems that guarantee maximum #safety, comfort and driver stress reduction.

Safety development for every era

A key element in the long history of #safety development at #mercedesbenz is the #safety steering system with telescopic steering column and impact absorber. It was introduced as standard 50 years ago – in August 1967 – for all #mercedesbenz passenger cars. It comprises two innovative components that reduce the specific risks to the driver in the event of a collision: in the event of a frontal collision, the telescopic steering column, consisting of several parts, collapses so that it does not penetrate into the interior of the vehicle. The additional impact absorber in the centre of the steering wheel is designed to absorb and reduce the kinetic energy when the driver is thrown against it in a crash. Its development dates back to a first patent granted in 1954.