2001 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

midsize luxury car / 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

Other available safety features

  • Optional daytime running lights

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2001-07 models

Tested vehicle: 2001 Mercedes-Benz C 320 4-door

The Mercedes C class was redesigned for the 2001 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained very well.

Smeared greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head hit the B-pillar and head restraint during rebound. Head accelerations from these hits were low.

There was little change in the position of the dummy's feet following the crash test. Footwell intrusion was minimal, and injury risk was low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF00033
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 2
Left (cm) 2
Center (cm) 3
Right (cm) 2
Brake pedal (cm) 2
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) -1
Right (cm) 0
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 2
Rearward (cm) 0
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 0

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF00033
Head
HIC-15 251
Peak gs at hard contact 44
Neck
Tension (kN) 2.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 32
Maximum Nij 0.32
Chest maximum compression (mm) 33
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 4.2
Femur force - right (kN) 4.3
Knee displacement - left (mm) 7
Knee displacement - right (mm) 1
Maximum tibia index - left 0.46
Maximum tibia index - right 0.42
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.1
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 3.4
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 54
Right 57

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted