crumple zones

[Adenauer]

All for the best, but geeze, that poor 111.

[Todd Miller]

Dibs on the rocker trim!

I talked to a guy once who'd been back to the factory during the 60's and watched them crash testing. He said they would strap a rocket to the roof, run the car down a track into a concrete block the size of a car garage (I think he said at 100mph) and then they'd hit that car from behind with another one.....and then walk up and open all 4 doors. The joke that the engineers had, was that if the human body could withstand the forces of deceleration, they could walk away from a crash like that.

Great photo, got any more? I've got one in a coupe book showing a w111 in mid air having gone off a wooden ramp with 2 wheels in order to make it rotate in the air and land on it's roof. Hurts to even look at that photo!

[Wodnek]

My 116 parts car was rear ended by an Accord at 45 mph. Accord driver on phone, never noticed red light with full size mercedes sitting there. All 4 doors open, but driver seat spring base is toast.

[Todd Miller]

I'll bet that Accord was wrinkled all the way to the tail lights.

[Adenauer]

It seems the 114 was also a test bed for early ABS. A few other neat shots.

[vox_incognita]

http://www.heckflosse.nl/safety4.htm



http://emercedesbenz.com/Aug07/29_Special_Feature_Innovation_As_A_Tradition_At_Mercedes_Benz_10.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_Barenyi

http://www.daimlerchrysler.com.au/dc_australia/0-172-65707-1-756079-1-0-0-0-0-0-11386-65707-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html
...however, once at a demonstration of MB passive safety innovations,the organizers of the event put a ponton from the factory museum in action instead of a w111...
Mr.Bareniy:"Hey,they smashed the wrong car!"

[Wodnek]

Originally Posted by Todd Miller

I'll bet that Accord was wrinkled all the way to the tail lights.

The Accord was a total loss. It did keep the driver in 1 piece though. The 116 was a 73 450SE and had the small bumpers. All crumple zones worked as designed. All glass intact, all 4 doors open and close. The driver seat sprung such that the head rest hit the back seat. I wonder if the US bumper would have made it any different?

[alabbasi]

At 45mph I doubt it. Shame about the bumpers though, a good chrome shop may fix them.

[cth350]

There's a photo out there someplace of a 600 that was used for crash testing.

I've only been the driver in one accident. I was behind the wheel of a 73 pontiac station wagon (as much solid steel as any mercedes) and was hit from behind by somebody that could stop fast enough in a snow storm. He wrecked the nose on his little honda. I was disappointed that he dented my license plate.

-CTH

[Adenauer]

online article about M-B testing...

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2801/article.html

[JMURiz]

Originally Posted by Adenauer

It seems the 114 was also a test bed for early ABS. A few other neat shots.

Great pictures, so that's what my car would look like with no bumpers...a hell of a lot better than my '74 USA bumpers
Wish I had a set of pre '74s to replace them with.