The Car Hub

Those bright engineers at German car maker Mercedes have come up with some very innovative new safety features for incorporation in their future cars.

Their concept car, which is based on the S400 Hybrid, is known as the E.S.F. 2009 concept, not since 1974 have Mercedes called one of their designs ESF – Experimental Safety Vehicle.

Their latest safety innovations are mainly add-ons to their existing Pre-Safe system, which applies brakes and automatically tightens seat belts when a collision is imminent.

Pre-Safe has now been expanded to incorporate new links to an airbag fitted to operate under the front wheels that when inflated can be used as an anchor, scraping along the road thereby lessening speed and dramatically reducing braking distances.

Further innovative inflatables include side impact pipes which can be inflated with gas to provide rigidity to the side panels and prevent them crumbling.

Linked to the system are "active seat bolsters" which push occupants inwards to create a vital gap between them and the inside of the car a split second before impact.

Also linked-in for front seat occupants is an airbag that deploys between them to prevent them injuring each other.

There are further new features to protect rear seat passengers, notably a Belt-Bag which is an air bag fitted within the seat belts. The normal deployment of airbags for rear passengers will be enhanced by technology which can estimate their weight, height and seated position in order to assess the correct volume of expansion.

Mercedes will also be incorporating further safety technology, already revealed to the market place by others, which involves accepting information on traffic congestion and also the prevention of accidents by a constant fast flow of information to the car's computer.