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Volvo has this feature -- dubbed City Safety -- already on the road. It may seem snobbish to some, but I'd never let myself, my wife, and my future children dr

Volvo has this feature -- dubbed City Safety -- already on the road. It may seem snobbish to some, but I'd never let myself, my wife, and my future children drive anything but a Mercedes or Volvo. Between the two of them, they've been behind nearly every safety system developed in the last 40 years. I feel good about knowing that our hard work has let us put my wife in a car, for her 30 minute commute, that has 12 airbags, that monitors her blindspot and will prevent her from changing lanes when it's occupied, that monitors her alertness and sounds alarms if she begins to fall asleep at the wheel, that vibrates the steering wheel if she accidentally begins to drift out of her lane, that watches for stopped traffic or obstacles in her path and will apply full force braking in microseconds in a way that her human reflexes just cannot, that has seats designed to prevent whiplash, and seatbelt pretensioners, and an extra firewall in the engine compartment to prevent intrusion. Not to mention, compared to the often under-engineered competition, it has handling and performance capabilities that can plausibly prevent accidents where any of those things would be necessary in the first place. Neither of us has ever yet, to our knowledge, counted on these things to save our lives. But knowing they're there, makes me feel much more comfortable when she leaves home.

jzycrzy 15y ago
Have you considered working for either Volvo or Mercedes Marketing department?
acangiano 15y ago
I'll buy my first car in a few months (at the tender age of 31). I was eyeing Mercedes already, and your comment only confirms everything I've read about it. Do you know if these features are available in their class C cars, or do I need to get an E class?
- encoderer 15y ago
  Actually, yes. Most of those will be available on the C class starting MY 2012. If you live in North America you can probably expect 2012's to be available in September and October. You can pre-order now, of course. Including a wonderful option where you go to Germany, pick the car up as it rolls off the line, drive it around Europe for up to 30 days, then drop it back off to them to have it shipped to the US: And you get the car at dealer invoice less 8%. That's a little involved for a first time Mercedes buyer, but I wanted to make you aware of it, it's a very great program they've got there. The C is a great car. We've got one in our family. If you have any questions, http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204-83/ http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204-83/ is a great C Class forum. I'm active there under the same handle.
  - acangiano 15y ago
    Awesome. Thanks encoderer.
mostapha 15y ago
That's interesting, because Mercedes's Traction Control system almost killed me one night. Apparently it's possible to accidentally induce a very slight but controllable oversteer slide by overshooting the exit to a fast curve and touching a rumble strip with the outside tires. No surprise there. In a normal car, you keep your front wheels on the line you want to follow, release power, then smoothly add power to "shift weight" to the rear wheels and increase traction (acceleration causes the rear suspension to compress, making the rear tires push harder on the ground, increasing the normal force and increasing rear wheel traction). Doing that stops the oversteer (rear wheel skid). In a Mercedes, the car assumes that you're an idiot for doing that, cuts engine power to the drive (rear) wheels, and applies breaks to the OUTSIDE REAR WHEEL. That procedure has the effect of decompressing the rear suspension and decreasing traction to the rear wheels, which are already skidding. The slide that resulted was unrecoverable. Yank the parking break and shift into neutral while in a hard corner at 40mph if you want to know what it felt like. For a few seconds, my instincts and the car's Traction Control fought each other as I tried to correct for the skids that improperly braking the rear wheels was causing. Finally, I came to rest having skid across the double yellow…and then somehow the automatic transmission stalled. It was a "mistake" that could have been fixed in less than a second driving a 1908 Model T. After a hundred years of innovations, Mercedes has completely removed the driver from direct control of the vehicle, WITHOUT an option to turn off those so-called "features." I spent the next several months talking to people who did tuning for Daimler-Chrysler for a shop in Montana, cracking ECU encryption to reprogram the fuel injectors and intake system to perform well at high altitudes. And apparently there's no good way to turn off that Traction Control system except removing large chunks of code from the ECU, which voids the warranty and might have serious side effects. When I learned more about how the Traction Control system actually works, I sold the car. I will never own another Mercedes. They breed laziness and irresponsibility without giving competent drivers the control they need to drive safely. I'm currently an avid BMW fan because of two major factors: first, it's possible to buy manual transmissions without special ordering a new car from Germany; second, it is possible–by holding a button on the console for a few seconds–to COMPLETELY disable traction control. I have driven in snow and ice, torrential downpours, and heavy traffic in the last year. I haven't driven with Traction Control on since Mercedes almost killed me in 2006. Frankly, I think EVERY SINGLE ONE of the safety features you suggested is a horrible idea. Pay attention to what you're doing, and don't drive if you're not physically and mentally capable of driving. I don't want my car to wake me up if I fall asleep driving…I want to be smart enough to not drive that night. Frankly, the more I hear about Mercedes safety features, the more distance I like to keep between me and them on the highway.

jzycrzy 15y ago

Have you considered working for either Volvo or Mercedes Marketing department?

acangiano 15y ago

I'll buy my first car in a few months (at the tender age of 31). I was eyeing Mercedes already, and your comment only confirms everything I've read about it. Do you know if these features are available in their class C cars, or do I need to get an E class?

encoderer 15y ago
Actually, yes. Most of those will be available on the C class starting MY 2012. If you live in North America you can probably expect 2012's to be available in September and October. You can pre-order now, of course. Including a wonderful option where you go to Germany, pick the car up as it rolls off the line, drive it around Europe for up to 30 days, then drop it back off to them to have it shipped to the US: And you get the car at dealer invoice less 8%. That's a little involved for a first time Mercedes buyer, but I wanted to make you aware of it, it's a very great program they've got there. The C is a great car. We've got one in our family. If you have any questions, http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204-83/ http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w204-83/ is a great C Class forum. I'm active there under the same handle.
- acangiano 15y ago
  Awesome. Thanks encoderer.

mostapha 15y ago

That's interesting, because Mercedes's Traction Control system almost killed me one night. Apparently it's possible to accidentally induce a very slight but controllable oversteer slide by overshooting the exit to a fast curve and touching a rumble strip with the outside tires. No surprise there. In a normal car, you keep your front wheels on the line you want to follow, release power, then smoothly add power to "shift weight" to the rear wheels and increase traction (acceleration causes the rear suspension to compress, making the rear tires push harder on the ground, increasing the normal force and increasing rear wheel traction). Doing that stops the oversteer (rear wheel skid). In a Mercedes, the car assumes that you're an idiot for doing that, cuts engine power to the drive (rear) wheels, and applies breaks to the OUTSIDE REAR WHEEL. That procedure has the effect of decompressing the rear suspension and decreasing traction to the rear wheels, which are already skidding. The slide that resulted was unrecoverable. Yank the parking break and shift into neutral while in a hard corner at 40mph if you want to know what it felt like. For a few seconds, my instincts and the car's Traction Control fought each other as I tried to correct for the skids that improperly braking the rear wheels was causing. Finally, I came to rest having skid across the double yellow…and then somehow the automatic transmission stalled. It was a "mistake" that could have been fixed in less than a second driving a 1908 Model T. After a hundred years of innovations, Mercedes has completely removed the driver from direct control of the vehicle, WITHOUT an option to turn off those so-called "features." I spent the next several months talking to people who did tuning for Daimler-Chrysler for a shop in Montana, cracking ECU encryption to reprogram the fuel injectors and intake system to perform well at high altitudes. And apparently there's no good way to turn off that Traction Control system except removing large chunks of code from the ECU, which voids the warranty and might have serious side effects. When I learned more about how the Traction Control system actually works, I sold the car. I will never own another Mercedes. They breed laziness and irresponsibility without giving competent drivers the control they need to drive safely. I'm currently an avid BMW fan because of two major factors: first, it's possible to buy manual transmissions without special ordering a new car from Germany; second, it is possible–by holding a button on the console for a few seconds–to COMPLETELY disable traction control. I have driven in snow and ice, torrential downpours, and heavy traffic in the last year. I haven't driven with Traction Control on since Mercedes almost killed me in 2006. Frankly, I think EVERY SINGLE ONE of the safety features you suggested is a horrible idea. Pay attention to what you're doing, and don't drive if you're not physically and mentally capable of driving. I don't want my car to wake me up if I fall asleep driving…I want to be smart enough to not drive that night. Frankly, the more I hear about Mercedes safety features, the more distance I like to keep between me and them on the highway.