AMS is testing the safety equipments of the E-Class, 7er, Accord and XC-60

[coolraoul]

AMS released a test of the main safety equipments of the MB E-Class, Volvo XC-60, BMW 7er and Honda Accord.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/t...t-1325728.html

Here are the comments:

-Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Infrared camera: better than before, yet not perfect. The system recognizes the pedestrian better than the BMW's, and the contrast of the image is better. However, it's not perfect and the BMW makes the (if recognized) pedestrian more apparent.

Lane Keep assyst: worked well. Vibrating steering is a much better solution than Volv's and Honda's beeper. No active steering correction though.

Blind-spot warning: the Merc has by far the best system here. Detects the car in the blind spot and the speed difference. Uses a triangle directly in the mirrror glass (you can't miss it), it's orange if it detects a car, red if the danger is immediate.

If the driver nonetheless engages the indicators, the systems beeps.
Very reliable system.

Automatic braking (Presafe II): the most efficient to brake from 50km/h in case of an obstacle on the road. The different levels of reactions work well (beeps, then 0.4g braking force, then full braking with 1g).

if the obstacle is moving (but slower than the car), only 0.3g braking force (the usual Distronic braking power in fact).

In fact, the system doesn't always engage the braking. It's trimmed to conservatively. Mercedes obviously wanted to avoid at all cost an unjustified self-braking, even if that means sometimes not self-braking when it should have..

-BMW 7-Series:

Infrared camera: expensive technique. Contrast less impressive than in the Merc, doesn't recognize the pedestrian as good but makes them more apparent with a yellow triangle.

Lane Keep assyst: workd well. Vibrating steering is a much better solution than Volvo's and Honda's beeper. No active steering correction though. However the vibrations of the steering are too discrete and can be mistaken for the crossing of the white line. Still useful system.

Blind-spot assyst: Uses a triangle in the base of the mirror. Not obvious enough, and isn't bright enough so you don't always see it's lit. Furthermore there is no beep if the driver still engages the indicator and starts to merge.

Automatic braking: only the usual 0.3g braking force of a Distronic system. No braking in case of an immobile object on the road.

However, the 7er was the only one in the test not to warn the driver in case of danger if the active cruise-control is deactivated (although it's promised in the manual).

- Honda Accord

No Infrared camera.

Lane-keep assyst: The only one that actively corrected the steering if the car drives doesn't keep its lane. However the beeper is very annoying. So in the end you want to turn it off, even if it proved reliable.

No blind-spot assyst.

Automatic-brakes: beeps, then brakes. Usual 0.3g braking force of the Distronic systems.

- Volvo XC-60

No infrared camera.

Lane Keep Assyst: not very reliable, annoying beeper. You want to turn it off.

Blind-spot assyst: a triangle in the mirror turns orange if a car is detected. However it doesn't detect the speed difference so it doesn't measure the danger like the one in the Merc or BMW.

Automatic braking: the Volvo's is the most impressive.
City-safety system effectively engages the brakes (full braking if needed) under 30 km/h, so the car avoids the crash.
Above this limit, the system switches to the standard "Distronic" system, and only uses 0.3g of braking force.



To sum it up: the Mercedes had the best systems. Only the automatic-braking function is too conservative (to avoid unjustified braking).

The BMW proved disappointing. The automatic braking is not very advanced and doesn't warn in case of danger if deactivated, the camera doesn't recognize the pedestrians so well, the LKA is too discrete.

The Honda proved good, but the constant beeping is annoying. Only one to have active steering corrections in its LKA, but lacks the night-view camera and blind-sport assyst.

The Volvo was sometimes annoying with beeps, however its automatic braking function with City-safety is extremely impressive and the best of the test.

[Centurion]

The E-Class aced the test.

[Monster]

No surprise there, those MB engineers are the best when it comes to safety related technology.

[Mr. Mercedes]

Well when it comes to safety MB makes sure its done right and doesn't implement solutions for the sake of having them.

Another example is the high beam assist. Other manufacturers systems simply switch between high and low beam, whereas the Mercedes system actually gradually increases and decreseas the light. It can also adjust lighting intensity on either side of the vehicle.

[Giannis]

I am probably going to test drive the XC60 tomorrow. I am very curious to see this city-safety system work in real life!

BTW, Impressive the E-Class!

[The Artist]

Ofcourse this is MB´s speciality..
No one can match..

[Tarek]

Simply the pioneers.

[Merc1]

Interesting. The Mercedes and BMW sound really good. I really wish there was a big Volvo to compare them with. What can Volvo with the a huge budget like the Germans have and with a directive to build the best luxury car in the world - thats what I want to see.

M

[Mr. Mercedes]

Originally Posted by Merc1

Interesting. The Mercedes and BMW sound really good. I really wish there was a big Volvo to compare them with. What can Volvo with the a huge budget like the Germans have and with a directive to build the best luxury car in the world - thats what I want to see.

M

With a huge budget, I'd hope Volvo would put the money towards figuring out how to give a decent ride/handling compromise. They're obviosly spending too much of their small budget on safety.