Filed under: Gadgets, Sedans/Saloons
NHTSA grants Mercedes exemption for flashy new S-Class lighting
The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has given Mercedes-Benz the green light for its red lights.
Last month, NHTSA granted Benz a temporary exemption to its policy that all brake lights must remain constantly lit under braking. Benz's new Euro-model S-Class and CL-Class offerings are available with the company's Adaptive Brake Lights, a system that cycles a car's brake lights in panic stops in order to draw the eyeballs of trailing motorists to the rapidly decelerating vehicle. Mercedes claims that the system improves visibility and reduces rear-end collisions, and has been seeking to legally market the system in America.
Under the special dispensation measure, NHTSA will allow the company to sell up to 5,000 flashing-brake light-equipped vehicles in the U.S. over the next two years.
[Source: MSNBC]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nicholas 5:24PM (2/17/2006)
I actually saw a car on the road outside of D.C. do this in front of me. I thought it was very helpful in distinguishing between a normal slow down and a quicker panic stop. This is something that all cars should have.
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CC 5:43PM (2/17/2006)
Motorcycles have had this for years. In fact, the first thing I did when I got my new bike was splice in a brake flasher unit.
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MikeW 6:05PM (2/17/2006)
This is an unnecessary addition.
Most of Mercedes vehicles have positively signalling brake lights. (off to on, no tail light ambiguity & cheapness)
If Mercedes wants to do something, make all your (and DCX's) products have fast (less than 100ms-LED or better) positively signalling brake lights. and maybe add variable intensity lighting so that if the brake assist engages or ESP was in use prior to the driver applying the brakes.
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Robert Brodrecht 6:11PM (2/17/2006)
I was behind some car several years ago while approaching a stoplight. I noticed it's center light flashing. I was staring so intently wondering why that light was flashing that I almost rear-ended the car.
If they are going to do this, they need to have a PSA letting people know that the flashing does in fact mean something important, and not just bad wiring or some ricer's tricked out break light system.
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Gardiner Westbound 6:27PM (2/17/2006)
This reminds me of the Daytime Running Light and High Mounted Rear Stop Light crazes. When only a few cars had them they were very noticeable. Now that they're common they have lost their safety effectiveness but continue to extract millions of dollars from the wallets of car purchasers.
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Rob Roland 6:30PM (2/17/2006)
To #4: The state of Nevada had mandated at one point (1999 model year, if I recall) that the center brake light flash for a period of time as the car came to a stop. I think that rule lasted for two model years, if I recall. It was a little distracting the first time I saw it, but I got used to it quickly.
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Mick 7:20PM (2/17/2006)
With all the talk about foreign competition and the shrinking of the domestic market I can only wonder why this simple innovation did not come from one of our own manufacturers. And didn't we read recently that BMW has brake lights that increase in brightness to coincide with the amount of brake pedal pressure in order to alert following drivers as to the intensity of the BMW driver's braking? Whether these ideas are eventually adopted or not, where are our domestic manufacturers when it comes to genuine automotive stuff? Am I wrong in thinking they've just given up?
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the friendly grizzly 8:28PM (2/17/2006)
Oh dear God no. Just more trash on a car, more distractions, mor dog-lick engineering. And just more to eventually not consciously notice because every other car has it.
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Proud Japanese 8:59PM (2/17/2006)
#8 #5 - Like the article said, it's not going to flash all the time, only during panic braking. So no, you won't eventually not notice it because everyone has it. (excuse the double negative)
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Fooman 10:14PM (2/17/2006)
#5...
Daytime lights and the high Positive on third brake light to make cars safer, they have not lost effectivness as they became umbiquitius.
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Nick 12:45AM (2/18/2006)
I think they need to replace this with a big stop sign that comes out from the side (like a school bus). It can say "Hey, I'm stopping, REALLY FAST!!!"
Actually, what they need to do is get drivers to keep a reasonable distance between them and the car in front, to watch the cars in front of them, and stop talking, eating, playing with the internal electronics (which all cars have too much of, MB especially), reading, grooming, flirting with the people in the car next to them, etc.
Brake lights which just light up when the brakes are pushed are sufficient warning if the drivers behind them are attentive and have left enough room to stop.
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KJ 2:30AM (2/18/2006)
#8 Friendly Grizzly, so you have stopped noticing the brake lights because every car has them? I guess its time to confiscate your license if that is the case.
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ssgtakeo 2:54AM (2/18/2006)
I agree this is a good innovation, however hasn't Merc-Benz's reliability problems lately been related to electrical systems? Maybe they outta make sure their cars work properly first?
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Automotive Engineer 3:49AM (2/18/2006)
Here in Korea (and in Russia as well), many drivers turn on the emergency light on when coming to a quick stop on highways, like when traffic is grinded to a stop due to traffic jam or accident etc When I returned to Korea from the States three years ago, it looked SILLY (hell, emergeny lights are only for REAL emergency!), but now as an electric and electronics engineer, this seems to be a good option.
Hence, I think that MB engineers are onto something useful, at least here in Korea (and Russia).
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Rene Curry 4:38AM (2/18/2006)
Here is what I have done to all my old cars that have more than one tail light. I cut the all the inboard running light wires so that only the outboard running light are on when the normal lights are on. Then when you hit the brakes all the lights come on. It is very effective at night, looks kool, and it is not distracting. It looks really good with long rectangular tail lights like old 67 Bonnevilles, Mustang IIs, and the like.
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Gardiner Westbound 7:08AM (2/18/2006)
If the safety-nazis are right, then a brake-activated rotating yellow roof beacon would be even better. Two beacons would double the safety.
Why mess around with lousy flashing beacons? Mandatory police-style light bars with strobes and a loudspeaker are the ticket. The driver would key up the mike and shout, "I'm slowing down, dammit!"
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Proud Japanese 10:59AM (2/18/2006)
#16 - There are compromises to be made. Just like there are compromises to be made between privacy/freedom and personal security.
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G. Snyder 12:03PM (2/18/2006)
I AM AFRAID OF NEW TECHNOLOGY. CAR DESGIGN PEAKED IN THE 40s.
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ZoomZoomin' 8:02PM (2/18/2006)
When I was a kid, I always wondered why cars didn't do this...it just makes sense in terms of helping a person more quickly decide how much braking force to apply. Then later on in life I found out that it was actually illegal. I'd hope systems like this would become more common, especially now with a lot of larger vehicles on the road and "brake assist" systems that are applying force at their discretion. You'd often have to be a mile behind an SUV/minivan to judge what's in front of it in order to determine what the most likely braking situation is. Although this whole discussion about braking gives me a flashback to yesterday morning when I was stuck behind a large 1960's piece of technology that would keep riding it's brakes for no reason...there was no traffic ahead of it.
"Here in Korea (and in Russia as well), many drivers turn on the emergency light on when coming to a quick stop on highways, like when traffic is grinded to a stop due to traffic jam or accident etc"
...people sometimes do that here, often when it's raining. Although just getting people in some parts of this country to use their turn signals is a monumental challenge.
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ZoomZoomin' 9:00PM (2/18/2006)
The "problem" with variable intensity is that it's internally relative to that vehicle. Unless you can precisely equalize/regulate the lumens output of all vehicles' brake lights in their normal "on" state, that's not a good distinguishing factor. Solid versus blinking at least gives two easily distinguished states. Actually, I had to manually do something to that effect to keep a tailgating SUV from ending up in my backseat on a rainy night once. There was a stopped car ahead of me and I had to rapidly tap my brakes a few times before slamming on them. Tapping the brakes got the SUV to swerve around me and slam on its brakes, but that pinned me in after I'd already lost a lot of stopping room during the process. Unfortuately, I stopped ~3 inches too long (it was like a 4-th down football moment)...my bumper actually hit the car on the rebound of the front springs after the stop. That decision earned me a scuffed bumper/hood and a cracked A/C condenser, but I'm sure my 3 friends in my backseat were pretty thankful to not have an Isuzu on top of them.
People need all the help they can get. On my way into the office today, I saw two people driving with flat tires...one was pretty noticably low on air while the other was nearly 100% flat (and on the front wheel of a FWD vehicle...how that person didn't notice/care is beyond me). So there's enough to watch out for, but adding a few extra simple visual clues could help. Not to mention, flashing lights are already mentally-associated with "hazard" by most people. I say the Mercedes concept is worth a shot and sounds very reasonable.
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