For the most part, cars sold today are very safe. Airbags and seatbelt tensioners, after all, are now standard on most models. But did you know that it was actually Mercedes-Benz which pioneered these safety features?
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For the benefit of those unaware, Mercedes-Benz is a car maker with a lot of industry firsts under its name. By the 1980s, it had accumulated a ton of automotive engineering know-how to position itself as a cutting-edge company. In fact, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class was actually the first car equipped with airbags and seatbelt tensioners to be sold to the public.
The 1972-1980 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
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The Airbag
About 40 years ago in 1980, a limited number of S-Class sedans were given a driver’s airbag. The said car was the first to ever come with these two features, and it was an incredibly significant milestone for automotive safety.
Unlike the old airbag that was invented by Walter Linderer back in the 1950s, Mercedes-Benz’s airbag was able to rapidly inflate within milliseconds. This feature, of course, was unavailable during the time of Linderer. Suffice to say, it took a while for the development of sensors, as well as the means for rapid gas generation to make for an effective airbag.
The development of Mercedes-Benz's airbag involved lots of testing
After being previewed on the S-Class, the airbag was then adapted to more cars in 1981. Initially, it was available as an optional extra for the rest of the Mercedes-Benz passenger car lineup at the time. Come 1992, the driver’s airbag had become standard. It was then followed by the front passenger airbag in 1994.
Over the years, many more airbags were added to different positions inside a car. However, without the innovation brought about by the ingenuity of Mercedes-Benz’s engineers, things would have been more different.
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The seatbelt tensioner
Another safety feature introduced by Mercedes-Benz was the seatbelt tensioner. It was introduced together with the driver’s airbag on the S-Class as well.
In fact, these two safety features were actually developed in parallel. They worked in tandem to form an effective restraint system to prevent an occupant from being hurled out of the car while preventing injuries that might be caused by the sudden stop.
To make this more effective, Mercedes-Benz designed the tensioner to use the same sensor signal as the driver’s airbag. When triggered, a propellant tightens the car’s three-point seat belt in an instant, while the airbag deploys.
The airbag working in tandem with the seatbelt tensioner
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Mercedes-Benz however didn’t stop improving these two aforementioned safety features. In 2002 the company came up with belt force limiters. It used an electronic tensioner, which worked in tandem with the propellant. This way, the electronic system allows the seat belt to be loosened again in the absence of a car collision.
Now in 2020, the new S-Class, which debuted recently, once again became the first car to come with the new rear airbag. It’s a new form of the old invention and it works by deploying for the rear seats. In the event of an accident, more specifically a head-on collision, these will help reduce whiplash and other injuries to the head and neck of rear passengers.
So, while Mercedes-Benz paved the way for better safety standards 40 years ago, the German marque continuously seeks new ways to take car safety to another level.
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