New Mercedes E-Class promises to be a safety tour de force

11 February 2009

The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class will go on sale in the UK in June and the manufacturer is promising that the model will be a safety tour de force.

The manufacturer trumpets that the new E-Class features ‘trailblazing innovations for safe driving that are available from no other manufacturer worldwide in this combination’.

The new E-Class is the first car in the world whose headlamps adapt to the traffic situation and respond automatically to avoid dazzling other drivers. Adaptive High Beam Assist uses a camera on the windscreen to recognise oncoming traffic and vehicles moving ahead, and controls the headlamps so that their beams do not reach the other vehicle.

The Lane Tracking package for the new E-Class includes Blind Spot Assist, and as a new development, Lane Keeping Assist which aims to prevent the vehicle from leaving a lane unintentionally. When the system recognises that the car is drifting from its lane, the driver is prompted to take countersteering action by brief but ‘unmistakable’ vibrations of the steering wheel.

More about these safety features is available here.