Mercedes-Benz marks 75 years of protection for occupants and other road users

An important chapter in the history of vehicle safety began 75 years ago when Béla Barényi joined the then Daimler-Benz AG, as the company was called then. To mark this anniversary, past and present members of the Mercedes-Benz safety development team, representing different eras of vehicle safety, met in the 'Legendenhalle' (Hall of Legends) in Böblingen.

"Pretty well everything", responded the young engineer Béla Barényi boldly, when asked at his job interview what aspects of the current Mercedes-Benz vehicle range he would improve. Wilhelm Haspel, at that time a deputy board member of Daimler-Benz AG, was won over by the unconventional thinking of the 32-year-old Austrian and took him on, at the recommendation of the then head of testing in the bodyshell development area, Karl Wilfert. On 1 August 1939 Barényi took charge of the newly established safety development department.

So began an important chapter in the history of vehicle safety, 75 years ago, with the arrival of Béla Barényi at the then Daimler-Benz AG. Ever since those days, Mercedes-Benz has had an enduring influence on safety development. Many of the company's innovations, particularly in the field of protection for vehicle occupants and other road users, have saved countless human lives over the years.

To mark this anniversary, Mercedes-Benz invited past and present members of the safety development team, representing different eras of vehicle safety, to the 'Legendenhalle' (Hall of Legends) in Böblingen. This enthralling look back over the first 75 years of providing protection for vehicle occupants and other road users brought together, amongst others, Professor Werner Breitschwerdt, Professor Ernst Fiala, Professor Guntram Huber, Dr Falk Zeidler, Hansjürgen Scholz, Dr Luigi Brambilla and Karl-Heinz Baumann. Some of them had known Barényi personally.

"Every innovation needs creative engineers who, like Barényi, are bold enough to question the status quo and to break new ground", emphasised Professor Dr Thomas Weber, the Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

"Our declared aim at Mercedes-Benz is to retain and extend our role as trendsetters in the field of vehicle safety and, by doing so, to continue to improve road safety", said Professor Rodolfo Schöneburg, Head of Vehicle Safety at Mercedes-Benz Cars. "And we are a long way off running out of ideas in this respect. We are currently, for example, concentrating on reducing the strain on the upper torso in a side-on collision."

Béla Barényi: the father of safety
Visionary engineer Béla Barényi (1907-1997) worked for Daimler from 1939 to 1974. He initiated more than 2,500 registered patents, many of them concerned with the principles of automotive safety. Among his inventions was the safety cell, protected by crumple zones.

Béla Barényi had groundbreaking ideas early on: even as a student in the 1920s, he was working on a design for a state-of-the-art car with a tubular backbone chassis and air-cooled boxer engine. From 1939 the engineer dedicated himself to improving passenger car bodies at Mercedes-Benz. This work resulted in a 1941 patent for an improved platform frame which, owing to its particular resistance against distortion, minimised "booming and shaking".

From his studies of motor vehicles based on a cellular design, Barényi developed the concept of a stiff passenger cell with crumple zones. Mercedes-Benz implemented the patent filed in 1951 for the first time on the W 111 model series ("Fintail") of 1959. Crumple zones deform in an accident and absorb the kinetic energy from the collision in a controlled way. At the same time, a sturdy occupant cell protects the vehicle occupants. Since that time, this structure has become an established part of passenger vehicles worldwide.

Barényi's "safety steering shaft for motor vehicles" also caught on. This technology was patented in 1963 and premiered as a complete safety steering system in the W 123 series of 1976, the predecessor to the E-Class. It took 28 years before his idea for a recessed windscreen wiper to protect pedestrians made its debut in the W 126-series S-Class of 1979.

Mercedes-Benz safety timeline
1900   Wilhelm Maybach develops the Mercedes 35 HP as a vehicle with exemplary road safety. Contributing factors are the long wheelbase, low centre of gravity, the engine bolted to the frame and the wide track.

1921   The Mercedes 28/95 HP is equipped with front-wheel brakes. The other passenger car models from DMG (Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft) and Benz & Cie. follow suit in 1923/24.

1931   The Mercedes-Benz 170 (W 15) is the first series production automobile with hydraulic braking system and independent front and rear suspension with swing axles.

1941   Patent No. 742 977 of 23 February 1941 for the platform frame developed by Béla Barényi.

1945   Béla Barényi develops the vehicle studies "Concadoro" and "Terracruiser" in this and the following years. Both studies are among the most important works leading up to the safety body with cell construction.

1949   Patent No. 827 905 of 23 April 1949 for the conical-pin safety door lock.

1952   Patent No. 854 157 of 28 February 1952 for the safety body with rigid passenger cell and crumple zones. Implemented in series production in the Mercedes-Benz W 111 model series in 1959.

1954   Single-joint pendulum axle with low pivot point in the Mercedes-Benz 220 a from the W 180 model series.

1958   Patent No. 1 089 664 of 2 July 1958 for the wedge-pin door lock. Market launch as standard equipment in the "Fintail" models in 1959.

1959   Start of systematic crash testing and the use of dummies.

1959   Debut of the Mercedes-Benz W 111 model series ("Fintail") with safety body, softened interior and wedge-pin door lock.

1961   Gradual introduction of disc brakes and dual-circuit braking system in the passenger car range.

1966   Hans Scherenberg and Béla Barényi draft the classification into active and passive safety that will remain valid until the introduction of PRE-SAFE^®.

1967   Safety steering system with telescopic steering column and impact absorber across the entire Mercedes-Benz passenger car range

1971   An entire package of active and passive safety measures premieres in the Mercedes-Benz SL of the 107 model series: collision-safe fuel tank above the rear axle, thickly padded instrument panel, deformable or recessed switches and levers, four-spoke safety steering wheel with impact absorber and wide padded boss, newly developed wind deflector profiles on the A-pillars, large tail lamps with ribbed surface profile for extensive resistance to soiling.

1976   The "safety steering shaft for motor vehicles" patented by Béla Barényi in 1963 debuts in the Mercedes-Benz W 123 model series designed as a collapsible steering column.

1978   The second generation of the ABS anti-lock braking system debuts in the S-Class of the W 116 model series. Mercedes-Benz presented a first version not yet ready for series production as early as 1970. Starting in 1980 ABS is present in all model series.

1979   The Mercedes-Benz S-Class of the W 126 model series takes account of asymmetric frontal collisions with a forked-member structure of the front end.

1981   The world's first driver airbag in the S-class. Mercedes-Benz has been engaged since 1968 in research into this supplementary restraint system. Starting in 1982 the driver airbag is available in all model series, the passenger airbag follows in 1987, the side airbag in 1995.

1982   Multi-link rear suspension in the Mercedes-Benz 190 (W 201).

1989   The new SL Roadster models (R 129) make their debut with a belt system integrated into the seats, plus a rollover bar that pops up automatically if the vehicle appears to be on the verge of overturning.

1995   Rain sensor and xenon lights in the Mercedes-Benz E-Class of the 210 model series.

1995   Series introduction of the Electronic Stability Program ESP^® in the S‑Class Coupé of the 140 model series.

1996   Mercedes-Benz introduces the world's first BAS Brake Assist system into series production.

1997   The sandwich floor of the W 168 model series A-Class causes the engine to glide under the passenger cell in a front-end collision.

1998   The windowbag premieres as an optional extra in the Mercedes-Benz S‑Class.

1999   Premiere of DISTRONIC proximity control.

1999   The ABC (Active Body Control) active suspension debuts in the CL coupé of the C 215 model series.

1999   Bi-xenon headlamps as standard equipment in the CL coupé of the 215 model series.

2001   Head/thorax side airbags in the SL Roadsters from Mercedes-Benz.

2002   PRE-SAFE^® preventive occupant protection system in the Mercedes‑Benz S-Class, subsequently gradually introduced in the other model series.

2003   Active light function with bi-xenon headlamps (E-Class 211 model series).

2005   The Integral Safety Concept of Mercedes-Benz combines the various systems of active and passive safety.

2005   Mercedes-Benz introduces various safety systems in the S-Class of the W 211 model series, for example, DISTRONIC PLUS, Brake Assist BAS PLUS and Night View Assist.

2006   The Intelligent Light System ensures perfect light distribution on the road in line with the driving situation (in the E-Class of the 211 model series).

2006   Premiere of the PRE-SAFE^® brake as an optional extra in the CL coupé of the 216 model series.

2007   Premiere of Blind Spot Assist as an optional extra in the S-Class and CL‑Class.

2009   Premiere of ATTENTION ASSIST in the Mercedes-Benz E-Class of the 212 model series.

2009   Crosswind stabilisation debuts in the revised Mercedes-Benz S-Class of the 221 model series as an additional function of Active Body Control (ABC). The torque vectoring brake also premieres in series production.

2010   World premiere of Active Blind Spot Assist and Active Lane Keeping Assist in the CL-Class (C 216) and S-Class (W 221).

2011   Introduction of the radar-based assistance system COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST in the B-Class (as standard).

2013   New assistance systems and systems with several new key functions (DISTRONIC PLUS with Steering Assist and Stop&Go Pilot, BAS PLUS with Cross-Traffic Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus, Night View Assist Plus, ATTENTION ASSIST) in the S-Class. New PRE‑SAFE^® functions (PRE-SAFE^® Brake, PRE-SAFE^®PLUS, PRE-SAFE^® Impulse), improved protection in the rear compartment (seat belt buckle extender, belt bag).

2013   Mercedes-Benz puts Car-to-X communication on the road.

2014   The QR code sticker, which gives the emergency services direct access to a vehicle-specific rescue card becomes available as a retrofit option for older Mercedes-Benz models as well.

2014   The enhanced assistance system COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST PLUS system is introduced in the compact class model family. This extends the functionality of COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST by the addition of autonomous braking to reduce the risk of rear-end collisions.