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MERCEDES E-CLASS
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Oz airbag recalls blow out
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THE recall of an additional 90,000 Hondas brings the number of cars fitted with potentially dangerous Takata airbags to almost one million, in Australia alone. The Honda recall includes the Jazz, CR-V, 2010-12 Insight and City sedan. Expected to extend to more than 50 million cars globally, the recall – which followed multiple deaths overseas due to airbags splitting or emitting shrapnel on deployment – has reached 940,000 here. That almost equals the total of Australian car recalls for all reasons in 2014, itself a 10-year high.
SEPTEMBER2015
Mercedes reveals E-Class tech blitz
Smartphone integration, car-to-car comms on the menu as E-Class takes over as Benz technology leader
MOVE over S-Class, the next Mercedes-Benz E-Class is set to become the brand’s tech flagship, with a number of world-first features.
Although the W213 E-Class is still at least six months from production and won’t hit Australian showrooms until late 2016, Mercedes-Benz has revealed some of its innermost secrets.
The E-Class will introduce at least four world firsts, in safety, convenience and driver assistance. Engineers promise it will include semi-autonomous driving aids a level above those that wowed the world when the current S-Class was revealed only two years ago.
Further, the E-Class will gain a couple of technologies that lift Mercedes to parity in related areas with what is offered by BMW and Audi.
Mercedes-Benz hasn’t revealed the exterior or interior of the new E-Class yet, but Wheels has caught the new model testing. It will share its MRA (Modular Rear-drive Architecture) with the current S-Class, but will leapfrog the bigger Benz with a more extensive suite of tech that will eventually trickle up to the flagship.
The new E-Class will ditch the current range of V6 powerplants, reverting instead to inherently smoother in-line six-cylinder engines. These modular engines will be closely related to the four-cylinder units offered in the entry-level E-Class, in an approach fast becoming the industry norm.
There will also be more hybridisation, as confirmed at January’s Detroit motor show. The
IT CAN DRIVE ITSELF
EQUIPPED with more advanced sensors and data-processing than the S-Class, the new E-Class moves a step closer to full autonomy.
Highlights are the new car’s ability to follow traffi c ahead, in its lane, at speeds from 0 to 200km/h, and the ability to steer at up to 130km/h even when lane markings are absent.
Stuttgart is working on protocols for the car to hand control back to the driver. With today’s laws requiring hands on the wheel, this isn’t an issue. But in the future, when the car has been in control for an extended period, the driver can become deeply involved in other tasks. Making sure they’re ready to resume driving, say at the end of the motorway, is a necessity.
TimeforTesla’s3Seriesrival
THIScouldbetheworld’sfirstelectricBMW M3rival.Teslaisrumouredtobepreparing tounveilitssmallestvehicleyet,theBMW 3Series-sizedModel3,attheGenevamotor showinMarch.Whilethecaritselfhasbeen confirmedforsometime,itsarrivalhasnot. TheModel3willusebatteriesproduced inTesla’snewUS‘gigafactory’inNevada. Hittingshowroomsin2017,it’sexpected tohavea‘Ludicrous’mode,afeature recentlyaddedtotheModelSthatenables astunning0-100km/htimeof2.8sec.
THE W213 E-CLASS CAUGHT TESTING AT THE NURBURGRING. IT WILL BE LAUNCHED IN LATE 2016
YOU CAN UN NLOCK IT WITH YOUUR SMARTPHON NE NE
USING NFC (Near Field Communication radio technology, a smartphone canbec is already built into many modernsmar tech that enables contactless payments requirement of the phone or itsSIMist store encrypted data. Mercedesengineer demonstrated the system by openingan HTC phone gently against the doorhand Digital key will be an option ontheW21 other Mercedes models. s),averyshort-range omeacarkey.NFC tphones– it isthe systems.Theother heability tosecurely r SantiagoPenaBrossa n appandtouching his dleofanewE-Class. 3andwill spread to
R ed l i n e
Australia’s most expensive car
THIS will be the most expensive car on sale in Australia. The Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf will cost more than $1 million and has been confirmed for right-hand-drive production, meaning it will be available beyond its core markets of the Middle East and Russia. The first model to use the Lagonda name in three decades, the V12-powered sedan is built to order, but the production run is limited (for the time being) at 200 cars. So, unless someone Down Under has the cash and the inclination, we may still never see one on local soil.
SEPTEMBER 2015
IT WILL MOVE YOU AWAY FROM DANGER
THIS addition to the Pre-Safe suite of safety technologies is brilliantly simple. When the car senses a severe side impact is inevitable, it rapidly infl ates the outboard side bolster of the seat about to be hit. The occupant is subsequently shoved away from danger toward the centre of the car, creating extra space for the side airbag to do its job. Mercedes used a test rig in Stuttgart to demonstrate the system on us, and ‘shove’ is the word to describe what an ‘Impulse SideDeployment’feelslike.
E300wasthefirsthybridMercedesofferedin Australiawhenitarrivedin2013.
“InashortperiodoftimeanewE-Classwill cometomarket;ofcoursetherewillbean E-Classhybrid,becauseallcarsC-Classand upwardwedefinitelyhavetoprepareforplug-in hybrid,”saidBenzbossDieterZetsche.
Theonlycompletecaratarecenttechbriefing inStuttgartwasswathedinheavycamouflage, insideandout.Weknowitwillcarrylessweight, withmoreextensiveuseofaluminium,as withthelatestC-Class.Anditwilloffersemiautonomousdrivingtoagreaterextentthanthe currentS-Class.
DriverassistancesystemsengineerAlexander SchaabsaidMercedeswouldbereadywhenlaws changetopermittrulyautonomousdriving. “Wewillbecomingveryquicklywithasolution,” hepromised.
Thecompanyisnotdiscussingwhichofthe technologiesitshowcasedwillbestandardand whichwillbeoptional.
WhatisclearisthatthenewE-Class,atleast infullyloadedform,willsetanewadvancedtechbenchmarknotonlyforitsclass,butforthe brandaswell.StuttgarthastheR&Dpedaltothe metal,andshowsnosignofliftingoff.
JOHNCAREY
E-Classwillincludedrivingaidsa levelabovethosethatwowedthe worldwhenthecurrentS-Classwas revealedonlytwoyearsago
JOHN CAREY GRILLS MERCEDES-BENZ LOCKING SYSTEM ENGINEER SANTIAGO PENA BROSSA AT THE TECH BRIEFING
YOU CAN PARK IT REMOTELY
CATCH-UP tech includes a Remote Parking Pilot smartphone app that will allow a driver to park the W213 from outside the car. It can handle parallel, reverse-in and nose-in parking manoeuvres. A mode called Explore additionally allows the driver, again from outside the car, to drive forward or backward up to 10 metres, perfect for moving the car into or out of a tight-fi t garage. This brings Mercedes to parity with BMW, which has a similar system for the 7 Series.
Infi niti ponders small sedan
NISSAN’S luxury arm, Infiniti, is considering a sedan version of the Q30 hatch that was recently revealed in production guise (pictured). The booted Q30, which would be a direct rival to the Audi A3 sedan, is under serious consideration as the brand embarks on a product onslaught over the next 18 months. The Q30 hatch is based on the Mercedes A-Class and uses the same mechanicals, so a sedan version would use the same front-end styling with a rump in the mould of the larger Q50.
IT WON’T BLIND OTHER DRIVERS
NEW E-Class will have headlights to match Audi’s top-end Matrix LED system. The Mercedes-Benz system uses 84 individually controllable LEDs to provide maximum illumination for the driver with no dazzle for oncoming cars.
Having numerous headlight LEDs means some can be switched off, while others – with differing ranges – remain on to shape the light beam, maximising vision.
IT WILL ASK ABOUT ROAD HAZARDS
THE benefi ts of cars being able to communicate with each other and with infrastructure are obvious; cars that can send and receive warnings of danger on the road are safer.
However, while small-scale trials have been run, wide adoption has been stalled by international discussions on technical standards for the comms systems needed for implementation.
Tired of waiting, Mercedes-Benz has decided to introduce ‘Car to X’ (with that X standing for either car or infrastructure) using the existing cellular phone network.
While not as swift as a purposedesigned network, it’s quick enough to provide a variety of useful functions. “You have to start somewhere,” said Christoph von Hugo, an engineer working on the technology.
HOWBENZ’SBIGSEDANS OGGED HAVELEAPFRO OVERTHE NERATIONSGEN
S-CLAS SCLASS SS 1981
Driver airbag
1988
Frontpassenger airbag
1995
Electronicstability control
2002
Pre-Safecrash mitigationsystem
2005
Nightvision cameras
2010
Activeblindspot, lane-keepingsystems
Collapsiblesteering column
