Originally Posted by Kestas
For all the problems with reliability of Mercedes vehicles being traced to electrical issues, you'd think the Germans, with all their wisdom, would reverse engineer and copy what the Japanese are so good at, which is making reliable electrical components and connections. Japan developed this expertise over many decades with their electronics industry. Mercedes would be a top-notch vehicle if the Germans would just swallow their pride and copy the good work Japanese do.
Toyota and Advics(the braking businesses of Denso, Aisin and Sumitomo Electric) did a near perfect clone of the Sensotronic Braking System Mercedes and Bosch rolled out on the W211E-Class and the Maybach 52/62. The Toyota/Advics clone of SBS was required to make regenerative braking possible on the 2nd gen Prius and subsequent Toyota hybrids and it has been for the most part reliable save for a few special warranty "extensions" on the 2004-2015 Prius/2007-2009 Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h. Sensotronic has been a nightmare on the Mercedes side of things. Denso also cloned Bosch's PreSafe that was introduced on the W220 S-Class for the 2004-2006 Lexus LS430.
Mercedes is certainly a trailblazer when it comes to safety and many of those safety-related things they would roll out in a new S-Class does make its way to the hoi polloi eventually. After all, they were the first to make ABS/ESP, airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners standard equipment between the 1980s-1990s. They also created the safety cage, side impact beams and crumple zones, pioneered the use of high strength/low alloy steel, and breakaway engine mounting.
For all the problems with reliability of Mercedes vehicles being traced to electrical issues, you'd think the Germans, with all their wisdom, would reverse engineer and copy what the Japanese are so good at, which is making reliable electrical components and connections. Japan developed this expertise over many decades with their electronics industry. Mercedes would be a top-notch vehicle if the Germans would just swallow their pride and copy the good work Japanese do.
Toyota and Advics(the braking businesses of Denso, Aisin and Sumitomo Electric) did a near perfect clone of the Sensotronic Braking System Mercedes and Bosch rolled out on the W211E-Class and the Maybach 52/62. The Toyota/Advics clone of SBS was required to make regenerative braking possible on the 2nd gen Prius and subsequent Toyota hybrids and it has been for the most part reliable save for a few special warranty "extensions" on the 2004-2015 Prius/2007-2009 Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX400h. Sensotronic has been a nightmare on the Mercedes side of things. Denso also cloned Bosch's PreSafe that was introduced on the W220 S-Class for the 2004-2006 Lexus LS430.
Mercedes is certainly a trailblazer when it comes to safety and many of those safety-related things they would roll out in a new S-Class does make its way to the hoi polloi eventually. After all, they were the first to make ABS/ESP, airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners standard equipment between the 1980s-1990s. They also created the safety cage, side impact beams and crumple zones, pioneered the use of high strength/low alloy steel, and breakaway engine mounting.