WATCH: Mercedes-Benz stages public EV crash test

In a world first, Mercedes-Benz has crash tested two fully electric vehicles and published the results. The showcase took place at the group’s technology centre for vehicle safety in Sindelfingen.

Euro NCAP is the voluntary new car assessment programme started in 1996, and it stipulates a frontal impact test using a 1,400kg trolley with an aluminium honeycomb barrier replicating the front of another vehicle.

Mercedes-Benz crashed an EQA and the EQS SUV, both heavier and fully electric products from its stable, at higher speeds of 56km/h instead of the 50km/h sanctioned by the safety laws.

The vehicles’ extensive deformation after the collision may seem alarming to the non-expert. For the Mercedes-Benz engineers, however, it shows that the vehicles were able to effectively absorb the energy of the collision by deforming. Furthermore, the crash test shows the interaction of the deformation structures of different vehicles involved in an accident as part of the safety requirements for Mercedes-Benz cars.

As a result, the passenger safety cell of both electric models remained intact and the doors could still be opened, making it possible for occupants to exit the vehicle on their own or for first responders and rescue personnel to reach them. The high-voltage systems in the cars switched off automatically during the collision.

The EQA and the EQS SUV each carried two adult dummies. Analysis of the 150 measuring points per dummy indicate a low risk of serious to fatal injury, according to Mercedes-Benz, and all safety equipment, such as airbags and belt tensioners with belt force limiters, worked as intended.

“This crash test involving two electric vehicles, which we have shared publicly for the first time in this way, underlines our commitment to building the world’s safest vehicles. The four female and male dummies complied with the biomechanical limits in this extremely severe crash. This demonstrates our expertise in electric vehicle safety,” said Dr Paul Dick, head of vehicle safety at Mercedes-Benz.

“Safety is part of Mercedes-Benz’s DNA and one of our core commitments to all road users. And to us, protecting human lives is not a question of drive system. The recent crash test involving two fully electric vehicles demonstrates this,” said Markus Schäfer, chief technology officer of Mercedes-Benz.

“We don’t just want zero traffic fatalities by 2050 and a halving in the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 compared to 2020. Our goal by 2050 is zero accidents involving a Mercedes-Benz vehicle,” said Schäfer.