Mercedes-Benz has been setting standards for active safety of the car since the 1970s. Each of the solutions support the driver and therefore lower the risk of an accident. Highlights include the ABS anti-lock braking system (1978), the ESP® Electronic Stability Programme (1995) and the DISTRONIC adaptive cruise control (1998). The ABC Active Body Control active chassis system presented 20 years ago in the CL of the C 215 model series is also a Mercedes-Benz development for active safety. Countless intuitive and intelligent technologies work together today in the Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive concept.
The car as a partner for people which reduces the risk of accidents for them: this is a guiding principle in the development of active safety. The term was coined in the early 1960s in Italy (“sicurezza attiva”). There were also early considerations at Mercedes-Benz back in the late 1940s. In the mid-1960s, the brand set out the definition that still applies today thanks to protagonist development managers Hans Scherenberg, Karl Wilfert and Béla Barényi. According to the definition, active safety includes the areas of driving safety, driver fitness, and operating safety.
Digital technology for active safety
Active safety makes a decisive step from the concept phase and research into series technology in 1978. Back then, Mercedes-Benz presented the anti-lock braking system (ABS) developed together with Bosch. Even with a full brake application, the driver can now maintain total steering control of the car. The Mercedes-Benz Press Release from 21 August 1978 states: “Thanks to the instantaneous cooperation of various control operations in the A-B-S, which the driver clearly feels and hears when braking, the wheels are slightly released before locking when braking. When doing so, they move in the ideal delay condition to enable the best braking distances.” ABS became a success story far beyond the vehicles of the brand from Stuttgart. Today, the assistance system is in the cars of practically every manufacturer worldwide as a matter of course.
The origins of the anti-lock system at Mercedes-Benz go back to the early 1950s. What follows is an intensive development, also in cooperation with partners. In 1970, the “Mercedes-Benz/Teldix Anti-Bloc-System” was presented. The analogue-electronic system worked but was not yet reliable enough for series use. Therefore, by 1978, ABS with digital control was created. In a time that was still characterised by electrics and analogue electronics, it was a completely trendsetting solution.
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SOURCE: Daimler
