Mercedes Benz, a luxury automobile brand known for cutting edge automotive technology is now developing technologies that can make driving safer, ultimately causing a dramatic reduction in serious injuries and deaths due to collisions. Its new prototype named Experimental Safety Vehicle is packed with innovative safety features that have never before been seen in the automotive industry, which can initiate a downward movement in auto coverage costs.
The car in essence becomes a massive airbag before a collision to prevent serious injuries to the driver and passengers.
Basically the car has built-in video cameras and sensors around its chassis that could predict and detect collisions or accidents before they occur, allowing safety features to activate before a major mishap happens.
One example of the capabilities of the prototype is that if the car detects imminent danger, seats will be pulled back inside a couple of millimetres which could substantially reduce impact force. In addition, airbags would also be deployed prior to a collision, including one located under the car’s chassis, which not only further lessens damage to the vehicle but also substantially reduce the likelihood of serious injuries to passengers.
The airbag, which is located at the front of the chassis, can lift the car by 8 millimetres and push passengers inwards, providing added protection against collision impact. Furthermore, it can also slow down the car and lessen brake drive.
The car can also measure the height and weight of passengers and make adjustments accordingly to the airbags ensuring maximum safety.
Other interesting features of this prototype is a sensor that warns drivers behind it if they come dangerously close to the vehicle, metallic pockets distributed throughout the chassis that can absorb impact, interior airbags that lessen injury to passengers in cases of a rollover and an easy to deploy child safety seat located at the back.
These innovations if they show up in Mercedes cars soon would surely have a dampening effect on the car insurance expenses of buyers. Insurers take into consideration safety features of a car such as airbags and anti-lock braking system when they compute for premiums. Another possible benefit is that other car manufacturers may also follow the lead of Mercedes and embrace these newly developed technologies, making them the benchmark for their vehicles. If all of these possibilities materialize in the future, expenses on the part of the government concerning accident response programs can also be drastically reduced, which would help the public sector’s bottom line.
Although, it is projected that these innovations may cost a lot initially, in the long run higher demand would push production costs down, eventually making such technologies affordable even to the common man.
