GDawgC220

Crash safety ratings for the '07 E-Class are down from previous years and only awarded "acceptable" by the IIHS.

http://autospies.com/news/Ouch-2007-...the-IIHS-9693/

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=703

edspider

Aren't these ratings based on veichle class? The IIHS put the camry in the mid size class, but E Class is in the large size class.

I don't care what IIHS says, I feel safer in my E than I would in a camry.

Of course I have the 06

Alan Smithee

What the autospies article fails to mention is that the side impact rating is only one of three tests conducted by the IIHS...offset front impact and rear impact are the other two, and the E-class got top marks for both. NONE of the vehicles in its class got top marks in all three.

According to the IIHS, if you want ultimate safety, buy a Subaru Legacy, Imprezza, Ford 500, Saab 9-3, or Honda Civic. They're the only cars tested with 'G' ratings for all three categories. However, their tests are very specific...chances that an accident will be a duplicate of one of their tests is basically zero.

cyclerider

I will never believe that I would be safer in a Civic than in my E550 in a major accident.

konigstiger

So what would a Civic look like after a 45 mph frontal collision with a Jeep SUV (which was actually lifted off the pavement and thrown to the curb)? Here’s what my 03 e320 looked like…

benzinok

According to the IIHS, if you want ultimate safety, buy a Subaru Legacy, Imprezza, Ford 500, Saab 9-3, or Honda Civic. They're the only cars tested with 'G' ratings for all three categories. However, their tests are very specific...chances that an accident will be a duplicate of one of their tests is basically zero.[/QUOTE]

The tests only compare cars within a class. A Subaru, Imprezza, F 500, Saab are not the safest cars out there, just in their class.

Having lost both step-parents in seperate car wreaks, I consider myself a novice expert on these ratings. If a Legacy crashes into say a Chevy Suburban, guess what, Subaru looses - 5 star or not. Thats why my wife drives an SUV.

#1 Safety Device - Weight Weight Weight

MB Fanatic

How could the E class be piled into the large class? Its a ****ing midsize car for god.

Alan Smithee

While true, if you look at the test results of the Honda Civic, remarkably it did hold up better than the E-class. My point was that both the autospies article and IIHS test results need to be taken in context...believe me, I'm not rushing down to the Subaru dealer.

I do disagree that (using your example) a Suburban is a safer vehicle than a Subaru, and that the #1 safety device is weight. Greater weight results in poorer stopping distances (especially in SUVs with high centers of gravity), poorer handling dynamics, and therefore less of a chance avoiding an accident.

cyclerider

So if I hit a Honda Civic head-on, am I screwed?

livetodrive

Well, if you're riding the Harley at the time...

PS - Please don't brand me anti-motorcyclist. I've got my own!!

HELL ONA HARLEY

Then you need to change your screen name to "live to ride".....

Agree....

2MANYCARS

I'm sure I will feel much safer in my race prep Impreza than my E550. Are the people at IIHS on crack or something?

barrafp

SEE BELOW:

WEBSRFR

Um. I know we all love MB cars but personally I find the results unacceptable for a Mercedes E class. safety is the NUMBER ONE priority when I purchase a car and it is above and beyond by far the most important thing for me. Sure you can say there are 3 tests done or whatever but as a customer, as far as I am concerned, it is completely unacceptable to pay this kind of money for a crash test result that is on par with a Honda Civic or worse. If the others cars can do better why can't we expect the 2007 E class to just as well?

I see everyone rushing to defend MB but we are talking about the safety of YOU and YOUR FAMILY here. Don't you think you deserve the best in terms of safety? My point is for a certain test, if all these cars can do better why is it unreasonable to expect MB to do just as well?

I work with numbers and facts in my life. I don't really care how safe I "feel" in a car because it has a star sticking out of the hood. If imperial crash test result figures look bad, that is an issue of serious concern.

I think the original poster has a point and is asking WHY the results for the 2007 is worse. I think someone needs to come up with a plausible explanation so we all know the reason and not go by touchy feely warm fuzzy feelings we get in our cars. Let's discuss some facts and figures and try to find some answers here.

W210

I wonder perhaps these tests are actually flawed with a huge margin of error.

Alan Smithee

Be careful of what you ask for. You may end up with a car that (perhaps the Civic is an example of this?) is designed to pass IIHS tests with flying colors to the detriment of real-world safety. There are plenty of examples of this in cars designed to pass EPA tests to avoiding gas-guzzler taxes at the detriment of real-world driveability (GM's 2nd-4th gear skip shift on high-performing manual transmission models, Porsche's 2nd gear starts in automatic models, for instance), providing false indications real-world fuel economy.

Personally, I'd rather have a car designed to protect occupants at Autobahn speeds than a car designed around very specific test criteria. It's why I mentioned earlier in the thread that "chances that an accident will be a duplicate of one of their tests is basically zero".

squarepants

Someone correct me if I am wrong but as far as I can tell, the only car that beat the E-Class in the "Large" category was the Ford Five Hundred. Every other car did worse or the same as the E-Class. According to the IIHS you cannot compare the front impact test accross categories, making a comparison with a Civic inapplicable.

In the "Large Luxury" sub-category, nobody beat MB. Then again, it is not clear whether MB is the top rated car in that category. Only the E-Class and the Audi A6 got two G's (good) and one A (Acceptable). These two received the top combined scores. It is therefore clear that the E-Class scored better than:

Lexus GS
Infiniti M35/M45
Cadillac DTS, CTS, STS
BMW 5 (well, sorta, They didn't get tested for side impact but at best can only match the overall MB score)
Accura RL
Licoln Town Car

The only possible contender for top rank was the Volvo S80 which received two G's and was not tested for side impact.

I feel pretty safe in my '07 350.

Alan Smithee

You're not wrong. But that was pointed out already in the thread.

benzinok

The Civic did better compared to cars in its class. There is no comparing the two vehicles as far as the IIHS is concerned.

I totally agree that the best safety device out there is avoiding a wreck, and the majoroty of SUV's suck at that, but IIHS is all about crash tests, not accident avoidance. It has been many years since I visited it, but there a site in Europe that factors in those things to come up with a composite score. But when your wrecking, weight is king. F=M*A

xabo

?

I went to trade up from a E500 to the S550. When I called myinsurance co. to get a price quote, I asked for a quote on the E63 also. The E63 was cheaper to insure by $400.00. Thier explaination was that the E63 is a "safer car."

Alan Smithee

When comparing the overall grade, that is correct. But if you look at the specific test results on their website, you can compare vehicles in different classes. For instance, the E-class has deformation closer to the center of the driver's seat than the Civic with a side impact of the same size and weight.

Only in VERY general terms.

Musikmann

Correct, force = mass x acceleration.

We also need to consider P = M1V1 = M2V2. where mass x velocity of vehicle 1 is equal to mass x velocity of vehicle 2.

Therefore, a vehicle weighing 2x as much as another, but going at half the speed has the same "force" or "impact strength" as one traveling 2x as fast, but weighing half as much. The is called the Law of Conservation of Momentum, where momentum is P.

In other words friends, let's drive our ~2-ton Mercedes FAST and we'll be riding in the safest cars on the roads!

My 2 cents worth from my almost-forgotten college intro physics classes

WEBSRFR

Granted but somewhere in your equation you need to factor in how a vehicle that weighs half as much is going to absorb and deal with all that "force" to conserve its occupants

I'm still interested in someone pointing out what MB did in the 2007 redesign that affected the crash test rating.

Germancar1

BINGO! A whole slew of cars, especially Asian ones are now designed with government safety parameters in mind, not so much real world safety as Volvos and Mercedes are. This long and drawn out nonsense is getting tiring. A Mercedes performs where it is supposed to, in the real world. There have been numerous studies about this.

M

BW

Ehhh... just for clarification...

The '07 E-class safety rating did NOT go down. Rather, an additional test was performed, the new 31-mph side test, and the E got an "acceptable" rating for that test.

The frontal crash and side crash are more important than the rear test. Vehicles that get "good" ratings for front/side can either be a Top Safety Pick "silver" (good front, good side, acceptable rear) or "gold" (good front, side, rear). The rear test is an evaluation of headrest design, not structure, crumple zone, etc.

The A6, GS, Infiniti M, 3-series, IS, A4, ES, TL, and Passat all outperformed the E-class in the side crash. The test can be compared among different car sizes (unlike the frontal crash), because the same 3,100 lb barrier flies into the side of each car at the same 31 mph.