The New Mercedes S-Class Will Make You Feel Like You Went to Automotive Heaven

2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class interior. Photo courtesy Daimler

Have you seen the photos of the exterior of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class Exterior? Mercedes has been putting out some great designs lately and the new S-Class is no exception. As can be expected with the flagship sedan, the S-Class delivers a plethora of creature comforts and snazzy new technology that will keep everyone who drives or rides in the car satisfied in just about every way imaginable.

Mercedes is calling the new S-Class "The Essence of Luxury" as part of its marketing campaign. All I know is I wouldn't mind spending an afternoon rolling around in one, even being driven around by some guy named Alfred or something like that. The car's seats will massage and warm you and they are not just ventilated but also feature a reverse ventilation feature which draws in cool air in the car's cabin to cool off hot seats. And buyers get five different choices for backseats, including an Executive seat that can recline back as much as 43.5 degrees!

The 2014 S-Class will also come with an optional perfuming feature that allows the driver or passengers the ability to release a perfume into the car's cabin to cover up unpleasant smells. Apparently the perfuming system's controls allows you to change the perfume's intensity for those extra bad smells.

What if the passengers want to all watch different things on the car's entertainment system? Mercedes has thought of that quandary and has outfitted the S-Class with the ability to stream different entertainment features to each of the DVD screens. So you can watch The Hangover while the other backseat passenger goes shoe shopping while you're stuck in rush hour traffic. Well done, Mercedes, well done...

Fuel Cell Technology Advances Even Further!

The 2012 Honda FCX. Image Courtesy of Honda.

Anyone who has enough common sense can see that running cars on fossil fuels is a practice that needs to be phased out. The big debate that's raging in the automotive industry right now is what's the best way to wean us off our use of fossil fuels. There are people who tout biodiesel as a great alternative, mostly because the tech is pretty well-developed and could be implemented quickly. A growing faction of the auto industry is putting their weight behind electric cars, especially with the recent success of the Tesla Model S.



For years and years many of the largest automakers in the world have been trying to crack what they consider the holy grail in alternative fuels: hydrogen fuel cells. These automakers feel that fuel cell technology is the future. Fuel cell cars drive more like internal combustion models. Gas stations can be outfitted to deliver hydrogen (this one is debatable, say many electric car proponents). The best part of hydrogen fuel cells is tailpipe emissions are only a small amount of water.

There have been big problems with developing the technology. Fuel cell vehicles have been pretty slow (although Honda's FCX was the first to solve that problem). Many have wondered how the hydrogen will be stored and transported.

Mercedes has recently tackled one of the big problems: size. Hydrogen fuel cells, like lithium ion batteries, take up quite a bit of space. Quite a while ago GM was playing around with fuel cell "skateboards" where the cells were built into the car's chassis, making it thick and heavy. Mercedes has developed a fuel cell engine that is the same size as an internal combustion engine, meaning fuel cell vehicles don't have to contain a huge array along the entire chassis. Just this week Mercedes announced it is teaming up with Nissan-Renault and Ford to mass produce fuel cell vehicles and begin pushing for most hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

The new and more compact Mercedes fuel cell engine. Image courtesy of Daimler.

What does this mean for the future of the automobile? Only time will tell for sure, but a development like this could put fuel cell vehicles in the hands of millions of drivers across the globe, significantly dropping the demand for oil. I'm sure this isn't the last of this story, so look for more developments in the future. 

Car Saftey Technology

Mercedes-Benz wrong-way alert technology

To me, car safety technology is one of the most important features I look at when vehicle shopping.

Since my wife and baby were in a car accident several years ago, where the other driver shot out into traffic without looking both right and left, I've become a huge safety advocate. The car they were driving was totaled when the other car t-boned it, setting off the front airbags (it was a while ago, so no side curtain or side seat airbags). The car was not equipped with a sensor in the front passenger seat, so the airbag on that side deployed. Stupidly, the airbag was positioned so it smashed into the windshield, sending the glass spraying throughout the cabin of the car.



For those of you who don't know, in most collisions where a windshield breaks, the safety film on the glass actually holds all of the shards of glass in place. After that car accident, my wife found shards of glass sitting on our baby's neck. They both were fortunate enough to not be seriously injured in the accident, one that could easily have been much worse.

Back when Volvo first developed the seat belt, the Swedish automaker decided to broadcast the results of crash tests using a dummy strapped in with a seat belt and one that did not have one. The results, of course, were sobering. Volvo went one step further and broadcast the video on national television in the United States, causing an uproar among car owners. Back then, the Big Three tried to accuse Volvo of causing unnecessary panic in the public, among other things. Fortunately, most automakers today have started to realize the value of safety technology, to one extent or another.

Mercedes-Benz is one of the leaders in safety tech (Volvo is still one, along with BMW, the VW group and others). Safety technology often is introduced near the top of the car food chain on models like the Mercedes S-Class or the BMW 7 Series, like the infrared and night vision technologies available on those cars Mercedes has announced the new S-Class and E-Class will both be outfitted with a system that will issue audible and visual warnings to drivers if they are traveling the wrong way on a road or freeway entrance. Sometimes people get turned around, especially in confusing downtown areas, and they don't see the "Wrong Way" signs. The car is outfitted with cameras that recognize such signs, literally reading them.

Self-driving cars are becoming more of a reality, which I view as just another piece of safety technology. Many of these cars will likely just enhance a driver's performance, stepping in when a driver doesn't react to an obstacle in time. There are quite a few cars on the market today that detect an impending collision and move the brake pads so they are almost touching the rotors, give the driver an audible and visual warning about the impending impact or even stop the car for the driver. Self-driving cars and other safety technology also means elderly drivers and those with medical conditions that impair their senses can still get around, but without putting everyone on the roads (and unfortunately sidewalks) at risk. I only see good in this technology.