Mercedes to drop electronic braking system

From next year, Mercedes are stopping to include their Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC) system from some of their models, including the E-class.

The german manufacturer has recalled more than 100,000 vehicles in total in the UK, after problems with the system. Totally, more than 2,000,000 vehicles have been recalled for potential problems.

According to Mercedes, the SBC system is as safe and reliable as any other braking system, but it appears that the German Public Relations machine hasn't been able to convince the customers of this - why are shying away from the cars, in favour of other models or even cars from other manufacturers. Initially, the system will be removed from the E-class.

Full article here

Steve - 12/2/2005 12:20:01 AM

+1 Boost

Read "Full Article Here." Closing sentense mentions backup brake system, already in place, in case of brake-by-wire-failure.

Steve - 12/2/2005 12:20:01 AM

+1 Boost

Read "Full Article Here." Closing sentense mentions backup brake system, already in place, in case of brake-by-wire-failure.

vdiv - 12/2/2005 11:09:39 AM

+1 Boost

There is nothing wrong with the concept of a brake-by-wire system. The problem stems from its implementation in Mercedes cars. If the company cannot reliably implement it, the company certainly should not, as it results in a lot of customers being allienated. American car makers learned this lesson in the late 70's and 80's when they began heavily implementing computers in their vehicles that provided a lot of conveniences, but were miserably failing and stranding people by the side of the road. It is one of the main reason why Japanese made such strides in the automotive industry at that time, their cars were simple as the most complex electronic device (besides the radio) was probably the turn signal relay (often implemented with one transistor). Eventually the technology evolved and today all vehicles have some sort of fairly reliable on-board computer in charge of engine operation and diagnosis.

Hydrolic systems have worked great yet car makers should think forward and seamlesly integrate braking with other systems for more user-friendly and safer experience (for example, like BMW's drive-by-wire system and not like their Active Steering). Unfortunately the Mercedes SBC system is neither user-friendly nor safer as it does not deliver a predictable response from the pedal to the brakes. Similarly with the BMW's Active steering, these systems need to go back to the drawing board and stay there until the everyday driver is unable to notice that their car has one yet be able to take advantage of them in terms of performance, features and reliability.