The new electric sedan from Mercedes-Benz, the EQE, has achieved the highest rating of five stars in the Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program) conducted in Europe.
Euro NCAP, which began in 1997, is a program dedicated to assessing vehicle safety in Europe, boasting high credibility thanks to its involvement of government departments, the automotive industry, consumers, and insurance agencies.
The new EQE received outstanding scores across all four assessment categories of Euro NCAP: adult occupant safety, child occupant safety, pedestrian collision safety, and safety assistance systems, earning the top rating of five stars. This evaluation indicates that the vehicle is equipped with robust collision prevention technologies and demonstrates excellent overall crash avoidance performance, reaffirming the renowned safety of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
In the occupant safety category, the EQE excelled with top scores in the assessments for ‘side impact’ and ‘pole side impact,’ and in the child occupant safety category for ‘frontal offset impact’ and ‘side impact,’ successfully protecting all critical body areas.
The Driving Assistance Package Plus and Head-Up Display equipped in the new EQE achieved the highest rating of ‘very good’ in the driving assistance system tests.
Mercedes-Benz’s advanced Driving Assistance Package Plus includes Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC, which supports automatic speed adjustment, braking, and starting while maintaining a safe following distance, Active Lane Keeping Assist that controls steering to keep the vehicle in its lane and warns the driver with steering wheel vibrations if the vehicle drifts, Active Lane Change Assist to assist the driver in safely changing lanes, and PRE-SAFE, which detects hazardous situations before an accident occurs to minimize passenger injuries, alongside PRE-SAFE Impulse Side, which protects front seat occupants in the event of a side collision.
Euro NCAP noted that the new EQE combines map-based speed limit information with real-time data obtained from its cameras to identify fixed, variable, and temporary speed limit signs, adjusting speed according to upcoming driving conditions such as curves and junctions for safer driving.
Euro NCAP also concluded that the driving assistance systems provided by the new EQE offer outstanding levels of support comparable to driver intervention, enabling exceptional driving on highways alongside cutting-edge safety features.
Markus Schäfer, Member of the Management Board and Chief Technology Officer of Mercedes-Benz Group, expressed his delight at these two outstanding results, stating, “It demonstrates the effectiveness of Mercedes-Benz’s driving assistance and safety concepts tailored to real-life accident scenarios,” adding that “the excellent Euro NCAP scores for the new EQE show that Mercedes-Benz’s safety concept is not solely dependent on its driving concept.”
The Euro NCAP test results showcase Mercedes-Benz’s core philosophy of ‘integrated safety’, which considers not only the vehicle operation and crash scenarios but also the driver, passengers, and pedestrians, carried through to the Mercedes-EQ lineup.
The new EQE is the second model developed on the dedicated large electric vehicle architecture ‘EVA2’, equipped with an 88.8 kWh battery that allows for a maximum driving range of up to 471 km on a single charge under domestic certification standards. Like other Mercedes-Benz models, the new EQE features a robust passenger cell, deformation zones, and advanced control systems, alongside a multi-layer high-voltage safety concept. This passenger protection system provides a high level of safety during both driving and collisions.
Mercedes-Benz Korea debuted the new EQE lineup with the ‘new EQE 350+’ in September in the domestic market and plans to launch additional lineup options, including high-performance AMG models and four-wheel drive 4MATIC models.
By 이상진 daedusj@autodiary.kr