ANCAP has released a five-star safety rating for the battery electric Mercedes-Benz EQS saloon (sedan) after the model showed high levels of protection to vehicle occupants and good collision avoidance capability when tested against ANCAP’s 2020-2022 assessment criteria. The rating applies to the EQS 450 4MATIC and is based on testing of left-hand drive models by Euro NCAP. The EQS AMG 53 4MATIC+ remains unrated.
ADULT OCCUPANT PROTECTION
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset (MPDB) test. Dummy readings indicated adequate protection for the lower legs of the driver and front passenger, while protection was good for all other critical body regions.
The front structure presented a moderate risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle in the MPDB test (which evaluates vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility), and a 1.78-point penalty was applied.
In the full width frontal test, protection was good for all critical body regions for the driver and rear passenger and maximum points were scored.
In the side impact test and the oblique pole test, protection offered to all critical body regions was good and the vehicle scored maximum points in these tests.
The EQS is equipped with a centre airbag to protect against occupant-to-occupant interaction in side impacts and it provided good protection for the head of both front seat occupants. Prevention of excursion (movement towards the other side of the vehicle) in the far side impact tests was assessed as good for the vehicle-to-vehicle impact scenario, and adequate in the vehicle-to-pole scenario.
CHILD OCCUPANT PROTECTION
In the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection was good for all critical body areas for both the 6- and 10-year child dummies.
The EQS is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions.
Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia showed that all of the selected child restraints could be accommodated in each of the second-row seating positions and full points were scored for this assessment.
VULNERABLE ROAD USER PROTECTION
The EQS has an ‘active’ bonnet, with sensors detecting when a pedestrian is struck, and actuators lifting the bonnet to provide greater clearance from stiff components in the engine bay. The vehicle was tested with the bonnet in the raised position and good or adequate results were recorded over most of the bonnet area, with some weak and poor results recorded at the base of the windscreen and on the windscreen pillars. Protection of the pelvis was mixed, with areas of good, marginal, and poor performance, while the bumper provided good protection to pedestrians’ legs.
The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system is capable of detecting and reacting to pedestrians and cyclists. Testing of this system showed good performance in forward and reverse pedestrian test scenarios. Good performance was also seen in cyclist test scenarios, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most scenarios.
SAFETY ASSIST
In addition to the AEB system capable of functioning at highway speeds, the EQS is fitted with a lane support system (LSS) with lane keep assist (LKA) and emergency lane keeping (ELK) functionality, along with blind spot monitoring.
Tests of the AEB (car-to-car) system showed good performance, including in some of the AEB junction assist test scenarios where the vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle.
Tests of LSS functionality showed good performance in the LKA test scenarios, while performance in ELK scenarios was adequate.
A speed assistance system with speed limit information function is standard, informing the driver of the local speed limit and allowing the driver to accept the change in speed accordingly.
A seatbelt reminder system is fitted to all seating positions, but occupancy detection is not available for rear seating positions. A driver drowsiness monitor system is fitted as standard.