Mercedes-Benz Driver Wins ‘Dumbest Accident’ Award in France
Mercedes-Benz driver hilariously ends up upside down in a GLE 63 while driving through a roundabout.
According to the Reddit thread where we found this video, the accident took place in France where the driver rented the AMG GLE 63 Coupe for a wedding. Of course, there are also people arguing about what constitutes a coupe, but what we can all agree on is just how ridiculous this accident is. We don’t think the GLE 63 could be doing more than 20 mph when it all goes wrong side up. What the driver was trying to do exactly is a little baffling, but the best suggestion so far is that he had turned off the ESC and was trying to drift around the roundabout.
The problem is that the AMG GLE 63 Coupe has a lot of grip, 516 lb-ft of torque at 1,750 rpm, the roundabout is sloped, and physics is relentless and cold-hearted about its rules. If we look closely we can see the front inside wheel lift, which strongly suggests the ESC was indeed off. If it was on, it would have killed the throttle input before things got out of hand.
Vehicle rollovers account for around three percent of serious accidents. However, as early as 2012, Consumer Reports reported that “the newest SUVs have lower rates than the newest cars.” Given how physics is relentless and cold-hearted about its rules and higher vehicles can’t avoid having a higher center of gravity, that suggests that ESC is the determining factor in safety for this instance.
We’re not sure we can agree with the Reddit comments suggesting the AMG GLE 63 Coupe has a design flaw. After all, it wasn’t designed to be turned into a rising slope at low speed with ESC turned off and given a boot load of throttle.
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