Radcad06

Driving home last night, a large raccoon darted out in front of me. I nailed the brakes hard and swerved right, narrowly missing the little dude. No big deal, except my wife screamed out “OH!” so loudly that it scared the bejeezus out of me.

”Nice job not hitting him,” she said.

“Thanks, but I could’ve done without you screaming,” I replied.

To which she retorted, ”Right, do you want to take a look at my seat?”

I glanced over to find her seat to the floor and in a semi-reclined position. She said that as I made the maneuver, her seat suddenly dropped into that position - which is what made her cry out.

I can only assume this is some sort of accident readiness procedure the car performs when sensing impending doom? Amazing engineering, if so!!

MTrauman

Yes it is a procedure to put the driver and passengers into the best position if there is a collision. When I totaled my '14 S550 4matic by getting sideswiped on an interstate highway and hitting a tree at 60 mph, I had the sunroof fully opened but it closed automatically with just a little bit left open to vent out the "dust chemicals" from the airbags that went off as well as my drivers seat ended up in a different position. These S class cars are one of the safest cars on the planet. I hit a tree at 60 mph with my car dangling in the air on top of a tree and I walked away without a scratch.

Radcad06

I remember seeing your post about it, MTrau. Impressive, indeed. How the heck does a sunroof that large close so quickly during an accident?? I wouldn’t believe that was even possible if you hadn’t experienced it first hand.

BenzV12

That's very impressive indeed , so called reliable Asian would have not done their jobs as well as Mercedes-Benz

hyperion667

Your thread started off reading like a joke My wife does the same, annoying thing......yelps out in surprise and startles ME.

I never knew the seats would do that, hmmmm......interesting, but not shocking.......Germans and their over engineering

MTrauman

This safety feature is called PRE SAFE. Below is a cut and past from MB:

Radcad06

I KNOW! I had everything under control, but that yelp made it much more stressful.

This type of thing also happens when, for example, I’m making a turn and I see and identify an oncoming car. But then my wife yells something out because she thinks I don’t see it. This in turn REALLY makes me flinch because I’ve already identified the one concern (the oncoming car) - which MUST mean that her yelp indicates I’ve missed something - and we’re ABOUT TO DIE any second. Really makes the nerves zing up the back of my neck!

Socalsteve

There is a cure for this...Ativan.

Good luck!

Radcad06

Lol, thanks, but I’m cutting back on the benzodiazepines

Socalsteve

Not you, your wife. Put her in the back seat with a glass of scotch and a Ativan drip. You’ll be fine!

Radcad06

LOL! How DARE you sir?! (I’ll put on my chaffeur’s uniform and we’ll role play straight out of “The Secret Of My Success.”).

Oh yeah, chick....chicka, chicka....

Streamliner

I’m just curious: in such a case, do the seat adjustments, window & sunroof closings happen at a much quicker than normal pace? It seems to me that most impacts happen with little or no forewarning, so these things must happen like instantaneously?

MTrauman

I assume it happens in a split second since I was on the highway and the next second I was smacking a tree at 60 mph with my cars front end suspended in the air on top of a tree with the seat and sunroof in different positions. Our S Class cars are so advanced from a safety standpoint. That is a comfort since I lived to tell about this story.