Some days after introducing their new Experimental Safety Vehicle, Mercedes released a series of promo videos explaining the car’s features and why it is such an important project. Mercedes ESF is based on the S400 Hybrid and is said to be the safest car ever. From what we see it’s a huge airbag with a S-class attached to it!

Press Release:

Perspectives: inflatable metal structures and braking airbags in the vehicle floor

Stuttgart – 2009 is a year in which Mercedes-Benz celebrates several anniversaries in the safety field: in August 1939 the safety pioneer Béla Barényi started his work in Sindelfingen. He invented for example the principle of the crumple zone, a trailblazing innovation which entered series production at Mercedes-Benz in 1959. With the help of its in-house accident research function, which was founded in 1969, Mercedes engineers in the following years have developed several groundbreaking innovations in passenger car safety. Now it is time for a look behind the scenes, and in this anniversary year, Mercedes-Benz is using the Mercedes ESF 2009 research vehicle to reveal what its safety specialists are currently working on – with a time horizon that often extends well into the future.

The Mercedes ESF 2009 is the first Experimental Safety Vehicle to be built by Mercedes-Benz since 1974. Like its historic predecessors, it illustrates trailblazing innovations in the field of safety and makes the progress achieved clearly visible. These amazing but by no means crazy ideas include inflatable metallic sections which give more stability to structural components within fractions of a second, as well as the so-called “Braking Bag”. This airbag housed within the vehicle floor is deployed when a crash is deemed to be unavoidable, and uses a friction coating to support the vehicle against the road surface. The Mercedes ESF 2009 will be premiered on 15 June 2009, at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) Conference in Stuttgart.

“Safety is a central element of the Mercedes-Benz brand. In this respect we have been setting the pace in the market for almost 70 years. For the benefit of our customers and for road users in general. The Mercedes ESF 2009 shows that we still have plenty of ideas and the absolute will, to lead the automobile industry in this field even in future”, says Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler AG and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

The Mercedes ESF 2009 was developed and built completely in the test vehicle workshops in Sindelfingen. This safety research vehicle based on the Mercedes S 400 HYBRID features more than a dozen safety innovations, most of which are fully functioning in demonstration mode.

“With the Mercedes ESF 2009, we have chosen this particular time to clearly demonstrate the innovative strength of Daimler. Anybody examining the Mercedes ESF 2009 in detail will recognise that more safety and improved energy efficiency are not necessarily a contradiction in terms. We want to make progress in both fields with new, trailblazing ideas “, says Dr. Thomas Weber, the member of the Daimler Executive Board responsible for corporate research and development at Mercedes-Benz Cars.

As always Mercedes S-Class is the ultimate showcase of new technologies and gadgets and luxury. But this time Mercedes has picked on safety, so you know the result is something that you look forward to have a crash in it! This is the Mercedes S400 Hybrid ESF concept which will be presented between 23 June 2009 and 16th of August in an exhibition in the company’s Museum’s Fascination of Technology section.

Of course this is an Experimental Safety Vehicle,hence the name, ( They have also built one back in 1974) but the features they use in this car will eventually make their way to the production models. The ESF is packed with airbags! In fact you get the airbags first and then this S-Class to carry them around! It even has one underneath the car! how could they think of that. Other stuffs worth mentioning are inflatable metal beams in each door to absorb the force of side impacts and a function that moves the occupants away from the doors and toward the middle of the car ( possibly into each other’s arms! ), very clever!

The only problem we see here is that if, God forbid, you have a crash in this you will survive of course, but the cost of replacing all of those airbags can probably cause you heart attack!