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One night last month, I hit a deer at about 30MPH. (My local area is thick with deer.) The deer bolted in front of me from the wooded roadside when I was quite close. The active braking was not triggered, and I've wondered whether that was because the angle of the deer's approach was almost 90 degrees, or if the assist should have been triggered. Model is a 2017 Cabriolet.
PS - the deer survived and the damage to the car was US$4000 (insurance), half being the almost $2000 cost of the replacement LED headlamp.
I'm not sure how the system categorizes a deer. MB only talks about cars, pedestrians and cyclists, but I would assume a deer would still register. However, many are not aware that the safety systems work differently depending on whether the car is equipped with the Driver Assistance Package. I'm guessing the deer would fall under "Crossing vehicles", which the standard system doesn't handle. You need the Driving Assistance Package for that. With the Driving Assistance Package the car has stereo cameras in the windshield and a forward facing radar sensor, so it is much more capable at recognizing different obstacles and different situations and as opposed to cameras alone, radar isn't affected by low light or bright light. W/o DAP, there's only a single camera. which depending on lighting conditions may or may not see an obstacle.
The below is for the 2019+ FL and the newer generation system. The PFL system may be less capable in general.
Last edited by superswiss; Dec 12, 2021 at 05:59 PM.
The deer crossed from the right, and was struck by the middle of the grill, sent the MB star flying and chipped the plastic bumper skin in the center and pushed it in. The deer then pivoted around the left headlamp, which was shattered, and slid along the left side of the car. Though it was a dead center strike, there was no activation of the active brake assist at all. Hitting the deer was unavoidable but had the active brake assist engaged, perhaps the damage would have been less.
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