Luxury cars from Mercedes Benz just got safer with the new autonomous braking feature that aims to reduce crash severity. The PRE-SAFE brake system works by partially engaging the brakes when the Mercedes Benz vehicle approaches another vehicle. The system uses radar technology to detect the proximity of the vehicles to each other.

In the Benz 2207 S-Class, the vehicle also features cut lines to help rescue workers when cutting through air bag components. The PRE-SAFE brake system works together with the Mercedes Brake Assist PLUS or BAS PLUS system. It has been proven to reduce severity of accidents by about 40% when it was field tested with 500 drivers. The new S-Class and CL-Class coupe will feature the PRE-SAFE system as an option.

The automatic partial braking of the PRE-SAFE system is activated if the driver does not react to BAS warnings. The car decelerates up to 40% of maximum braking performance. Because the car is already decelerating, the severity of the accident is substantially reduced. In simulator tests of 70 drivers, 53% avoided accidents by responding to BAS PLUS. Seventeen percent reacted after PRE-SAFE was triggered but avoided accident; accident severity was significantly reduced for remaining drivers.