Today, tomorrow and the day after: all the safety innovations at a glance:

Cornering lights: this function of the bi-xenon headlamps and the Intelligent Light
System provides more safety on junctions and when driving slowly on tight bends.

ADAPTIVE BRAKE: this Mercedes brake system offers assistance functions, such as a HOLD function and Hill Start Assist, for even greater safety and comfort.

Adaptive front airbags: the front airbags deploy in two stages, depending on accident
severity.

Adaptive Main Beam Assist: this system adjusts the range of the headlamps in
accordance with the distance to oncoming vehicles/vehicles travelling ahead.

Adaptive brake lights: flashing brake lights warn vehicles behind in an emergency
braking situation.

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

Cars sometimes know more about their surroundings than their drivers. With the help of intelligent communication systems, vehicles themselves are able to contribute to improved road safety and mobility.

A patch of black ice on the next bend? A bank of fog three kilometres down the road? A new traffic tailback where roadworks are being carried out? What used to come as an unpleasant surprise is far less frightening if the approaching driver receives an up-to-date is warning beforehand. This is a task that will in future be carried out by the other vehicles on the roads at the time – automatically, by radio. This is the basic idea behind Interactive Vehicle Communication.

It sounds like science-fiction: concealed metallic structures that wait patiently in a collapsed, space-saving state until they are required to go into action. Daimler researchers working together with the gas generator specialists at Autoliv spent two years actively researching such active metal support systems, and tested a variety of applications. For the very first time, inflatable metal side impact protection can be seen in the ESF 2009.

Airbags in cars have previously only been used as a restraint system for the occupants. In the future they might also be a PRE-CRASH- component, activating an auxiliary brake in the vehicle floor and improving both deceleration and compatibility with the other vehicle involved in the accident.

Energy is not only reducible by braking the road wheels: jet fighters and dragsters use braking parachutes, for example. And as early as 1952, Mercedes-Benz was already experimenting with an air-brake at the Le Mans race: when decelerating, the driver was able to move a metal panel on the roof of his racing SL to a vertical position. Even earlier, coachmen used special wheel chocks. These were placed in front of one of both rear wheels on long downhill gradients, and their iron-clad base helped to brake the vehicle during the descent.