Mercedes-Benz has been demonstrating its new radar-based "intelligent" cruise control system, as fitted in the new S-Class - but it has not proved very clever.

Setting up a three-car convoy for German TV, the Mercedes team were to hit the brakes in the first car and then experience the automatic braking of the second and third cars behind. However, the second car failed to brake, shunting into the back for the first, and then the third car ploughed into the rear of the second.

It is thought that the steel construction of the hall in which filming took place had confused the radar beams. The pile-up will be shown on German TV tonight.

(Stern News)

We need an mpeg of this  2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


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I used the LR ACC on the V8 HSE I drove on the Experience day and it worked really well in the open on a dual carriage way, the only complaint (and the resume on my TDv6 is the same) is that when the system goes into automatic "resume" the acceleration back to the set speed is very fierce. I find that same on the no ACC of the Sport, hit resume at 30 to get back to 60 and the gearbox drops about 3 gears and the car leaps away back up to speed causing quite a thrust into the seat back. I'm used to much more gradual accelleration on the resume function. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Tim in Scotland wrote:

I used the LR ACC on the V8 HSE I drove on the Experience day and it worked really well in the open on a dual carriage way, the only complaint (and the resume on my TDv6 is the same) is that when the system goes into automatic "resume" the acceleration back to the set speed is very fierce. I find that same on the no ACC of the Sport, hit resume at 30 to get back to 60 and the gearbox drops about 3 gears and the car leaps away back up to speed causing quite a thrust into the seat back. I'm used to much more gradual accelleration on the resume function.

The Sport mode hardly makes a difference on the Sport. Apart from loosing 6th gear, I can't really tell much difference with the acceleration.

The standard cruise control does the same - accelerate very fast to get back to the set speed. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

someone on Bm3w got this info:

Look at the site: see pics half way down, then read this translation as below:

http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549644.html?nv=cp_L2_

The entire story gets a lot of attention on the german net and I will summarize what I have understood so far:

DC wanted to demonstrate the advantages of their new Distronic system in a REAL (hehe) test covered by the german
TV show "Stern-TV" (not a car related show, just reporting about some tech stuff now and then).

So they arranged the following scenario in their own safety test building (normally used for crash tests):

A new Distronic equipped S class should approach some parking cars unvisible due to artificial fog with a speed of 55 km/h. In theory the Distronic due to its radar technology would identify the obstacles (cars) although not visible for the S class's driver (fog) early enough to give him an acoustic warning. The driver would then engage the break, which automatically would initiate an emergency break assisted by the BreakAssist system.

The problem: DC engineers figured out beforehand that the radar system would not work properly in the building due to reflecting metal parts of the building (that's at least the story they told after the "incident").

Therefore the entire test was FAKED (without telling the TV show's management in advance): they placed a wooden plank on the floor as an indicator for the driver when to engage the break - really high tech

In order to increase the credibility of the test, a "neutral" driver was chosen (not a DC employee). And yes guess where they found an "indpendent" driver being ready to get corrupted: it was the head reporter of the german car magazine "Autobild" (certainly in exchange of a nice exclusive story like "I have been the first to test the Distronic under REAL conditions and it's a blast..")

Now let the fun begin: in the first try the driver was either too silly to engage the break pedal early enough (perhaps he could not spot the wooden plank) or they have been messing up in calculating the appropriate distance plank/obstacle or the breaks did not work well (driver was claiming the latter after the test) - so he just crashed into the other car (the TV team taking record of the scene of course ).

After the crash the driver was discussing with some DC engineers what went wrong and how to avoid a crash in a second test. Unfortunately the driver and the engineers forgot that the microphones of the TV team still had been turned on.......A member of the TV team asked whether he could participate in a second test as a passenger (courageous guy )....the DC engineer agreed only to withdraw his approval a minute later after the driver reminded him that the witness from the TV team would realize that there would be no acoustic warning and that he would engage the break pedal just at the position of the wooden plank.....STILL ON AIR....LOL....

A second and third test was conducted by the Autobild reporter (this time not crashing the car) and afterwords the TV crew confronted the driver and the DC engineers with their findings: holy cow ! their faces changed colors quicker than any F1 gearbox could change gears

This embarassment is unparalelled !

To top the crazyness the Autobild-reporter indeed used the story in the latest Autobild-issue to praise the value of the Distronic system ! - the guy has been fired by Autobild today....

The entire story is so unbelievable...if it would have been a Monty Python movie sketch I would have cramped myself on the floor laughing, but as it is just another example of how to destroy the rest of the credibility of car makers' marketing departments and car magazine's "independence" there is some bitter taste to this story.

It will be very interesting to see how DC and Autobild will try to recover credibility (maybe DC offers a wooden plank option for their S class in the future )

In picture 2 which occupant was driving? I bet it was the guy with a bolt through his neck! 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

Follow this link for the video. http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=sb 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!