Virtually no other area inspires Mercedes-Benz engineers more than researching new safety technologies. They passed their first key safety milestone as early as the 1950s with the development of the passenger safety cell, invented by Béla Barényi. Today it is one of numerous elements of an integrated safety concept that edges Mercedes-Benz vehicles closer to our vision of accident-free driving.

It divides automotive safety into four phases: "Safe driving" covers all components that aid safe driving, detect critical situations, issue warnings and provide targeted assistance; in the second phase, "In critical situations", PRE-SAFE® prepares the occupants and vehicle for a potential accident in critical situations; the systems for the phase "During an accident" can provide appropriate protection during a crash; and "After an accident" refers to a raft of measures that increase the level of occupant protection after an accident.