Mercedes-Benz vehicles are more than just a mode of transportation; they offer beauty, comfort and adventure – not to mention a suite of safety innovations that have revolutionised the driving experience. 

Behind the scenes of every Mercedes-Benz vehicle, a sophisticated array of technologies work tirelessly to help keep occupants – and other road users – safe. Though these safety systems are often hidden, they are crucial for protecting drivers and passengers. 

At our headquarters in Germany, experts like Jochen Haab, head of Active Safety and Testing, and Matthias Kaiser, senior engineer Automated Driving, have spent their careers developing a range of safety systems to help prevent and mitigate road accidents. Their hope, however, is that drivers never have to experience the full extent of these systems’ capabilities. 

“Comfort [is something] you experience every day, but safety systems are something we hope you never need,” Jochen says. 

The pair recently travelled from Stuttgart to Melbourne, where they shared their knowledge about the future of vehicle safety and the driving assistance systems from Mercedes-Benz. 

Pioneers of safety

Many of the safety features that are standard in today’s vehicles were pioneered by Mercedes-Benz. Notably, a variety of passive safety systems – which are designed to minimise injury to drivers and passengers during a collision – were invented or developed by the brand, before being widely adopted across the automotive industry. These include crucial advancements like crumple zones, airbags, and seatbelt pretensioners.

“We have a high interest in making the roads safer for everyone, not just Mercedes-Benz customers,” says Jochen. 

While passive safety systems have helped save countless lives on the road over the years, they are just one aspect of vehicle safety. According to Jochen, a car also needs active safety systems – and that’s where his team comes in.

Active safety systems include features like autonomous braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and parking assistance systems. They are designed to help the driver maintain control of the vehicle, avoid hazards and help minimise the risk of crashes from occurring at all.  

The Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), which prevents the car’s wheels from locking during emergency braking, and Electronic Stability Program (ESP), which prevents skidding, were both developed by Mercedes-Benz and are are now standard across the industry and a requirement in all Australian cars. 

Active Brake Assist and Evasive Steering Assist

Active Brake Assist and Evasive Steering Assist are two critical safety features inside models such as the all new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedan. They are particularly useful when driving on urban and suburban roads, allowing the car to promptly detect hazards such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists and activate the necessary safety systems to help avoid a collision. 

For example, the Active Brake Assist feature will warn the driver whenever a collision is likely, and ensure the appropriate amount of braking force is applied to bring the car to a complete stop. Or, if the driver fails to react at all, the system will automatically initiate emergency braking. 

The Evasive Steering Assist feature is helpful when steering around pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles that suddenly enter the path of the vehicle. The system will automatically adjust the steering force to help the car navigate safely around the hazard. After these evasive manoeuvres, it assists in guiding the vehicle smoothly back into its lane when conditions allow.

Active Parking Assist

In models like the all new Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV,  the Active Parking Assist feature with a 360° camera enhances both convenience and safety. Not only does it conveniently detect available parking spaces as you approach them, it can also manoeuvre the car in and out of the space at a speed of 4km/h (increased by 2km/h compared to the previous generation). Plus, when parking, the car is capable of detecting when something is in its path.

“Say, for example, you want to get out of the vehicle after parking and there’s a cyclist travelling by – the car will alert you to that,” Jochen explains. “Or say you are parallel parking but there is a small child behind the vehicle, the car will detect this on the sensors and it will stop.”

Congestion Emergency Braking Assist

Specially designed for highway driving, the Congestion Emergency Braking Assist feature, available in models like the all new EQE SUV, will detect when there is a stationary vehicle in the driver’s path. If the driver does not react, and there is no space to swerve around the obstacle, it will brake to help avoid a collision. 

It also emits a warning sound to bring the driver’s attention back to the road whilst flashing the rear brake lights to alert other road users to a potential hazard.

“If you got distracted and didn’t see a stationary car ahead of you, the car is able to brake from 100km/h to a complete stop, which is very spectacular,” says Jochen.

This feature has been tested exhaustively and at varying speeds, simulating driving head-on towards the end of a highway or a traffic jam with multiple cars standing in the way, without braking. Each time, the Congestion Emergency Braking Assist system brings the car to a complete stop and avoids impact.

Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC 

The Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC system reveals just how far Mercedes-Benz has come in terms of vehicle safety. 

Available in vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC offers level two autonomous driving, aiding the driver in multiple ways. It uses Adaptive Cruise Control to adjust the vehicle's speed and maintain a safe distance from the car ahead, and Active Lane Keeping Assist to gently steer the vehicle back into the centre of its lane. 

When activated, the system can also initiate Automatic Lane Change – a feature that’s yet to arrive locally, but will be capable of overtaking a slower-moving vehicle at speeds of 80-140 km/h. This will only occur on freeways when there is a clear path of travel and the driver has both hands on the wheel.

By automatically responding to changing road conditions, Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC helps reduce driver fatigue, enhance comfort and improve safety – particularly on long drives or in heavy traffic. It is easily activated and deactivated via the steering wheel and can be manually overridden at any time by pressing the brake.

Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC is a step on the journey toward more automated driving. Mercedes-Benz recently developed the world’s first internationally certified conditional automated driving system (SAE Level 3) known as DRIVE PILOT. Offering conditionally automated driving at up to 60 km/h on highways, DRIVE PILOT can detect unexpected traffic situations and cope with them independently. 

At level three automated driving, a vehicle can safely take over most of the driving tasks and give back valuable time to the driver. While this is currently available on selected Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Germany, California and Nevada only, it offers some insight into the future of vehicle safety, and the brand’s ongoing commitment to innovation and putting safer systems on the road.

“The ultimate goal of Mercedes-Benz is zero road fatalities,” says Jochen. “We are sticking to that goal, that vision, and we strongly believe that the technologies we have coming up will bring us closer and closer to achieving it.”

Experience our innovative safety technology firsthand at one of our Mercedes-Benz Driving Events.