BetterTomorrow

It hasn't even been a month since I bought 14 E550 and it saved my butt twice already. Once I was driving on far right lane, this young female decided that she wanted go into a gas station on right from my left lane, literally cut in front of me so quickly that I did not even see it coming. If my E didn't do emergency brake, her beat up, can't event sell on used car market type of car would have done some serious damage.

Another one while driving on a highway during traffic, was trying to change lane to right, didn't see any car right before I started giving signal and changing (the other car must have changed the lane and moved into the lane I was about to move in, right before I started to changed). As I was changing lane, sudden loud beep and felt my car getting shoved back into my current lane (active blind spot).

These driving assistance gadgets, perhaps some people may say, don't need it if you just drive well. But more than often, it is not just how one drives but how others drive as well and I think they are worth every penny if they work well.

By the way, it is quite disturbing to see how some other manufacturers put their own version of driver assistance that do not work well at all. I bet a lot of people would pay extra for the term "driver's assistance" without knowing some of them are not worth anything. I think Nissan and Honda do not have dedicated sensors and use wide angle backup camera to work as blind spot monitor on some of their cars. Really???

LINKBXQ

First weekend I got mine, driving through NJ at about 2am to newark airport and entering an exit, had an Audi try to cut me off on the exit ramp from behind nearly jumping the curb himself. But same as you, car was shaking and alarm went nuts and stopped me from fully entering the exit ramp.
Think the other guy was probably drunk or something, he still clip the rail with no one around then came out and started vomiting.

thefisch

My 2011 doesn't have those active systems. Thankfully it has great brakes. Just this morning it saved a cat's butt that decided to dart across my lane.

jahquan3

I don't have those features and only have Assist (Coffee Symbol). It has only went off when I was fumbling in my back pocket for my wallet while driving. It just beeps to let you know that you're driving somewhat erratic.

The times that my car has saved me so far it's been from sheer luck or just paying attention. North Jersey has some of the worst drivers, so your best defense is to assume everyone on the road is a idiot.

Arctic2010

I was wondering what the "coffee cup" was about.....I meant to look it up in the manual. Just got my E350 a few days ago.

PeterUbers

Distronic in a tesla decapitated someone

BetterTomorrow

Well, it was Tesla's autopilot. From what I read, it sounded like that driver was using autopilot, speeding, and not paying attention to the road, probably not a good combination. Auto-Drive function in some cars are cool but I think it would be reckless to trust one's life with it just yet, especially on a highway. I find using Distronic Plus in slow moving traffic condition much more useful, worst case should be a fender bender.

The G Man

Which is not far from the truth in NY and NJ

PeterUbers

Many times when I have used distronic early on I would find it speeding and completely ignoring slow approaching traffic.. I had to slam on the brakes. I read up on how it's used how it's implemented I read the manual several times I queried people on this forum and I realize I'll never use it again.

Even with me paying close attention I don't want to have to overthink the microprocessor associated with this drama in case it makes a sudden move that is just counterintuitive to what human input would be.

There is just a little bias here offering such praise for all this technology, I'm included as I have the same technology in my car, but in reality it's unclear how much praise we should be giving to it as perhaps in a different setting without this technology our human input would've done just as well. We like to validate our purchases as humans we all know this

KEY08

The semi driver said he shot through his trailer so fast that he didn't even know it happened. I'll continue to drive by myself and turn my head as needed to see what's coming.

fosterelli

The Tesla driver was apparently running Auto Pilot and watching a movie while speeding. Glad to hear he only managed to kill himself...and no innocent bystanders fell victim to his idiotic behavior and poor decisions.

jjsaustin

I have active blindspot and lane assist. Is the emergency brake standard out part of some package?

Honestly with all MB's features it's confusing what are options and what is standard.

Phoeny

The CPA saved my *** last week while driving on the highway: lot of traffic due to summer holidays,a woman decided to brake and stop the car for no reason...all these gadgets are really useful and worth the price.