askaprice.com — A mishap during a Mercedes demo left many wondering if they had hired the same team behind some of Bill Gates? botched Windows presentations. The new Mercedes S-Class has a sophisticated radar-based braking system that can automatically prevent accidents. But with cameras rolling and photographers standing by, that system literally "crashed!"
Nov 17, 2005 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountNov 17, 2005
LOL
ptknightNov 18, 2005
Mercedes demigods will make it work and THEN everybody will follow. You will always look twice to a shiny Mercedes and wish you had one.PTKnight gently bows to Mercedes SLR McLaren
Closed AccountNov 22, 2005
Here is the link to the video. <a class="user" href="http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=sb">http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=sb</a>Anyone care to translate?
herbsoloNov 24, 2005
Whell - no real translation, but here's what's in the video:Stern TV was invited to come and see the superior new radar-based crash-warning system of Mercedes. It's supposed to work this way: You're on the road, there's fog, so you don't see what's in front of you, but if there is anything, there's a warning signal from the radar-distance-measuring-system, and you jump into the brakes. - That's the theory.Ok, they came there and the one to drive the test-car was a "journalist" of "Auto-Bild". "Bild" is a german media-franchise - the main "Bild" Newspaper is a low-quality yellow-press paper, you could compare it to "Sun" in the UK, i don't know the equivalent in the U.S. Auto-Bild is a magazine dealing with cars.OK, so the Auto-Bild guy gets a microphone, jumps into the car, speeds up - And crashes into the car in front of him. After he curses a little, Mercedes and the Auto-Bild-guy claim, he braked too late, but on the audio you can hear no warning-signal whatsoever.So they prepare for a second take, and the Stern-TV guys ask, if they can place a cameraman in the back of the car this time. First, they agree, but later, when they believe they're alone, they discuss the matter: (the Auto-Bild guy seems to forget he's still wearing a microphone) "if there's someone sitting in the car, they'll notice there's no warning signal"So they announce, that for "security reasons", noone but the Bild-guy will sit into the car, and then, still not aware of the microphone, they instruct him "Brake, when you're at level with the plank" - And that's exactly what he does - he demonstrates that the radar works, by accelerating and breaking at a point that's been marked with a wooden plank - the audio again proves there's no warning signal whatsoever.Later in the show a Mercedes-official admitted, the system wasn't working in the crashtesting-facility because of all the metal in it, and it was a mistake trying to fake it with the low-tech-approach of marking the point with a wooden plank, but he claimed that on the road the system works flawlessly.The really odd thing is, that a Car-Journalist was part of that plot, but i guess it's only a surprise for those who still believed in the impartiality of magazines that test products, whose manufacturers basically fund the magazine by placing ads in them.
rapideyeNov 29, 2005
Gawd, when I heard them on the Podcast, I about pi$$ed my pants, I was laughing so hard =-)Seriously, I had to close the door on my office and rewind it and play it again 'cause Alex was soooo hysterical!
raadaNov 30, 2005
Nothing like the old snake oil demonstration..."Can someone from the audience please come up here and test this magical crash avoidance system? (Just remember to brake when you hit the plank...)"
spacebar14Jan 6, 2006
LMAO -- Thats hilarious. I too heard it on the podcast. That was so funny !!!! HAHA Alex was histerical, eh RapidEye?
spacebar14Jan 6, 2006
lmao just watched the video -- "Shiza shiza shiza shiza" hahahaha Shiza means s**t in German for those of you that don't know.
notastatJul 2, 2007
Yeah im trying to see the video too. Anyway Mercedes Benz really chose the wrong time for a system to 'crash'Sarah<a class="user" href="http://www.losangelesmercedesbenz.net">http://www.losangelesmercedesbenz.net</a>
snarf2000Apr 3, 2008
Wow, what a mess. I found some other cool Mercedes videos here:<a class="user" href="http://www.mercedesfandesk.com">http://www.mercedesfandesk.com</a>
chuckroast01Jul 2, 2008
The video would have been so much more call, what a pity.Chuck | <a class="user" href="http://www.bluedotcarhire.com">http://www.bluedotcarhire.com</a>
sentaiSep 6, 2008
<a class="user" href="http://www.ce6.info">http://www.ce6.info</a> Nice work man