Firsts, World Records From Mercedes-benz

By: Dwyane Thomas

Mercedes-Benz, one of the very well-known auto brands in Germany aside from Volkswagen, had several firsts that made it legendary in the field of automotive.

Among these is that it is the only auto maker which the European authorities called upon to make a research out of an accident scene.

Mercedes-Benz also pioneered a wide line up of car safety features. One is the traction control to maintain the stability of the car and driver control. This is done by diminishing wheel slip on pull off or on slippery roads. The European market first offered airbags in 1980, and these were from Mercedes. These made the auto maker the first to include those airbags as standard safety equipment on its cars. Merc also initiated the use of pre-tension detectors to seat belts. It was first seen on the 1981 MB S-Class. These feature the tightening of the belts almost instantaneously to prevent the impact against the seat belt when the crash occurs.

Still developed by the auto maker, the "Safety cage" (also called "Safety cell") construction with front and rear crumple zones is considered the most important innovation in automobile construction from a safety standpoint.

These entire plus the anti-lock brakes, collapsible steering column, brake assist, automatic fuel shut-off and more array of safety features were initiated by Mercedes-Benz.

Because of these, it is the only auto maker that allows its competitors to use those features for the sake of improving automobile and family safety. In fact, crumple zones and anti-lock brakes are now used on all luxury vehicles including BMW, Audi and Rolls Royce.

From this, it can be deduced further that Mercedes puts customer safety on the top of its priorities than profit and comparative and sometimes absolute- advantage.

In a study conducted Mercedes-Benz, it revealed that the company's manufactured stability control prevented 42 percent of accident and its brake assist has helped prevent 8 percent of rear-end collisions and 13 percent of pedestrian accidents.

Mercedes Benz further pioneered the use of supercharging; double-pivot steering system used in cars today; starter motor (through this, a lever is not anymore needed to start a car); fuel injection; and the '7G-TRONIC' (world's first 7-speed automatic transmission).

The auto maker got those firsts. Moreover, it has a line up of several world records.

Among these is that it got the fastest automatic road car in the world. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren traveled 334 kilometer per hour that is 208 mph, which was co-developed by Daimler Chrysler and McLaren Cars.

Based on the E-Class saloon, the Mercedes-Benz Brabus W211 ' E V12 ' is the world's fastest street-legal saloon car. The top speed was recorded in Nardo , Italy at 350.2 km/h (217.6 mph). It uses a tuned version of the M275 AMG biturbo V12 engine which now produces 640 bhp (471 kW) and over 1000 Nm (757 lb-ft) of torque.

Added to the list is the Mercedes-AMG, 6208cc M156 V8 engine, the world's most powerful naturally aspirated eight cylinder engine.

At present, Mercedes-Benz continues to produce auto parts like the that will ensure it's on top of the automobile industry's pedestal.

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