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Translation of an article from German car mag "Auto Bloedsinn", issue
14, April 1st 2000 page 14
New Mercedes S-Class Version
"World"
New version revolutionizes the use
of the same car in different countries
Stuttgart, Germany - Today DaimlerChrysler presents the
revolutionary S-Class version "World",
the designation abbreviating "Wagen
operating
on right- and left-hand
drive".
This denotes a vehicle with two fully equipped driver sections in the front
so the car can be driven from either front seat.
Says Mr. Juergen Hubbert, member of the board of DaimlerChrysler
and responsible for the passenger car section: "What at first glance might
look a bit odd is the consequent realization of our global strategy, even
more important now with our newly acquired 33.4 per cent stake in Japanese
Mitsubishi passenger cars division. The revolutionary idea behind the "World"
version allows the very same car to be operated from either front seat,
giving the opportunity to sit on the correct side no matter if operated
in left- or right-hand drive countries around the world. What has proven
to be extremely useful in our commercial Unimog-series ((see photo below))
- especially when used in road maintenance - we consequently adapted for
our upper class line, our other 14 car lines will follow later.
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| Photo copyright: DaimlerChrysler |
DaimlerChrysler safety research revealed that e.g. British
businessmen had problems driving with their right-hand drive cars in left-hand
drive countries like Italy or France, especially when trying to overtake
on country roads. Now they can easily choose which driver section they
want to use."
A top manager of a competitive German carmaker - whose
name we had to promise to stay anonymous - reacted with the words "until
14 days ago we owned a British marque and didn't feel the need for such
a version with any of our car lines, but as so often in the past DaimlerChrysler
copied things from us like the turn signals in the outer rear-view mirrors
from our motorcycles - and with the latter since the very beginning we
have a driver's solution which is equally suitable for left- and right-hand
side traffic so the "World" versions aren't really anything new."
Part of the S-Class "World" line is "Elster", the electronic
steering
wheels which are operated by a push button on the centre console. Either
the left-hand or the right-hand steering wheel is activated by this and
fully operated electrically, the first time for the marque Mercedes-Benz
which so far used hydraulically operated mechanical steering systems only.
To change the active steering wheel the car has to be
completely stopped, the engine to be shut-off for at least 14 seconds and
the hands to be taken from both steering wheels before a push on the button
changes the active steering wheel. "That was stipulated by various road
safety laws in different countries and we had to make sure this system
can't be deactivated by aftermarket tuners" adds Juergen Schrempp, DaimlerChrysler
CEO. "We use a variety of different sensors and safety mechanisms to ensure
this, amongst them the sensors of the ESP- and GPS-system and revolutionary
heat-sensitive sensors built into each steering wheel as well as the radio
time signals from atomic clocks. Additionally a 1.4 GB NVR ((non-volatile
RAM, non-eraseable)) stores the active steering wheel position for a period
of at least 14 months to ensure traffic authorities to find out from which
side a car was operated when traffic violations like speeding were recorded
with video tape or still photos."
And Mr. Schrempp adds: "With the S-Class version "World"
we even wanted to go a step further and invent a fully electronic three-side-stick-system
known as `drive by wire` instead of the two steering wheels as we earlier
showed in our F200 concept vehicle ((see photo below)), but that was prevented
by actual German traffic laws.".....Photo
copyright: DaimlerChrysler
Apart from the very practical aspects the real-world testing
of the car very surprisingly revealed an interesting psychological one:
Says Henry Aruba, owner of a luxury taxi car business
who had one of the pre-series vehicles ((see photo below)) for testing:
"The new "S-World" version gives our typical customers, high-income macho-types,
the illusion of driving the car theirselves after having drunken too much
to operate a vehicle safely when indeed the chauffeur is operating the
car. That satisfies their egos, does not endanger them to loose their driver's
license and at the same time guarantees full road safety. And of course
we hope for more
 |
One of the first taxi prototypes on a test drive on the
streets of Stuttgart. Pictured are twin brothers Henry on the left-hand
steering wheel and James.
At the first glance one can't discover who actually is
operating the vehicle (it was James).
Photo: DaimlerChrysler .....
Photo text: Auto Bloedsinn
Add. backgr. ret. and further prep. for the web by MBEP
webmaster |
customers and higher tips so we will order all our S-Class
cars from the "World" line in the future. The relative moderate extra price
of Euro 14.141,41 for this line greatly adds to this."
And Juergen Hubbert says: "The S-Class "World" is another
important safety invention from the oldest car manufacturer in the world
like the crumble zone or ESP, we often were ahead of our competitors in
the past and with inventions like the "World" versions we will be in the
future, too."
Time will tell if Mr. Hubbert is right with this - maybe
April 1st 2000 in the future will be remembered as the day of an important
milestone in car technology.
End of article from "Auto Bloedsinn" - translation by MBEP
webmaster
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Happy.1st.April,.Folks
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And believe it or not: The photos
from the Unimog and the F200 plus the description of their steering systems
IS correct and NO April fool!!!
But of course a German car magazine
with the name of "Auto Bloedsinn" ((Auto nonsense)) is pure fantasy...
Idea for this page by MBEP
webmaster - Special thanks to Michael M. for reviewing the article!
©April 1st 2000 by
MBEP
webmaster
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