Mercedesfan

While clearly still in the rumor stage, there is added reason to believe that Mercedes will not wait until the redesign of the SL to modify the front end. February 16th issue of Autoweek reports that European automakers are facing an October 2005 deadline to meet new "Pedestrian Safety Standards" which will have the effect of changing the styling of Mercedes's sports cars. The article discloses, "So Porches will generally stay the same; but not so for front-engined Mercedes-Benz...sports cars, which will need to either raise the hood or lower the engine."

Sounds like the perfect time point to bring on the SLK styled nose to the SL. One would assume the new 2005 SLK nose is up and ready to meet the 2005 standard and one can only assume that a similar styled nose for the SL will better disguise the changes that have to be made anyway to comply with the government mandated Pedestrian impact rules that go into effect in October 2005.

sillydriver

While the Autoweek article talks about an October 2005 implementation date (i.e. model year 2006) I thought one of the British car magazines had mentioned that while the rule comes into effect in 05 for newly introduced models, it doesn’t apply to existing models until (I think) 2008. Otherwise, it would have required a massive and costly redesign of most European car maker’s offerings, destroying their profits. Perhaps European forum members can shed light on this.

Mercedesfan

Would be of interest to see what the definition of "newly introduced models" is. Volkswagen could have escaped such a requirement for its entire 30 plus year life span of the Beetle. If change of engine is determinative then the SL65 will certainly qualify as a "new model" and I can't see Mercedes having one SL looking radically different from the rest of SL line.

Besides, there is a high level of jealousy between Mercedes, Porche, and BMW and I can just see the Mercedes management not giving Porche and BMW the competive advantage in being able to tout their available "Pedestrian Safe" models while implying Mercedes lags behind.

Twinturbo

the SL like all other mercs is still one of the safest cars around, and personally i dont like the SLR style nose, the current model is just perfect, so the longer it takes for the facelift, the happier i am.

Gunther

The SL65 will not be considered a new model. It's an alternative engine in an already existing model: R230. The 500, 55 and 600 are all R230's with different engine options.

I also find it highly unlikely that MB was caught unaware of a potentially required change when the redesign from R129 to R230 happened. Regulations like these just don't appear overnight. If anything, the R230 was released in MY 2003 to beat the requirements making sure that a redesign wouldn't be required before MB's intended time frame.

Wolfman

The front-end of the R230 is already the design product of the pedestrian safety issue; plastic instead of a metal grill, soft bumpers and plastic headlight covers...

Wolfman

Gunther

Thanks Wolfman...makes complete sense.

internet_mafia

What does all of this accomplish? If you are hit at 30mph you will be seriously hurt regardless of the materials used. It would all make sense if the entire SL was made out of deforming plastic, but its not. Momentum is what's going to affect the injury, not the initial material that "contacts" the body. What do you think iss behind that "plastic" grill/bumber?

Mercedesfan

The Autoweek article contends that Merecedes sports cars do not presently comply with the 2005 standard. It is correct that Merecedes has taken steps to make their cars more pedestrian friendly but as I understand it the new standard requires more than what is presently available. The new standard appears to address the point made in internetmafia's post that it is what is behind that plastic that matters.

Gunther

While I am sure that the article in Autoweek was a compelling read, I have to feel that MB has a little more knowledge about what the new standards are, what the time frame for compliance is and where the body of the R230 stands in compliance to the new standards.

Somehow the idle thoughts of a reporter don't hold nearly as much water for me when he didn't design the car and wasn't part of the legislative process of creating the new standards

This is now the third time this thread has appeared in reference to the R230 and a potential redesign of the nose.

Which brings up a really good question in regards to the new standards...why would the nose have to be redesigned to comply? Given than MB can make cars of such caliber, are we presuming that the designers are just too plain stupid to be able to either redesign non-visible structure to comply and leave the oustide alone? Are they unable or unwilling to use materials that are visible that would comply with the new standards and still give the current appearance?

If the proposed legislation takes affect in Oct '05, does anyone honestly believe that it was just introduced? It was a sudden whim by the EEC; an idea tossed around on that Tuesday and passed on Thursday afternoon. These things exist for years before getting close to a final form. Once they are passed they take significant periods of time to work into effect.

Given the size and lobbying "muscle" that a corporation like MB has, I'd have to believe that it holds a strong influence on those who make these decisions (along with counter parts BMW, Porsche, Audi et al). I don't believe for one second, let alone a minute, that all of those companies would have been caught off guard with the many recent redesigns of cars that have taken place in the last two to three years. That the EEC would pass such legislation that would negate the billions of dollars spent in R&D, design, redesign, testing and finally production is rediculous.

Finally, in the intial posting the reference to cars needing to be altered were the "front engined... sports cars." I can only presume that means that given the output of most MB's, all of the cars will have to be retooled, whether sedan or convertible. Is there going to be a difference between an E500, E55 and E320? If the design of the front end is the danger to pedestrians, each and every one of those engines has the capacity - when in pedestrian areas - to cause an equal amount of damage. The engine size become irrelevant.

But then again...what do I know beyond simple logic. It's not like I write for Autoweek.