Mercedes re-invents the seatbelt buckle

The humble seatbelt has been around for over a century now, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t scope for innovating and improving the restraining device’s effectiveness.

Leave it to Mercedes-Benz, which introduced pretensioners in the 1981 S-Class, to come up with the latest breakthrough – dubbed the ‘Active’ seatbelt buckle.

Currently under development by Merc, the new buckle is soon to debut on a production model, and we’re guessing that model will be the all-new 2013 S-Class.

The latest tech features an electric motor that extends (by 70mm) and retracts (by 40mm) the seatbelt buckle automatically, and Mercedes claims this reduces the belt slack in the area of the pelvis and thorax, securing passengers more firmly in sideways and lengthways directions.

In addition, fastening seatbelts in the rear is allegedly made much simpler as the seatbelt buckle emerges from the upholstery when the rear doors are opened and is provided with an illuminated insertion slot.

The company adds that simplifying use of the seat belt in this manner may increase the percentage of rear passengers who buckle up (not so much a problem in Australia, but a distinct problem in various other markets).

The Active seat-belt buckle is integrated in the existing PRE-SAFE preventive safety system, so whenever the latter becomes active in critical driving situations or when a critical distance from other objects is detected, reversible belt tensioning is also effected in the rear via the active seat-belt buckle function.

Active seat-belt buckle also complements the pyrotechnic belt pretensioning (triggered in the event of an impact) that has featured as standard on all outer rear seats in Mercedes-Benz vehicles for the past three decades.

“Active seat-belt buckle is another element of our PRE-SAFE concept, which is intended to provide our customers with optimum protection in real accident scenarios,” stresses Dr Rodolfo Schöneburg, head of Passive Safety and Vehicle Functions at Mercedes-Benz Cars games .

Active seat-belt buckle has been developed with an eye on new markets in which the level of occupied rear seats is up to 30 per cent – markedly higher than in Europe.

“In the rear of premium saloons in particular, passengers tend to sit in particularly relaxed positions in the generous space which is available,” explains Schöneburg.

The Active seatbelt buckle also has POST-SAFE functionality, whereby the belt buckle is extended as soon as the doors are opened by rescue personnel or the occupants themselves after the system has detected a crash and verified that the vehicle is stationary – provided that the on-board electrical system is intact.

The raised belt buckle position allows better access from inside the vehicle, while illumination of the buckle draws attention to the belt’s opening mechanism.