Mercedes Ill conceived 'safety' feature

A good safety idea this may have been in theory but a really stupid one in reality. The other week a fox ran out in front of my daily driver a 10 year old Mercedes E class. I started to brake but the fox was sufficiently close to set off an automatic pedestrian safety feature i had no idea existed. Suddenly the thing went from mild braking to full on emergency stop and the rear of the bonnet shot up by 3 inches. Just what you want when driving uphil round a narrow bend on a heavily potholed road.
The hinges are mounted on sprung loaded actuators. They couldn't be compressed by putting weight on them so I ended up getting a 2nd hand pair from Ebay for £ 70 and got a couple of mates to help remove and refit the bonnet - hundreds cheaper than a trip to the main dealer but still a bloody waste of time and money. Later I discovered there is an alternative mounting point for the hinges straight to the bodywork that avoids the actuators as they were not fitted to all versions. No one though makes this clear. In fact it is simple and cost free to cut this rubbish feature out and throw the actuators away whilst using the same hinges and bolts, zero cost..
This information doesn't exist anywhere on the Internet though

Notanumber wrote:

This information doesn't exist anywhere on the Internet though

Well it does now………….however I dunno that many Benz owners will find it here, but the important thing is we know, so we can feel smug about knowing shit that they don’t!

I dropped it on one of the Merc forums in more detailed form, It was only worth of a mention here in passing out of amazement at the absence of accurate usable information about a PITA 'feature' on a relatively common vehicle that must be catching a lot of people out.

Awwww….telling them spoiled it!

That would have been a useful feature on the car that hit me when I was crossing the road! It would have helped me over the roof, instead of hitting the windscreen, scaring the living daylights out of a dozy driver, who promptly slammed on the brakes! After I hit the windscreen I was propelled down the road (due to the sudden deceleration of the aforementioned vehicle) doing cartwheels until coming to a crumpled stop!! Fortunately I landed on my head so no damage done!!

That will have been a scary experience, did you need an ambulance ?

Oh yes, ambulance to hospital! Unconscious for two days, but no bones broken just badly bruised! Quite a good result for a 11 year old!

I think that it is a means to comply with safety (EU?) regs, if I remember correctly there has to be a minimum clearance between the bonnet and any solid object underneath. Either the manufacturer has to increase the gap or resort to methods like that to keep them happy, SUV's make it easy to comply, everything is a foot higher. A little known fact is that the increased frontal area of SUV's has totally wiped out all the increased fuel efficiency improvements of cars made since (I think) 2011

I find it interesting that just a few years ago we were all entreated to buy small fuel efficient cars. As I sit here on a Sainsburys car park waiting for my wife I see the usual mix of cars, Fiats 500 & others, Nissan notes & Micra, small Citroen / Peugeot / Renault, Swifts, my small Mazda, even Minis, which of course are not Mini anymore & the ubiquitous Fiesta. All these have arrived or are going as I sit & watch & they have all been driven by women of a certain age.
In contrast the large 4x4 , “crossover “ whatever they are, SUV, pickup’s, crew cabs, MPV & estates are, to a man or woman, driven by Men & younger Women.
Ok men like their big “trucks”, I still have my old Land Rover but you would think that women of child bearing years wouldn’t want to fry & gas the their offspring in the years to come.
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing.
“Your beloved offspring will be safe in our BIG tin box, more safe than our competitors Big tin box & you know it makes sense”
You can spec’ it up with all manner of goodies, providing you don’t ask to see the costs of the carbon ceramic brakes the salesperson has just put a tick against. The fact that if an emergency stop was required your precious child would be projected through the double laminated windscreen & down the road because you didn’t belt them in.
You can also choose whatever colour you want; red would be a good choice if you don’t belt the child in.
M, the old cynic.