Mercedes-Benz puts CLA safety to the ultimate real-world test

Mercedes‑Benz has shown the world's first live high-speed side-impact crash test with two production vehicles. Both vehicles were travelling at 56 km/h – an exceptionally demanding practical test for the safety of the new CLA. In everyday traffic, the CLA’s modern driver assistance systems would help drivers to avoid such a collision or reduce its severity. To test the two vehicles, each weighing more than two tonnes, Mercedes‑Benz conducted the crash test – as is customary for such tests – without prior braking. A CLA Shooting Brake with electrified combustion engine drove directly into the driver’s side of an all-electric CLA. That is a high-speed and extremely severe side-impact collision. According to Mercedes-Benz’s own accident research, a speed of 56 km/h for both vehicles is at the upper end of junction accidents that occur in real-world traffic scenarios. Furthermore, the speed is higher than the speeds normally encountered in city-centre traffic. As there is considerably less space available on the side of the vehicle for energy absorption than at the front, this type of crash test scenario is considered one of the most critical types of accident for occupants and the vehicle structure. The chosen scenario is also particularly challenging, as the all-electric CLA is struck in the side by the other vehicle. These are precisely the areas that require the highest level of protection: the passenger compartment and, in the case of fully electric vehicles, the high-voltage battery housed in the underbody.