Featured Gallery
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
The aluminum roof panel of the 2015 C-Class, affixed to a cutaway portion of the bodyshell.
AOL
There’s a gap between the roof panel and the steel body —
AOL
because in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant, the bodyshell is rotated 360 degrees during painting. The roof panel is attached to the body with screws and 10-millimeter spacers, so the steel and aluminum , which expand at different rates, can cure together after painting. Once dried, the roof is affixed to the body with adhesive. Other factories that don’t rotate the body use tabs on the roof panel to secure it to the body.
AOL
An overhead shot of the multi-part steel construction of the rear axle transverse beam in the current C-Class, upper left, and the single aluminum piece used in the 2015 C-Class. On the lower right is a section of bodywork with different colors highlighting the various metals used in construction.
AOL
The pieces of the steel rear axle transverse beam.
AOL
The single-piece aluminum rear axle transverse beam, six pounds lighter than its steel counterpart.
AOL
The steel construction of the front damper strut assembly in the current C-Class —
AOL
The single-piece aluminum strut tower assembly in the 2015 C-Class.
AOL
Impact fasteners are used to connect some aluminum components to the bodyshell were there is enough metal to do so.
AOL
This is part of the rear wheel-well assembly. The impact fasteners are the row of red circles in the lower center of th photo.
AOL
AOL
The other side of the impact fasteners.
AOL
A panel showing the placement of cameras and sensors around the car that enable Intelligent Drive.
AOL
A panel showing the global crash tests the 2015 C-Class has been engineered to pass. Yes, the small-offset frontal impact test is pictured, but Mercedes engineers told us that the full-frontal test is actually the hardest to engineer the car around.
AOL
AOL
The Intelligent Drive simulator using an S-Class placed in front of six screens.
AOL
AOL
AOL
An A-Class finish being tested on a rolling road under different temperature conditions.
AOL
AOL
AOL
An S-Class also being temperature tested on another rolling road.
AOLThis probably isn’t the start Mercedes-Benz execs in Stuttgart were hoping for with the launch of the critically praised 2015 C-Class. The company is recalling 10,500 examples of the US-market sedan because the steering wheels squeak and won’t turn, The Detroit News reports.
Mercedes is blaming the problem on a production issue affecting the steering coupling interlock, according to the report. Speaking to Autoblog, Mercedes spokesman Donna Boland confirmed the issue was first reported on a pair of European models. In those cases, the interlock was not “in the correct locked position.”
“We have no reason to believe that models produced here in the US would be affected but, in an abundance of caution, we want to be sure,” Boland told Autoblog.
Mercedes has notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is in the process of notifying customers, who will need to report in for a free check of the steering coupling interlock