2021 Mercedes S-Class To Get World's First Rear Passenger Air Bags

#overkill

Lol starts with the S Class, a few years later it’s direct rivals, and a decade later the majority of the industry

Benz Tingz

#Save.Princess.Di

Considering that Nissan did offer a passenger airbag in 1997 for the rear on their President, she would have been fine in that car wouldn't she?

Her death was outside of the car anyway and as a result of the vehicle being a rebuilt title, I had already heard that very day in 1997, the rear seat belt was alleged to have not been working properly. Had they use the S600 they came in and said of a mediocre and trashed out S280, she would be very much alive.

The advent of any rear seat frontal airbag since the 90s, has been marred by the past death of children in the front seat and short adults. Seatbelt airbags were a first step, but this new resurrection of rear airbags by Mercedes-Benz has me scratching my head.

In addition to basic design engineering for cubing vehicles, I also worked in safety at Jaguar. I'm naturally an expert in this area.

Mercedes-Benz is only doing this as a statement and marketing stunt, but unlike the others, they will not discontinue offering it and will spread it throught their lineup. Which cannot be said for Lexus nor Lincoln/Cadillac and their inconsistency.

Any new feature that they tout, they generally do not get rid of it.

* had they used an S600 instead of a mediocre...( stupid voice to text)

As usual research has not been done well by 009. It's naturally easily for you to assume the German company did it first.

A number of Asian manufacturer in the 1990s offered rear seat airbags as optional, particularly Nissan on the President during the original Q45's facelift in April 1993.

As did Kia and Hyundai on KDM offerings, plus JDM chauffeur mobiles.

As typical with Asian and US manufacturers, they offer a new feature and then because the take rate is low and not through the roof, they discontinue the innovation.

If they had invented side-impact airbags in the 80s, I bet they would have removed them by the early 90s and then decided not to offer them until the Swedes & Germans reintroduced them to market.

This is why German manufacturers are successful. If they create an invention, they stick with it and make sure they market the hell out of the feature and of course it will be absorbed by the eurocentric public.

Americans created and were first to patent airbags, yet after offering them briefly in the 70s, withdrew them from the marketplace. The Japanese alternatively created parking assist in the 80s and abandoned it until German manufacturers and Ford reintroduced it in the 90s.

Only until Mercedes-Benz made an airbag option in December 1980, almost ten years after their first patent in 1971 as an SRS device with seatbelt, did Ford get to work with preparing some of their vehicles for airbags. Tempo in 1985 and Continental with dual airbags in 1988. The Continental paralleled introduction of a passenger airbag on the S-Class and E-Class equivalent W126 and W124.

Chrysler eventually caught on by the mid-80s and implemented them by 1988 on K Cars and dual airbags for LH cars in 1992. Brits in 1994, on first SUVs with dual bags RR Classic and Discovery, yet didn't stretch the feature to the Defender.

GM slow as molasses didn't even offer a passenger airbag on any car they made again, until 1991 on a large Pontiac SSEI. Not even their finest Cadillac had one against Lincoln since 1988 and 1989 on both Town Car & Continental.

By December 1992, Lincoln was the first brand in the whole world to have dual airbags on every car they sold, when many cars had none at all or simply automatic seat belts.

Point to be made here is that, when Mercedes-Benz committed to offering a driver side airbag by 1980, they didn't look back or hesitate. When they made them optional in 1983 and standard in November 1985 on all US bound cars, it was a vow to continue looking forward and ignoring low customer take rate.

Volvo made the same commitment with the 3-point seat belt in 1959 and did the same with side airbags in 1994. The Japanese introduced the curtain window bag in 1998 ahead of the S-class, but failed to market it and got overshadowed.

This is why American and Japanese high-end brands can never be successful in the long run. Their marketing is hit or miss.

I am disappointed that at Ford we unveiled the seat belt

I am disappointed that at Ford we unveiled the first seat belt airbag in 2010, yet removed it from the redesigned Explorer in 2019 because of you know who.

Nissan pioneered the rear seat passenger airbag in 1993, yet abandoned it because of Ghosn in 2000 due to restructuring and no longer offered it on the 2001 redesign.

And also mid-90s crisis regarding passenger airbags killing young Millennials in the front seat of their parents' new cars and thus feeling it could not be used stateside for safety reasons.

So color me unimpressed by the claim Mercedes-Benz invented the first rear seat airbag. They absolutely did not, just as they nor BMW invented the first navigation system in a vehicle like many people ignorantly claim.

It's always a jump to the conclusion that a new feature for Mercedes Benz or BMW was invented by them, when it wasn't. The same drivel have been passed around regarding ABS and much more.

This will be the first rear airbag system for both passengers. The NIssan President had it only for the rear passenger.

LOL, that's not a very logical excuse, as for the front seat passengers there were cars that only had a single driver's airbag until mid 90s.


The same argument can be made against the "first" airbag by Mercedes-Benz. MB wasn't the first, except in use as a Supplemental Restraint System.

They only offered a driver's side airbag in 1980 domestically in West Germany and again not the first one ever even, since Americans had offered them in the 70s as a dual unit.

If I took your logic, then Porsche was first with airbags in 1986 with 944, since it featured dual airbags and not just one.

Mercedes-Benz didn't even offer dual airbags as optional until the same year Lincoln installed them on their Continental as standard equipment.

MB simply has improved on a pre-existing invention from Nissan, yet very often it is used against other automakers, "they just copied an existing idea from MB/Germans and made it better. No originality". Particularly regarding Lexus of yore.

Ditto for MB/Bosch four-wheel disc brake abs in 1978 on W116 S-Class. They didn't invent ABS like many falsely claim because it's Mercedes-Benz and they can get away with murder in terms of being given due credit. While others are called copycats.

Offering an airbag for one rear passenger is no different than one driver's airbag for the front versus dual units.

Simply put, Nissan gets credit for offering offering the first airbag system in the rear.

MB only made it a dual airbag system for the rear versus one seat. The title of this article should say Mercedes-Benz offers the world's first dual rear airbags.

Reminds me of how the Japanese are denied credit for introducing the backup camera system to the marketplace in 80s-90s, yet the excuse is made, 80s RV trailers had them or GM had one (impractical setup) on a 1956 concept (yet never offered until 2006 on GMT900s).

I very much hate double standards and hypocrisy. I'm all about being fair and objective, no matter the brand. If Mercedes-Benz truly invents something that has no previous basis or existence, they deserve full credit. And the same should go for other companies.

Not a case of Mercedes-Benz builds on an past innovation and is called first, yet when Americans or Japanese do so, they don't get credit for it. Or the innovation is called a gimmick, yet when MB or BMW does it, it's called a marvel.

#Seatbelt.Engineering.Geeks.Unite