Mercedes Innovation: The Crumple Zone in 1952

Mercedes-Benz pioneered the safety concept of having the bodywork absorb the kinetic impact of a crash

1959 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE: first crumple zone production car in the world
Mercedes-Benz safety engineering genius Bela Barenyi
Mercedes-Benz 220 SE crumple zones
Patent for the crumple zone: Patent No. DBP 854 157
Mercedes-Benz "Terracruiser" concept
First sketches of the patented crumple zone

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Comments (19)

newest first oldest first

Prince_Ash

wow, well i learned something today. great going mercedes :) you rock!

July 10, 2009 11:20 am

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LifeLongCarGuy

That is rather interesting. I didn't know that. We'll never know how many lives this invention has saved in the last 50 years.

July 10, 2009 11:28 am

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tom43

And I have thougt that was done by Lexus...

July 10, 2009 12:28 pm

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1 reply

Shyne

lol

July 10, 2009 3:14 pm

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smart_roadster_man

Mercedes-Benz (and smart) forever! :D

July 10, 2009 12:51 pm

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alamak

Thanks Barenyi, your invention has and will continue to improve savings millions of lives :)

July 10, 2009 1:24 pm

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steelerfan2009

MB has always been on the forefront of automotive technology in many ways. they are the first to have all kinds of things on their cars.

July 10, 2009 2:27 pm

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Sata

Now, I hope that most of the really "clever" guys around here finally will realized the difference between Mercedes Benz and the other crappy-copy stuff like BMX, Lexus and etc..... ;)

July 10, 2009 3:49 pm

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man1

@Sata - The sorry part is they still will not even it it hits them straight in their face! Mercedes is one class act. They have the highest patent number of any auto company out there. They usually dont get patents on new safety technologies just so the rest can use it as well.

July 10, 2009 6:49 pm

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Deutsch100

Yeah, Mercedes does not Patent nearly enough of their innovations. They "let" other car makers take advantage of their hard work, investments and ingenuity. You know BMW, VW or any other car maker would patent the hell out of some great invention. Mercedes is pure class!! We're on our 18th Mercedes-Benz vehicle (also had 8 BMWs), but Mercedes is our favourite!!

July 11, 2009 1:58 pm

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3 replies

TorroRosso

I agree with you fully, MB should patent more things, but I suppose its all for the greater safety of every person out there. Still, MB is No.1 in my books

July 11, 2009 4:23 pm

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BTB505

... I guess they figure if they let others use their ideas ie ABS braking, Crumple zones ... more people will survive to one day buy a Benz!!! They are just investing in their future!!!

July 13, 2009 2:53 am

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McNamara68

you guys took the words right out of my mouth. finally some people that know what they're talking about. MB is the best car company bar none.

July 27, 2009 4:22 am

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TorroRosso

Well done Merc! This makes me even prouder to be a MB man! Perhaps BMW is the more "driver involving" vehicle but Merc knows how do to things with pure class. When you drive a MB it just oozes class. There is no other that comes close and lets not forget AMG! :D

July 11, 2009 4:18 pm

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Aesthetics

more importantly M-B took safety and made other manufacturers compete in this field, saving lots of lives in the process.

July 12, 2009 4:09 am

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Swifty

really nice comments here, it looks that finally here is some grown up users being happy about great invention and not just arguing about brands!!! bravo

July 12, 2009 9:14 pm

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1 reply

BTB505

what Swifty said!!!

July 13, 2009 2:54 am

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TRANS_EUROKARS

... but Diana- Princess of Wales still die in a merc.

July 13, 2009 6:05 pm

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1 reply

Faithback

She wasn't wearing a seatbelt. That tragedy is scarcely an argument against Mercs... If you say something like that without making an obvious point, it sounds insensitive. Why Diana? Has nobody else ever died in a MB? Did anyone claim a 100% survival rate for MB?

July 15, 2009 4:02 am

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