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Advice/Information on C and E Series Future Purchase

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Sportstick 
#1 ·
I'm a baby boomer who has always purchased V-8 RWD American cars. However, due to the drastic changes in the automotive industry, these cars are very limited in availability. Therefore, since the C and E series cars are RWD, I decided to give them consideration as well as the BMW 5 series. In looking at a 2012 C300 window sticker I noticed that the crash rating for the front passenger was only 2 stars. Does anyone know if this is really true because if it is then this rating is problematic since it suggests that the front passenger would not survive a crash? Have the ratings improved for the 2013 model year? I find it hard to believe since Mercedes has always marketed their cars as being very safe.Could you please inform me regarding the reliability and durability of both the C and E series cars for 2012 and and whatever is known for 2013? How expensive is the maintenance on these cars after the warranty expires? Thanks for your help since this would be my first exposure to German cars!

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#2 · (Edited)
The value and real world correlation of NHTSA NCAP testing has been a subject of debate for years. Much like some schools teaching kids just what they will be tested on, some manufacturers design cars to the NCAP test for marketing purposes, regardless of not having clear evidence that the tests actually correlate with real world crash events. Of course, all cars meet or exceed basic NHTSA FMVSS requirements...these additional tests are all more stringent.

Then, along comes the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, who pride themselves on using more rigorous tests than does NHTSA, and they find the following:

IIHS-HLDI: Mercedes C class

Among the differences in the tests is that NCAP is a full frontal impact into a rigid barrier, simulating hitting a bridge abutment full on, or two cars perfectly aligned and directly head-on at comparable speed...in other words, quite rare. The test would not relate to a real world impact with any angularity to the impact vector.

IIHS, on the other hand, has found that many more crashes are offset, where the head-on hit is a partial overlap of the fronts of the cars (driver more in line with opposing driver), or someone hits a solid object with one part of the front. In that test, shown in the link above, C Class got the top possible score. In fact, they rate C Class a "Top Safety Pick". Since then, they have recently added a new small overlap test, where just a small part of the front gets all the impact contact, and C did not do as well overall, but when you examine the detail, most of the concern involved foot and lower leg, as the front wheel penetrates rearward into the cabin footwell area. This will likely be solved in the next generation.

From a larger perspective, consider there is no bright line one can find to separate a "safe" car from an "unsafe" car. Safety is a matter of risk management, reduction, and trade-offs to achieve the best likelihood outcome. For example, adding structure which makes a vehicle more rigid can simply increase harmful g forces to the head or thorax, so changes have overall systemic effects which have to be balanced. Overall, the C Class has shown itself in real world injury data to have excellent performance.

I offer this both as an owner of a C (for me) and E (for her), having along the way in my career, spent several years in the Vehicle Safety office at a major auto company, where we used to say that the most important piece of safety equipment in any car is a belted driver who has consumed zero alcohol.

Reliability and quality on both of our cars has been excellent. Maintenance is more expensive than just about anyone else, with the likely exception of BMW and Audi.
 
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