There are two main reasons why few people capable of buying the new Maybach will buy one, these are:
BAS PLUS with Cross-Traffic Assist, and Pre-Safe with pedestrian detection and City Brake function.



Quoting from Wikipedia on these features:
The issue here is that the Maybach is a chauffeur driven car. Typically the chauffeurs of these vehicles will have the driver training to be able to protect passengers during attempted assassinations and kidnappings. The new Maybach knows better than to listen to a trained bodyguard/chauffeur. When a kidnapper steps in front of the car assuming the Maybach is doing less than 72km/h it will politely stop so that the driver can be shot and passengers kidnapped.



Draw your own conclusions.

 

Half the cars in production that cost more than $50,000 have this feature, and even some that are cheaper.

Grow up.

 

LOL!

 

DFTT

 

you could have just stated your feelings.......but no, you had to add insult

 

well this is about the dumbest thread I've seen in a while.

 

+1

 

While the OP raises an interesting point, It doesn't seem to be a very well thought out one.

I personally can't imagine that MB is not both very much in tune with their HNW and VIP customers and very well aware of how such vehicles should be hardened, in both the armored versions and non armored ones. I'd be very surprised if the optional ones can't all be configured off (or even deleted entirely via unadvertised build options), and the ones mandated by regulation can be referred out for third party conversion.

There are far more factors that come into play here, such as the relay that cuts off fuel in an impact, and I'm sure many more.

Also, in the US at least, outside of the secret service most VIP transport doesn't need to be hardened against direct assault. Hardening it against frivolous lawsuits and yellow journalist coverage resulting from flattened pedestrians is probably a far better value on balance. there is almost certain some regional market component to this, and just because someone can't find the options on a US build sheet, doesn't mean they aren't there in Mexico, Brasil, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or other places.

What I find more interesting than these features, however, is the mentality of someone to drop in on a new forum, sign up, and make this statement as an opening post, without bothering to make even the least indication of who the hell they are or what the hell put this particular bug up their ***.

A long time member? People have some idea what you're about (or they can go read some more of your posts to get some idea).

But as a first post? Honestly... why should anyone care that you have adopted this issue and are trumpeting it? Have you actually researched it and you know that it is a real issue and real people are really worried about it? What research have you done? What are people in that particular business having to say about it?

Or are you just some guy who read something on wikipedia and made a whole bunch of extrapolated, half baked, and probably flat out wrong assumptions, then decided to introduce yourself to an established community on this flimsy basis?

 

Can't the driver assistance functions be turned off by the driver if needed, such as during a car chase.
As previously stated the cars for such clientele would be well armed and armored. So they would not worry unnecessarily.

@OP this is truly the dumbest thread.

 

I beg to differ, I've had much dumber threads than this

 

You can turn it off by pressing a button to the right of you. People around London will be buying these, to be above the normal S Class user which in Central London, are as common as a Ford Mondeo. Last time I checked, being kidnapped and chased by armed men through Central London is a thing of dreams.

 

Wow what silly scaremongering. First of all if you really were at a level where this would be a plausible threat you'd likely have another vehicle or two in your convoy.

Apart from that just about every one of these systems are generally designed so you can override them. I bet when the auto braking kicks in you nail the accelerator, the car will defer to the driver's input.

 

I have never tried this, but I can imagine that you are 100% correct.

 

Perhaps the OP can walk in front of your car and you can give it good ol sophomore try. Then we'll all know for sure.

 

Love it!

 

I wouldnt so much call it scaremongering, that would imply people actually got scared by the OPs revelations. Rather id call it 'dumb sh*t trolls'

 

I think this post, being the guy's first post and being quite alarmist and ridiculous, deserved nothing better. A guy worried about his security with a driver would also be up-armored, and would disable the feature discussed above and take evasive action. This is posted by most likely a 16 year old troll who sits behind his keyboard fantasizing about us getting all riled up. What motivates them, no one knows. Lack of attention? Too much of the wrong kind of attention? Bad breath? whatever. We should all go back to not wasting our time over this inane thread.

 

 

I always Wanted a big button on the dashboard or something to the side that you could press to completely a new eliminate all of the safety nannies

Based on the original post, I will start doomsday prepping now and get bottled water and canned goods and get them into the bunker immediately. Now to go burn the e class.

 

What an incredibly DUMB thread.

M

 

It's a dumb first post to be sure but I had a scenario which showed that crooks could exploit existing tech in cars.

Our BMW 750li (F02, current model) was rear ended at an intersection at low speed. While there was virtually no visible damage to the car, the active headrest was triggered for whiplash protection.
That's all good and useful.

The problem was that on the BMW, the headrest uses a self-destructive module that can't be reset and more importantly cuts power to the ignition. Car was rendered un-drivable in the intersection during rush hour.

So if somebody wants to stop a BMW, they just need to rear-end the car. Good thing this doesn't happen on a Mercedes

 

If you open the driver door while a Mercedes (or Jaguar) is in D it will automatically go into P. You can over-ride this by putting the gear selector back to D and the car will move with the door open. On BMW and Rolls, you cannot over ride this feature, meaning the car will not go into D with the door open. When I asked about this, they said it was an anti-hijack feature. If somebody opened the driver's door to hijack the car, I'd want to be able to put it back in D and slam on the gas!

 

I see where this guy is coming from but I don't think anyone would stand over a moving car just to kidnap someone. If you said a van or a car. It would have been "slightly" different. This isn't a movie. This is real life.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this thread wasn't started by one of our "regulars", who signed up under a different name, just to see how riled up he could get us. Twenty some posts later, I think he has succeeded!