13 Nov 06
Of course, it's all very well testing all the armour when designing the car, but what about ensuring that all the vehicles have the right materials to keep their principals intact? That's where DaimlerChrysler's resident shootist comes in.
Deep in the bowels of one of Sindelfingen's many buildings is the company's ballistic laboratory, home to a man with a large rifle, who spends his day shooting at random samples of the steel plates and polycarbonate glass fitted to the S-Guard. This process means that every batch of materials used is rigorously tested to ensure that every S-Guard that goes out can do its job if pressed into service.
Watching the sniper shooting at chunks of steel and polycarbonate-layered glass, it's possible to see how the materials used in building the S-Guard actually work. The energy of the bullet - which travels at a speed of 830 metres per second - is absorbed by the glass or steel and transferred back to the projectile, causing it to fragment. After shooting the glass, it's possible to see tiny bits of metal that previously made up the bullet in the layers; when used against the steel, the fragments are scattered all around, with the steel left with no deformation to its structure, just a mark where the bullet struck.
All the extra protection means that the fully enclosed passenger cell is highly secure, safe and comfortable. However, it's not just the materials used in the car that keep the passengers safe: there's all the usual electronic control systems such as ESP, ABS, etc (although modified to take the extra weight into consideration) that ensure the S-Class's driving dynamics are maintained. Plus it comes fitted with S-Class safety features such as Pre-Safe brakes and Brake Assist.
There are also numerous additional features to make riding in the S-Guard safer than playing on a bouncy castle while dressed in an American football uniform. There's a reversing camera to monitor the rear of the car; run-flat tyres; a self-sealing fuel tank that uses the same material as military helicopters; a fire-extinguishing system; an emergency fresh-air system that counteracts dangerous gaseous substances; a pneumatic emergency control system for the power windows that operates independently of the on-board electronics; an emergency boot-opening facility that allows occupants to free themselves from the boot of the car using a switch on the inside of the boot lid (handy if you've been kidnapped in your own car); infrared lights and camera; and a Panic Alarm System that can be activated from anywhere in the vehicle, locking the doors to create a protected zone and alerting the outside world by means of visual and audible alarm signals, plus an intercom.
Perhaps the most cunning thing of all about the S-Guard though, is the fact that you can't tell the difference between it and a standard S-Class. From the outside, there is nothing to indicate that the car is in any way special.
