Live data from Hacker News

Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

mercedesbenzofnatick.com

101–110 of 263 posts

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#101
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different buyer preferences. Different needs. Of course, it helps that most low-powered cars sold in the EU will have manual trans, where all US MBs are autos... Also, US buyers will run the AC a lot more, and AC eats a lot of power...potentially as much as 15-20HP... that's a lot more noticeable with a tiny engine.

Still I doubt if it is actually justified, considering in India a similar size car is perfectly serving its purpose with a 60 to 70 HP engine.

The same reason Apple Doesn't sell an iPhone Zero in the US with a single core processor and 64MB of RAM.

The US is a mature product.

High end brands don't sell sub-lowend products.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#102
post #5

The Mercedes is known for being more expensive than most, but in most cases, it's worth it, not only for the luxury, but for the extreme attention to detail they put into safety. For example, when you get into one, it will adjust the tension of the seatbelt automatically to be ideal for each passenger. And of course this pink noise. And a ton of other little things that cost extra that most people will never notice.…

I was recently in the market and was impressed by the amount of safety features available in modern models (my old car being a 2011 model). In the luxury range everything had automatic braking for rear-end collision, back-up collision prevention, 360 camera, lane-keeping assist, etc.. (albeit often as part of a pricier package). I'm sure many other brands have similar features too. A couple days after I got the new c…

All these active safety systems contain a lot of self tests and sanity checks to make sure that they cannot interfere with normal driving. Such a system interfering instead of disabling itself is at most as likely as winning the lottery. You are much more likely to be saved from the consequences of a serious mistake. So while while your worry is natural because you give control to a machine that gkves you no insight into its operational state, it is also unjustified.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#103
post #17

I lost most of my hearing in my left ear in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. No other injuries. The audiologist said that my eardrum was in the kind of state you usually only see in battlefields from exposure to large explosions. People are always surprised when I tell them this was my only injury, and as a result I've always wondered how common this type of injury is with vehicle collisions. This is the firs…

Aren’t airbags essentially explosions going off in your face? Fancy car like mercedes probably has 10+ of them going off around you Especially the one in the door right next to your head could be bad for your ears I imagine ... Never thought of that before. Thanks for bringing it up

I've had my front airbags go off twice and didn't notice any impact on my hearing. It was just kind of a loud bang, but not to the point of causing discomfort. Maybe it varies by car and type of accident though.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#104
post #66
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mercedes is actually known for their engine longevity, reliability and serviceability. Yes they have more issues with technology than other cars, but that's because they use more and newer technology than cheaper brands. [1] [1] https://www.osv.ltd.uk/are-mercedes-benz-reliable/

Well tell that to whoever built the engine in my wife’s GL450. Cylinder head replacement after 40,000 miles, which involved dropping the engine. I went to visit the shop while they were working on it. Wow, I do a bit of car work, but if I ever had my car in so many pieces I would never have gotten in back together again. Thank god for extended warranties. I’ve never made out on a warranty so well, but one thing is fo…

Well, you own an exceptionally complex car which still retains the form factor of a limousine. All the hardware for these features has to go somewhere and that usually means the space around the engine. There is not a lot the engineers can do to improve things. They are struggling to find usable space.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starting in 2019, you get backup cameras... Luxury brands can actually stop you from going into a lane when a vehicle is there or minimizing the damage if you push it. Kinda like Tesla Autopilot but only when you're about to do something stupid.

We just got a new car; a Hyundai i30, kinda the opposite end of the market from the luxury brands. We had to pay a little extra for the safety pack (~$2k), but we have - backup camera - radar-guided "smart" cruise control (this is amazing!) - lane-departure warning and active steering - emergency braking Our particular model doesn't have the blind-spot detection (as per parent post) or rear cross-traffic warning, eve…

The lane keepong assistant was part of the base package when I bought mine. Hyundai added a lot of safety features to the base package or comparatively cheap extra packs to differentiate the car.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the advanced cruise control because I ordered mine with manual transmission. And the emergency braking feature acts weird on my car. It emits a warning signal if it detects a car in front lomg before it brakes but I find that to be pretty hit or miss.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#106

It's crazy how fast a car deals with a collision. In the event of an actual crash, the car is _done_ processing the event and deploying all safety measures (airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, etc) before your body even begins to recognize the sensations of impact.

Not only that. Modern safety systems distinguish between different types of crashes and compute e.g. the optimal time to deploy the relevant airbags while the crash is happening. Supposedly, some implementations rely on piezo crystals embedded into the car frame to measure how the car is being deformed during the collision.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#107
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That office building alarms are worse is all the more annoying since they theoretically shouldn't need to wake people from sleep.

Well, they do need to overcome my noise-cancelled high-volume drown-out-coworkers music...

Listening to high-volume music every day can damage your hearing.

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#108
post #5

The Mercedes is known for being more expensive than most, but in most cases, it's worth it, not only for the luxury, but for the extreme attention to detail they put into safety. For example, when you get into one, it will adjust the tension of the seatbelt automatically to be ideal for each passenger. And of course this pink noise. And a ton of other little things that cost extra that most people will never notice.…

According to IIHS's data, riders in Mercedes C-class cars have about-average chances of injury. This means they're no safer than a Prius. Mercedes E-class cars have about 30% less than average chances of injury, about the same as Volvo and Subaru.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/insurance-losses-by-make-and-mo...

Re: Mercedes-Benz pre-safe sound

#109
post #5

The Mercedes is known for being more expensive than most, but in most cases, it's worth it, not only for the luxury, but for the extreme attention to detail they put into safety. For example, when you get into one, it will adjust the tension of the seatbelt automatically to be ideal for each passenger. And of course this pink noise. And a ton of other little things that cost extra that most people will never notice.…

While they certainly have some nifty safety features, I don't feel as though they really take safety seriously when they have one of the worst completion rates for the Takata airbag recall (source: https://www.nhtsa.gov/equipment/takata-recall-spotlight#comp...).
Post reply on HN