My brothers 85 190e he had years ago got a ding in the back of the car above the bumper and below the tail light, $1500 to fix. Go figure.

But I personally care more about the look and driveability of a car rather than the fact that after 5mph the trunk wouldn't open or close or whatever.

How about this, did they test it from different angles? How often do people actually back up like that into a pole. Most of the 5 mph pole accidents I see involve a front fender or rear quarter panel.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Well, this is a lesson for all of us. We MUST stop running into poles!

Me being the car maniac that I am, I'm probably going to have a fight with someone if they hit my car at only .5 MPH. And I don't go around running into poles.

I've never in my life had to test my bumpers for 5 MPH damage. If someone is so careless, they deserve to have to pay whatever it takes.

WHAT A STUPID PARAMETER FOR RATING CARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My belligerent $0.02,

Perfectly put Larry, at some point in time people have to start taking responsibility for their screwups.

All this talk about these bumpers have inspired me to do some home testing over the weekend. I already know what it will do when you mate a Volvo with a Jeep. I think the old basketball pole looks good for a home trial of the 5 mph test on all my cars. The neighbors are going to love this! "Joe musta saw Dateline the other night!" May the best bumper win!

Joe Golden

98' s70 27k
98' Explorer Limited 44k
83' Wagoneer 214k
84' 300d 198k

__________________
Current stable......
17' Rogue SV 70k
11’ Saab 9-5 NG 94k
10’ e550 4matic 185k

sold
02' e320 210k
00' e430 167k
01' e320 171k (regret sale)
91' 300d 2.5t 300k (sold to ecoofidaho)
79' 240d 177k (old yellow my avatar)
87' 300d 169k (junk but fast)
85' 300tdt 261k (RBM parts delivery)
85' 300dt 68k (one owner cream puff)
82' 240d 250k
84' 300dt 198k (sold to diesel don)
91' 190e 2.3 61k
88' 260e 140k

Could the reports be biased? i don't know however i feel very, very safe in any Mercedes-Benz. You could feel the mass of the car, while driving. Also MBZ is one of the leading safety engineering, companies. Look at MBZ's record, they were the first to design crumple zones, the first to use airbags as a standard feature on their production cars. Many other safety features are built into the cars that make them the safest cars on the road. I no way can a Hyundai compare to a MBZ. Just look at that car, I could probably bench press it.

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"Damn the torpedos, four bells full speed ahead"
-Admiral Farragut




-1987 300E Smoke Silver
-1997 S320 Black on Black
-Soon To be E55 AMG
-27 foot Grady White Offshore Sportfish.

I wonder what the result would have been had there been occupants in the Hyundai. SOMETHING had to absorb the shock and I wonder if it would be the driver or passenger in this case.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Ok let me reel this in a little. Can we all stop freaking out, nobody said the Hyundia is a better car...I mean come on! But the amount of damage that was done to the C for such a low speed was terrible...even if you never in a trillion miles do what they did its still got to surprise you wouldn't you say. Will this affect my decision to buy a C, heeellll no! The people in the Hyundia probably all would have got whiplash. But I for one looked at that show and said, "Well that certainly was unexpected"

MitchLampson,

You just took the term "product loyalty" to a whole new level =)

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

I've had the pleasure, if you want to call it that, of being in several major accidents. Two stand out in my mind that relate to this issue.
A 79 Toyota Corola that slid on snow into a commuter bus at an angle going 20 MPH, and the 70 Mercedes 250 that I grew up with, hitting a HUGE snowplow (the 10 wheel type).

The toyota crunched, glass everywhere, flipped up and slammed into the bus on its nose, then rotated around 180 in the air 15 feet above the ground and plummetted down. Both myself and my front seat passenger had their seatbelt on (no airbags). God was nice to me and let me live without to much damage, while my passenger broke his arm in 2 places on the glove box door which had flown open. Looking at the car, you'd think the occupants had been slaugthered. Had we not had our seatbelts on, there would have been 2 dead 17year olds that day.

A year later, with my father driving our 70 Mercedes 250, we ran into a Vermont Snowplow headon at 30MPH during a blizzard. None of us were wearing a seatbelt. No Airbags in the 70's...The Mercedes crunched too. Then slid up on the front of the plow and rolled on the driver's side. For me, the door bent outward; absorbing my impact. My father hit the stearing wheel which took his impact. No injuries, no scratches. Thank God again! Looking around inside the car before I climbed out of where the windshield used to be, I could not find one piece of glass...I remember that during the dazed moments right after crash..no glass anywhere while the wiper keeps moving back and forth, back and forth. "Where the #(&*^ is the windshield", I thought.

Anyway..The Mercedes died that day after 12 years of faithfull service saving its family...and I mourn its passing. Now that I have a child of my own, you can guess what kind of car I drive! Screw the bumpers...If you back into a pole, you deserve to pay a grand!

David

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David Weis
Old Rides================
70 250
73 450SL
78 300D
88 Grand Am
Current Rides=============
95 280C *
98 SL500 *

I HAD a Lexus GS 300 that was totaled by a drunk heading on my wife at 60 mph, my wife walked away with the airbag bruises and a sore ankle, the drunks funeral was two days later she was in a caviler I will pay for an infinite amount of bumpers to protect my family end of story!

rsbiomedical, We have a family friend who was a prominent doctor have an accident similar to the one you saw about ten years ago. He had a new 90'or 91' 350sdl(this was oct. 90') with about 1K on the clock. The unfortunate thing was we had all been out to dinner on a friday evening and had a few drinks. I am not talking about sloshy drunk but we all had around 3 to 4 drinks over a period of 2 hrs or so. My wife and I left in our old Volvo and he left with his date to go our seperate ways. On his way home 2 teenage girls speeding around a sharp corner lost control and our friend broadsided their car. They were driving a Honda Accord the girl supposedly got new for her sweet 16 a few weeks earlier. Both girls died. One died on the scene and the other later in the hospital. This is a testament to NEVER drink and drive even if you just have a small buzz. Our friend went to prison for about 7 yrs and lost his certificate. YES, he is thankful for driving that big, beautiful Benz, but he has wished often he had died instead. It ruined his life and more importantly ruined 2 other families lives as well. The accident was not his fault but, he had been drinking, and not a whole hell of alot either! But one cannot look at it that way! We had all been drinking and even though we feel we are responsible people for not going out and blitzing ourselves and getting DUI's yearly that we are OK. Wrong! There is no fine line. DON'T DO IT! These wonderful cars that we love are safe for our families and bring us great piece of mind, but deadly if not used as directed. Our friend now writes medical journals with another doctor since he got out and visits the graves of the girls often. Sad story for everyone involved.

Joe Golden
98' s70 27k
98' Explore Limited 44k
83' Wagoneer 214k
84' 300d 198k

__________________
Current stable......
17' Rogue SV 70k
11’ Saab 9-5 NG 94k
10’ e550 4matic 185k

sold
02' e320 210k
00' e430 167k
01' e320 171k (regret sale)
91' 300d 2.5t 300k (sold to ecoofidaho)
79' 240d 177k (old yellow my avatar)
87' 300d 169k (junk but fast)
85' 300tdt 261k (RBM parts delivery)
85' 300dt 68k (one owner cream puff)
82' 240d 250k
84' 300dt 198k (sold to diesel don)
91' 190e 2.3 61k
88' 260e 140k

And REMEMBER this was conducted by the national INSURANCE institute. I say hit some poles get your moneys worth on those ridicules premiums. By how many people here have backed into poles going 5MPH in the last 10 years. OF course the luxury cars are going to sustain more damage because they cost more. The media loves to rag on upper end stuff, it sells to the village idiot.

I look at this topic this way: Mercedes cars are designed and built for the high speed european roads. On the other hand, american cars are designed for the roads here. NOBODY drives their cars at 5 mph for more than a few seconds a day. If I get into an accident, knock on wood, I rather be in my Mercedes than ANY american car period.

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J.H.
'86 300E

I trust a Dateline story about as far as I can throw a case of Stone Phillips' hairspray! That show is all about entertainment and shock value. Just look at a Hyundai in a wrecking yard after a 40mph collision of any kind and compare it with any Mercedes after the same impact, and then decide for yourself. Who cares about a steel post--I haven't seen many of those around anyway. So if you see one and you are in your c320, ask the guy in his hyundai to tap it for you...

I just saw the report on TV this morning (MSNBC). They said that the info is on their Website. (Search for dateline). Anyway..it is 2.5 mph standards.
As for the results..I think they should test at different speeds to really see whats up. Say 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.

__________________
David Weis
Old Rides================
70 250
73 450SL
78 300D
88 Grand Am
Current Rides=============
95 280C *
98 SL500 *