The One Sound You Never Want To Hear In Your Mercedes

Car safety has made huge strides over the past few decades, with pretty much every element of a vehicle being developed to ensure its occupants have an ever-greater chance of escaping from a serious accident with their lives. From elaborate airbag setups to newer electronic systems, such as lane-change assist and emergency braking, modern cars can protect you in dozens of different ways. And demonstrating how safety has been democratized, even the cheapest car in America – the Nissan Versa – achieves a five-star NHTSA crash rating.

Premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz pack even more safety equipment, of course. One of the most forward-thinking advancements was developed by Mercedes, and is called PRE SAFE Sound, or ‘pink noise.’ This is how it works to protect one of the most important parts of your body, the ears, from being seriously damaged in the event of an accident.

Mercedes’ Pink Noise Can Detect If A Crash Is About To Occur

How Mercedes PRE SAFE Sound Works

• PRE SAFE sensors can work out when a crash is imminent
• It will send an 80 dB frequency sound through the audio system
• This sound causes the stapedius muscle to contract, allowing sound pressure entering the ear to reflect away from the inner ear and eardrum
• This significantly reduces the chances of major damage being inflicted to your hearing

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Manufacturers all over the world have been busy developing new safety features over the past few decades, with these features proving key USPs for brands looking to shift their offerings. Mercedes’ PRE SAFE Sound system is one of the most interesting, as it was designed to protect your eardrums in the event of a smash. According to Resonance Audiology, the loudest sound that occurs during a crash is the airbags going off, which can create up to 178 decibels of noise. Given your ears can generally only deal with 140 decibels before permanent damage can be inflicted, any crash that involves the airbags deploying poses a serious risk to your hearing.

To try to counteract this problem, Mercedes introduced the PRE SAFE Sound system in its 2017 E-Class sedan. The system works using a series of sensors that can detect if a serious impact is unavoidable, with the vehicle then sending a high-frequency sound through the audio system.

Mercedes’ System Causes The Ears To Enter Protection Mode

The sound, also known as ‘pink noise’, is generated at an intensity of 80 decibels. The special frequency causes the stapedius muscle in your ear to contract, which causes any sound pressure entering the ear to reflect around, rather than head straight to the inner ear or eardrum. This significantly reduces the risk of any long-term hearing damage being sustained, making the system a must-have for those safety-focused drivers out there.

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The PRE SAFE Sound System Is Available In All Of Mercedes’ Range

For Mercedes buyers looking to have the system fitted to their new pride and joy, you’ll need to keep a look-out for the Driver Assistance Package option when speccing your new vehicle. This comes with a wide range of safety systems that will help reduce the chance of a crash occurring in the first place, and protect you should the worst happen. Some of the more expensive cars in Mercedes’ range come with PRE SAFE Sound as standard, such as the C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, and the EQS SUV.

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Lower-end models won’t come with the system as standard, with vehicles like the GLB 250 and GLA 250 SUVs, as well as the CLA 250 needing to have it added on via the Driver Assistance package. As a general rule, the vast majority of Mercedes’ 250 models don’t come with the system as standard, and anything from 350 onward will likely have it. The Drivers Assistance package costs $1,700, which is added to the base model’s MSRP.

The PRE SAFE Package Comes With A Ton Of Other Advancements

While PRE SAFE Sound could prove critical to protect your ears in the event of a crash, Mercedes’ expansive PRE SAFE package also contains some other features that are well worth having. The sensors that allow the Sound element to function properly are also used to prepare the car in a series of other ways to help ensure occupants will be as safe as possible during a crash.

Alongside the pink noise sounding through the audio system, PRE SAFE will tighten all the seatbelts in the car to make sure each passenger is firmly restrained in their seat. It will also adjust the front passenger seat to make sure its occupant is in the safest position, as well as automatically close the windows and sunroof. Doing this will reduce the chances of passengers suffering a major injury in a serious crash, with limbs staying safely inside the vehicle.

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Should no crash occur, the system will automatically disconnect and reverse the seatbelt tensioners, as well as allow the windows and sunroof to function as normal. Interestingly, Asian manufacturers like Toyota and Hyundai are standing out as the safety trailblazers these days, rather than traditional European marques such as Mercedes or Volvo.

PRE SAFE Plus Helps To Protect From Rear Collisions

Alongside the standard package, the Drivers Assistance package also comes loaded with PRE SAFE PLUS. This consists of a radar sensor located in the rear bumper that can tell when the vehicle is about to receive a rear-end impact, upon which it will then engage the seatbelt pre-tensioners. It will also hold the brakes to reduce the risk of the car moving forward and hitting the car in front, as well as reducing peak force loads on occupants.

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PRE SAFE Is Just One Arm Of Mercedes’ Safety Equipment

While the PRE SAFE functionality is a crucial ingredient in keeping you safe in case you’re unlucky enough to be involved in a serious accident, it is just one element of Mercedes’ armada of driver assists designed to preserve every part of you. Every Mercedes model comes with Brake Assist, Blind Spot Assist, and Attention Assist as standard, which can prove pivotal in preventing collisions in everyday life even without the Drivers Assistance Package.

Other Mercedes-Benz Safety Equipment Included In Drivers Assistance Package

• Active Steering Assist
• Evasive Steering Assist
• Active Emergency Stop Assist
• Active Speed Limit Assist
• Route-based Speed Adaption
• Active Lane Change Assist
• Active Lane-keeping Assist
• Active Blind Spot Assist

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As far as this package goes, your $1,700 gets you significantly more equipment than just PRE SAFE. It adds many Active systems, as opposed to passive systems, which tend to come as standard. Active Brake Assist with Cross Traffic can keep an eye on any vehicles approaching from intersections and determine whether a collision is imminent. It can then use the right amount of brake force to prevent the crash. Active Lane Keep and Lane Change assist are also included, which allow the car to stay centered in its current lane or switch across when needed.

To use the latter, simply engage the indicator in the direction you want the car to move. After several seconds, depending on when the car judges it’s safe to do so, it will then switch to the lane desired by the driver. Alongside the package’s braking prompts and systems, Active Evasion Assist can steer the car automatically if it believes it can’t stop quickly enough to prevent a crash. It will work out precisely how much steering is needed to both avoid the obstacle and retain enough control to not cause an accident after the evasion maneuver.

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Many of these systems require the Drivers Assistance package in more expensive models like the C-Class and E-Class, in which it costs $1,950, but remains at $1,700 in lower-spec vehicles. You’ll need to purchase higher-end trims, such as AMG ones, to get all this equipment as standard. Considering the level of safety it offers though, less than $2,000 is a pretty small price to pay to drastically increase your chances of walking away unscathed from an accident.

Sources: Mercedes-Benz, Resonance Audiology.