marc777

Found this picture on a German website

http://www.w211.de/

My German is non existent but the following picture is very thought provoking and appears to show the result of a crash between a Police Skodia Felicia and a W211 - at 150 kph.

I know which car I would want to be in.

Marc

The narrative with the picture is :

Mercedes E270CDI nach Crash mit einem tschechischen Polizei-Streifenwagen (Skoda Felicia) bei 150 km/h. Die Insassen der E-Klasse überlebten, die drei Polizisten im Skoda leider nicht. Das Bild sollte jedem, der ein größeres Fahrzeug bewegt klarmachen was er für einen Schaden anrichten kann, wenn er damit nicht achtsam umgent. Insbesondere bei einem Unfall mit einem Kleinwagen. Ich hoffe dass das Bild den einen oder anderen daran erinnert, welche Folgen Alkohol am Steuer und überhöhte Geschwindigkeit haben können.

Any translation available?

McGuireV10

My German is a faint memory, but in effect:

Three policemen in the Skoda died; the MB passengers survived. Then I think something about this showing how dangerous larger cars are (apparently the fact that they're also safer was lost on the author of this commentary), and something about drinking and driving, so it was probably a DUI situation.

I haven't actually spoken any serious German in about 15 years... the vocabulary is the first to go...

jbec.keane

Translation using GOOGLE


Mercedes E270CDI after Crash with a Czech police patrol car (Skoda Felicia) with 150 km/h. The passengers of the e-class did not outlive, the three policemen in the Skoda unfortunately. The picture should everyone, which makes clear which a larger vehicle moved it for a damage arrange can, if he does not umgent thereby eight-SAM. In particular in an accident with a small car. I hope the fact that the picture or of it reminds others, which consequences alcohol can have tax and superelevated speed to.

OR

Mercedes E270CDI after a crash with a Czech patrol car (Skoda Felicia) at 150 Km/hr. The passengers of the e-class survived, but the three policeman did not.

McGuireV10

It had to be said.

Frank Wiesmann

Mercedes E270CDI nach Crash mit einem tschechischen Polizei-Streifenwagen (Skoda Felicia) bei 150 km/h. Die Insassen der E-Klasse überlebten, die drei Polizisten im Skoda leider nicht. Das Bild sollte jedem, der ein größeres Fahrzeug bewegt klarmachen was er für einen Schaden anrichten kann, wenn er damit nicht achtsam umgent. Insbesondere bei einem Unfall mit einem Kleinwagen. Ich hoffe dass das Bild den einen oder anderen daran erinnert, welche Folgen Alkohol am Steuer und überhöhte Geschwindigkeit haben können.

It says:

This picture shows the result of a crash between a Czech police car (Skoda Felicia) and an E270 CDI at about 90 miles per hour. The passengers of the E-Class survived, the three policemen in the Skoda unfortunately did not. This picture should serve as a reminder of the damage one can inflict on others due to carelessness to all drivers of larger vehicles, especially when colliding with smaller cars. I hope this picture convincingly proves that high speed and alcohol make a deadly combination.

SAguirre

I am in the middle of other stuff right now, but I figured that I should post a more accurate translation since the Google translation was way off. For all of you out there who do speak German, I know that some things could have been translated a bit differently. However, I do not have the time right now to do a thorough job. In the mean time, this should do.


TRANSLATION:

A Mercedes E270 CDI crash with a Czech police patrol car (Skoda Felicia) at 150 km/h (93 mph). The passengers in the E class survived, the three police in the Skoda unfortunately did not. This picture should remind (make clear) everyone who moves (drives) a big car, the damage that they can inflict when they do not drive attentively. Especially when the accident is with a small car. I hope that this picture can remind (people) what the consequences of alcohol and accelerated speeds can have.

I am pretty sire the Skoda is part of VW now and this might have been a comparable car to a VW Passat or a Jetta / Vento

Steve

lig

Even though I have some real doubts about the long-term reliability of this car I'm confident that it is likely an extremely safe car to drive in terms of accident survivability.

My condolences to the families of the policemen.

ima55r2

Thanks for the translations. It sounds like the 3 cops could have been speeding and drinking!

DWP

It looks like the W211 struck the left side of the police car. The police car's grille is undamaged but the left side looks to be caved in. At that speed, the cars must have done a lot of spinning and grinding before coming to their rest positions. That might explain how the rear of the W211 (apparently) got damaged along with the destruction of the front. Not only is the passanger compartment of the W211 basically uncompromised but at least three of the doors still open.

saffrontiger

Very sad. As a physician, I have seen plenty of MVA's with unfortunate results. It's good to know that the W211 is a well designed and engineered car tht has a probably higher than average "survivablity' factor than other comparable cars. I remember reading somewhere that Volvo used to send out a team of accident investigators in conjunction with police to perform a site and damage assesment. I wonder if MB does the same?

sl561

I haven't heard anyone mention this so thought I would: I heard on the news (radio) a week or so ago that the 211 is one of the best (if not the best) cars in terms of "deaths per million cars on the road." The 211 had only 10 deaths per million, as compared to say 350 deaths per million in the worst cars. I recall them saying that smaller cars were bad (naturally), but also one of the SUV's....either the Jeep or the Bronco (can't remember which) had very bad numbers. I'm sure this data is available somewhere since it was some newly released study. If anyone else finds it, I would appreciate a link to the source.

Fastbuck

LOL How else could you get them in to a Skoda?

DWP

The E-class in the study was actually the W210 (MY 2000-2002) but the W211 should be even safer, one hopes. Here's a thread with a link to the IIHS study:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w211/101415-e-class-safest-car-suv-road.html

BudC

Yes they do. Volvo and Mercedes are the only two to my knowledge. Mercedes have been doing it for a very long time. They send teams to accident sites involving their products.

That's one of the reasons they've forgotten more about automotive safety than Ford/GM/Chrysler along with the civil servants that work for the U.S. Government all put together.

Remember the Europeans were building cars to survive frontal offset crashes while Ford was trying to get a *5 Star* rating from the U.S. Government by blindly building cars that did well in straight frontal crashes.

When the Insurance Institute started agreeing with the Europeans, it left the Americans and Japanese scrambling to fix their products.

I think that the U.S. government is finally starting to wake up after decades of stubborn insistance on their outdated testing methods.

cte430

LMAO!! It made more sense in German!

MBE55AMG

Hmm, bad ending... damn, that W211 got wrecked.

xraymd

Ford/GM/Chrysler are screwed as MB has an understanding with the German government (and Volvo with Sweden) that they can come and examine wrecks and not fear being asked to testify at trial. That would never fly in the US.

McGuireV10

I've been trying to decide what MB suits me, and I recently settled on the E500, which should be in my hands within a week's time. During that time I have read literally thousands of messages on this board, in some cases going back several years. So, unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly where I read this, but this matter of MB investigating crashes was discussed here and I happen to have read about it recently.

According to that account, they *used to* investigate claims which happened within a certain distance of the factory (100 miles or something like that), but recently reduced this activity due to fears about being asked to testify. I believe the discussion with this claim had something to do with black-box recording (probably related to that situation which cropped up about a year ago where Chevy found itself involved in an MVA case).

I know German law differs significantly in many fundamental ways from US law, but I find it hard to believe they would give blanket immunity to anyone who might hold materially relevant evidence in such serious matters.

cdiken

US cops don't need to fear W211's

A Crown Vic or older pre-1996 Caprice/Impala would not have gotten creamed like that. (Although the MB would be safer, weighs almost as much as a Crown Vic and doesn't have a 900-lb engine like the lousy Ford 4.6 junk, so the extra weight is in the body structure).

BudC

Anybody riding in a Crown Vic should worry. Just ask the cop in Phoenix that was horribly burned because the doors jammed on his Crown Vic when it caught fire in a rear ender. Some other local cops haven't been so lucky. They burned alive. Of course Washington have let Ford off the hook again.

DWP

If you get T-boned by a two-ton vehicle travelling at 93 mph, no passenger car's side impact beams will be enough to protect you - not a Skoda, not a Crown Vic, not a W211. Those police officers never had a chance.

SAguirre

The Crown Victorias, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town cars are deceiving. Although they perform OK and are safe in some types of crashes, they are TERRIBLE in others. My childhood friend who is still my best friend is a Cop in Florida and has repeatedly chosen the Chevy Impala over the Crown Vic interceptor. He has seen too many of the Crown Vics kill co-workers.

You would think that such a large car would be safer, but then again, it is a Ford product. The old Chevrolet Caprice cars did NOT have the problems the Fords seem to have.

In any case, I would hope that a Crown Vic would of done better than the Skoda, but I would still rather be in a W211 any day.

Steve

cdiken

Looking at the 211 I would say not only did they survive, but also walked away.

The other car looks like a piece of used chewing gum.

Drive carefully!!!

PUZZ1

The MB passengers/driver may have survived but I'd be surprised if they just walked out.

JDM

Awful! I am amazed at the condition of the C though. Mercedes crash testing these cars with frontal offset at 40 mph results in no A pillar movement, and crumpling comes to a dead stop at the center of the front wheel. However the 97- 02(?) Ford F series pickup will put the A pillar almost vertical, buckling the doors outward at 40 mph!