Wish I could remember where I read it but Merc resisted making small cars for years because although they pass crash tests, the tests are not like hitting a bigger car head on. They only changed their minds on small cars when they discovered the sandwich floor, which meant that an A class could hit an E class head on and the occupants of the A had the same chance of getting out alive. The sandwhich floor is like a huge structural beam, of course. The B class is bigger still than the A and should therefore be safer still. Being up higher -due to the sandwhich floor- means you are above the point of main impact in side crashes to which most cars are very vulnerable. In addition, mounting the engine at 52 degrees to the vertical, coupled with the sandwhich floor, guides the engine downwards and below the passenger compartment in the event of a head-on shunt. Very clever stuff! Thing that annoys me about Merc is that they never put all this info in their sales brochures. You get a hint of it but they undersell themselves in my view.
Good stuff, I know Mercs are safe but with so many BIG SUV's on the road I worry. I would like to see how the saftey cage holds up.
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