Failed Mercedes Crash Test A Hoax... Sort Of

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on November 28, 2005 at 9:20 AM CST

A little while back, we brought you a story about the new Mercedes S- 
Class failing a crash test on the Germany's Star TV.  If you didn't  
read our story, you can find it here.

http://emercedesbenz.com/Nov05/16NewSClassFailsCrashTest.html

It turns out, the entire test was a hoax... well, sort of.

Before the test was conducted, Mercedes alerted Star TV that the  
Brake Assist Plus feature wouldn't function correctly in their  
testing hall, and recommended they not conduct the test at all.

However, Michael Specht, a MotorBild journalist covering the story,  
decided to run the story anyways.  Specht, along with the Mercedes  
engineers, devised a plan to "simulate" the Brake Assist Plus feature  
by manually applying braking pressure on the fog-induced track.

Because of the low visibility, a board was placed over the track so  
that Specht would know the correct time to brake the vehicle.  
Unfortunately, the plan failed - due to the S-Class' plush  
suspension, Specht didn't feel when he passed over the board, and  
proceeded to then collide into the vehicle ahead of him.

I'll give you one guess what happened to poor little Michael Specht.  
This morning it was announced that Michael was fired from his  
position at MotorBild.

I have a feeling some Mercedes engineers might be a little nervous as  
well.   See kids, it never pays to lie.

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