The ESF 2009 is the first Experimental Safety Vehicle to be built by Mercedes-Benz since 1974. Like its historic predecessors, it illustrates trail-blazing innovations in the field of safety and makes the progress achieved clearly visible. These amazing but by no means crazy ideas include inflatable me-tallic sections which give more stability to structural components within frac-tions of a second, as well as the so-called “Braking Bag”.

Here is a list of innovations that you can read more about:

- Hybrid Battery Shield: seven-stage safety system
- Interseat Protection: don’t get too close to me
- Child Cam: keeping an eye on the kids
- Size Adaptive Airbags: tailor-made airbags
- PRE-SAFE 360: full emergency braking before an im-pact
- Child Protect: safety and comfort for very small pas-sengers
- Belt Bag: a clever combination of a seat belt and airbag
- Side Reflect: not all Mercedes are grey at night
- Partial main beam: full beam ahead at all times
- PRE-SAFE Pulse: an automatic nudge in the ribs