A metal structure that inflates seconds before a side impact and a brake bag under the bonnet that inflates and presses against the ground to help deceleration before an impending crash — these are among the over two dozen safety features that Mercedes-Benz is currently working on.

Nearly a third will find their way into their cars in two years, while several others may take a little longer, explained Prof Rodolpho Schoneburg, Director, Development Safety at Mercedes-Benz.

A Body in White (BiW) ‘research’ passenger car, on display in Pune till Friday, exhibits new safety ideas that could be implemented in the company’s future models.

Pune is the third stopover for the six-city Safe Roads project, a CSR initiative jointly undertaken by all four Mercedes-Benz group companies in India — Mercedes-Benz India, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Daimler Financial Services and Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India. The aim is to help raise awareness on road safety in a country that sees the highest number of deaths globally due to road accidents.

The technology for the inflatable metal structure inside the four-side panels has been developed and patented in association with Swedish supplier Autoliv and could come into use in five years.

“The two radars on each side will detect the oncoming object and ignite a generator that will inflate the metal structure,” said Schoneburg, adding that Mercedes-Benz holds rights to an-18 month exclusive period of use, after which it can be featured in other cars.

A lot of work on safety is being done out of the company’s R&D centre in India. “Nearly 100 engineers (of 3,500) are involved in cutting edge technology on safety, and of over 300 patents, 50 are in the area of safety,” said Manu Saale, MD & CEO of Mercedes-Benz R&D India.

Though many Mercedes-Benz models sold in India have in-built features such as driver assist and brake assist, the regulation on frequency bands in India effectively disables them, as the cars are not populated with requisite radars.

Radar frequencies

Recently, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology de-licensed the use of devices or wireless microphones in the frequency bands 76-77 GHz (amongst others).

Roland Folger, MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India said the company has asked the Centre to open up additional radar frequencies.

“We have asked for the opening up of 24 GHz and 79 GHz to enable all systems which are present in Mercedes-Benz cars globally,” he said.

While 24 GHz would enable blind spot assist, the 79 GHz would help radar assisted braking. “We need the whole spectrum to be released to able to address active safety,” Saale added.

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