Mercedes-Benz studying external air bags… but not like you think

At first when you hear of external air bags you probably think that Mercedes-Benz is looking to provide a massive cushion around the car to reduce impact and protect pedestrians during an accident. Instead, Mercedes-Benz is testing air bags that deploy underneath the car.

During an impact, these air bags deploy from beneath the car and act like an anchor to slow the car when a collision is inevitable.

The feature is being tested on its new ESF 2009 Engineering Car. Some other safety features of the test car include inflatable seat cushions to push passengers inboard, smart headlights that detect oncoming traffic and redirect the high beams so they don’t blind other drivers, reflective tire sidewalls to make the car visible to cross traffic at night.

We feel like Volvo should be doing these things.

Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 Engineering Car:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Free Press