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Daimler: New B-Class up to 30 percent fewer rear-end collisions

The new B-Class, which has just been presented to international journalists, comes with COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS as standard. Accident researchers at Mercedes-Benz anticipate that this feature could cut the number of serious rear-end collisions by up to 30 percent compared with vehicles that do not have a corresponding protective system. (Fuel/energy consumption, combined cycle: … Continued

The new B-Class, which has just been presented to international journalists, comes with COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS as standard. Accident researchers at Mercedes-Benz anticipate that this feature could cut the number of serious rear-end collisions by up to 30 percent compared with vehicles that do not have a corresponding protective system.
(Fuel/energy consumption, combined cycle: 6.7 – 3.6 l/ 100 km / 16.6 kwh/100 km; CO2 emissions, combined: 156 – 0 g/km*)
B-Klasse 2014 B-Class 2014

For their prognosis, the safety experts used figures from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office to assess how effective standard-fit COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST has been in the B-Class to date and simulated digital accident data.

The official figures show that the number of serious rear-end collisions with Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles has gone down by 14 percent in Germany by comparison with the predecessor model.
Since its market launch in 2011, the present B-Class has been equipped with COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST as standard. This safety system includes a radar-based, visual distance warning signal, an additional audible collision warning and selective brake boost courtesy of Adaptive Brake Assist.
It is standard equipment for all vehicles in the new generation of compact cars (A-Class, B-Class, CLA-Class and GLA-Class), as well as many other vehicles from Mercedes-Benz.

Prof Dr Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development: “The decrease in the number of accidents provides further confirmation of our ‘real life safety’ strategy. We are bringing innovations into the car that genuinely benefit customers and road safety.”
This is substantiated by figures from Mercedes-Benz service outlets: by comparison with the previous model, the present B-Class has experienced much less serious damage to the front end when the front cross member needed to be replaced. The severity of many rear-end collisions was therefore reduced, and in some cases they were avoided entirely.

In a study, accident researchers at Mercedes-Benz came to the conclusion that up to 20 percent of all serious rear-end collisions in Germany could be prevented if all vehicles were fitted with an equivalent safety system.
Their claim is based on a simulation study using a pre-crash matrix – a digital accident database from the Traffic Accident Research Institute in Dresden containing thousands of carefully reconstructed, real-life accidents. As part of this study, vehicles were equipped virtually with COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST and its effects on each rear-end collision were examined.
For the enhanced successor system, COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS, which is set to be rolled out across all model series, the accident researchers are forecasting up to 30 percent fewer serious rear-end collisions than without the systeme

The new B-Class, which is available from dealerships from 29 November 2014, comes with COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS as standard.

The system extends the functionality of COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST with the addition of autonomous braking to reduce the risk of rear-end collisions.

If the driver fails to act when a risk of collision is detected, despite the warning lamp in the instrument cluster and the intermittent audible alert, the system will automatically trigger braking. The vehicle speed is thus already significantly reduced. Depending on the relative speed, this intervention may be enough to avoid a rear-end collision with vehicles that are driving more slowly, stopping or stationary, or significantly mitigate its severity.

*Further information on official fuel consumption figures and the official specific CO2emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the EU guide “Information on the fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and energy consumption of new cars”, which is available free of charge at all sales dealerships, from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH and at www.dat.de.

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