DavidNJ

First, it appears that virtually every car out there, regardless of price, has LED taillights. Second, it seems commercial vehicles uses LED taillights.

Even at MB, the taillights appear to be relatively inexpensive to replace.

When a manufacturer installs them, they are virtually always praised as a safety feature because of their quick response and long, reliable life.

So why does MB not include them as standard? Or a least an easily ordered option? On the CDI, they are not even available.

mbchris

perhaps because they cost more - and reduce profitability? If not, why not make all safety standard across the whole world? Dollars and Cents my friend.

glojo

Sadly this once again is down to MBUSA. I have a CDI and I can assure you the rear lights are indeed LED.

Sorry,
John
Windy Torquay

F1Fan

One of the packages includes LED rear lights. I believe it is the appearance package. I don't think it is listed as a feature on the MBUSA.com website but the LEDs are included in that package.

BoSoxFan

It is part of the appearance package -- or at least it was in '04. I have them. I have never seen them as an option which can be ordered apart from the appearance package. Several people have installed them after-market on their own, however.

fazooley

My 2004 e500 didnt come with them and I ordered them from Steve (mbenznl). Me and bklynnbz installed them with really no problems except for having to remove the air tank in the right side of the trunk; lol. Anyways there really not that expensive and imo really add to the look of the rear.

Fazooley

DavidNJ

The point is not that they are part of the appearence package. Rather, the point is that if it is a safety, as other manufacturers claim, then why isn't it standard?

Brian_I.

Probably for the same reason they don't offer Voice-activated navigation or bluetooth technology or any of the other 75 things you can get standard on a $30K Acura TL.

mbchris

I think it is more marketing - they are quicker - but by how much really? And it probably depends on other factors like length of connectors between systems as well. I'm sure they say it is safer, because it is faster, but I have not seen any studies to show that cars with LED rear lights have in the real world have less accidents or fatalities, and that reaction times by a real person are really better. There are other variables that negate that.

However, I think things like ABS, DSC, SBC, turning headlights, pre-safe etc. probably provide better safety improvements than LEDs. They should make those standard first if it is about safety. If it is about appeance only - then they are right - they made it part of the appearance package! Now would that be the real truth...it is for appearance only? If it was really about safety, don't you think MB, BMW or a European maker etc. would have been the first to market with this, rather than other manufacturers?

Otherwise, no one would buy C-class MB's - get a G35 at the same price. I don't think MB ever lost a sale because of not having LEDs, and certainly it would be hard to prove in court deliberate negligence or similar in not making them standard.

I'm all for them - but from an appearance perspective - I seriously would say that a E320 with LEDs is much safer than a E320 without.

Just my opinion.

lig

It's all about the $$$.

Let me rant once again about the way MBUSA charges for:

Leather

Metallic Paint

HIDs

Pretty much anything else you can think of...

mbchris

Is there anywhere else in the world where MB cars are cheaper, absolutely, or in terms of cost of living? I don't think so. We have it good over here.

I'd prefer they charge individually, and allow us to pick and choose, than just having a $55K E320, take it or leave it. This way, it also helps keep our residuals healthy!

Barry45RPM

Thats part of what makes a Benz, a Benz... The Benz mystique... You have the $$$ to drive an expensive car. Not JUST an icon, an expensive icon.

lig

hehe... you guys have a point - it does maintain a certain amount of exclusivity.

One of my friends (way out of my tax bracket) got tired of seeing himself coming and going in his SL600 so he traded it for a Bentley Continental GT.

Can't wait to get a ride in that thing...

Mr. Xristo

Mercedes-Benz's are exclusive? I guess they would be, depending on where you lived; like say, Hickville, Oklahoma..

lig

ouch! I suppose it is relative.

In L.A. it seems like the maids all drive Benzes.

Here in Seattle M-Bs are commonplace - but I only see W211s maybe once or twice a day.

Recently came back from a trip to Orlando (just before Charley) - I saw way more minivans than M-Bs.

:p

DWP

Heck, here in Sacratomata, there must be 20 or 30 turnip trucks for every Mur-say-deez, so my car is sure 'nuff exclusive! I've noticed, though, that, if the addresses supplied by readers here are any indication, Benzes seem to collect where money collects - LA, the Bay Area, Chicago and its suburbs, New York and New Jersey, south Florida. That's hardly surprising. Even a millionaire in Casper, Wyoming isn't going to buy a Benz if the nearest dealer is 200 miles away.

Barry45RPM

Yes exclusive. Even if you live in L.A. or NY, where there are a lot of Benzes, DMV records will indicate for every Benz registered, there are Thousands of other lesser cars registered... Thousands to each and every one. Yes, excludive.

How many Chevy dealers do you pass on your way to a Benz dealership? Toyota dealerships? Honda? How many Benz dealerships are there in the USA altogether? Yea, there are 5 or 6 here on Long Island, but there are vast areas of this state that one has to drive hours to get to one...and that's only NY state. Even a one horse town has a GM dealership.

Yes, exclusive. Yes an Icon. Yes expensive. A comparable Lexus costs less.

lig

I'd be willing to be a nine year old Jag that still runs well is pretty rare too! j/k

Mr. Xristo

I am never ridding myself of my Jag, despite the number of vehicles in the garage the lines on the car make it such a classic.

Mr. Xristo

ok-ee-do-kee... I'll remember that on my way home when I pass by more than a dozen of them.

vraa

I live right next to our Benz dealer

I pass two Benz dealers to get to my Lexus dealer

I pass them all and I still can't find my local damned Chevy dealer.
I hate yuppie Sugar Land :p

DWP

http://yellowpages.superpages.com/su...e=TX&zip=77478

luxury1

I said this before and I'll say it again, I really like the fact that Mercedes is the most expensive of its class (at least I believe in most cases they are the most expensive). If the Bimmer cost more than the Benz in a comprable model I probably would have gone with that because in my mind it would have been the hardest of the class to achieve. I really like the finer things in life that not everyone can or will pay for. The price really does add to the "mystique" as it was very well put.

By the way, I like the fact that not all Mercedes come with LED's because it sets mine apart that much more...

Brian_I.

There are 10,000,000 people in L.A. County so even if 1% of the population has a Benz that's still 100,000 MB's on the streets. I work in the center of the financial district in Downtown LA and in my parking garage at least 80% of the cars parked are MB's.

For every dozen MB you pass on your way home, there were about 72 Hondas right next to you that you didn't even notice.

Barry45RPM

We tend to notice things that are rare, not things that are everywhere in plain sight. Those things we don't even notice.