wow these MB threads fill up quickly thats the last thing MB needed to happen. ppl will still buy though b/c its MB

 

I wonder why the airbag didn't go off? I think it needs to be at a certain speed for the airbags to work?

 

oh yeah definitely. in fact, unless necessary the airbag should NOT deploy. it saves lives when it's at high speed, but it deploys at extremely fast speed, if it's just minor hit, it's going to hurt the drivers and passengers

 

I noticed that as well.
Not only did the laser cruise radar fail to work because of "steel"........ it seems the airbags did as well. .
They must have been traveling at 5 mph so they didn't go off.....still..look at the hood buckle.
Can you say crumble zone.

 

Rebar reinforced tunnels, and rebar and steel beam garages. The grid creates a radio cage (entrapment). Irrelevant though since the amount of depth and thickness involved will cancel signals.

 

I wonder if onstar worked?

 

you didn't read my post. look at how calm those people are in the car. i dont' think it was that hard of a hit at all

 

What confuses me is how did such a small accident equate to a total of $500,000 in damage?

 

ah, gotcha. that's what i asked myself too. to me those look more like fender bender. well, maybe they just write off the cars afterwards

 

Maybe. Or they could save the money they write off and hire a Japanese guy to design and install their electronics

 

i would guess they did not trust technology enough to drive at higher speeds... smart
:-)

 

The truth behind the scene makes the story even funnier. Good to know that MB engineers knew the limitation of the radar system though.

http://www.askaprice.com/torque-arti..._fake&item=718

'Smashing' Mercedes demonstration was faked

Last week's big story - The Mercedes S-class failing a crash test on television - was a fake: Mercedes knew it wouldn't work, and the pile-up was due to human error during the simulation. The AutoBild journalist was summarily fired.

The German ex-autobild journalist appearing on Stern Tv, Michael Specht, was carrying audio recording equipment. The tape reveals that the accident was, indeed, an accident - but not the way it was expected.

According to sources in German media, Mercedes was already aware that the test would fail in the hall that was chosen for the television report, and recommended against doing the report at all. Desperate for a story, Specht reportedly conspired with the Mercedes engineers to brake manually, in a situation designed to 'simulate' the system.
Foiled by own technology

At the time of the test, however, Specht was unable to see the car in front due to the heavy smoke from the smoke machines. The Mercedes engineers came up with an alternate, low-tech solution: To lay a piece of wood across the path the cars would be driving, so Specht would know where to brake. Unfortunately, the Merc engineers were foiled by their own technology - Due to the extraordinarily good suspension on the S-class, Specht didn't feel the bump in the road, and proceeded to ram straight into the vehicle that had braked in front of him - in front of the rolling cameras and unsuspecting crew from Stern TV.

According to the Swedish website Auto Motor & Sport, Specht was fired from MotorBild this morning, following the leak of the situation around the S-class television.

 

That is hilarious. That active suspension is VERY impressive!

Thanks for the follow-up.

Too bad reporters are so desparate for a sensational 'scary' story they'll fake it and that most people will never see this follow-up only believing the original fake story.

 

Indeed, this may not be the best kind of publicity MB had hoped to demonstrate the wonders of their new suspension but the fact that the car crashed because the driver didn't feel the bump at all even when he was concentrating to do so proves how successfully the suspension works and speaks louder than than any other marketing campaign can possibly do.

 

hahaha it's good to know the story behind the scene, but still though, so the system doesn't work in certain scenario