Haha, maybe not? Since their car would tend to go underneath, although the footage I've seen always shows the other vehicle hitting from the side with the hood

Haha, maybe not? Since their car would tend to go underneath, although the footage I've seen always shows the other vehicle hitting from the side with the hood sliding slightly beneath the Mercedes...it does seem from watching that would give other vehicle slightly more space to dissipate the impact energy. Now if they had only bought a Mercedes as well, they could have chosen the self-breaking option to avoid the collision in the first place.