As ever, the best accident is one which does not happen at all. The safety engineers at the Mercedes Technology Center are working intensively on this rather simple sounding statement, which in practice is actually a lot more difficult to implement. Both active safety and driver-fitness safety in the new M-Class are further improved by the numerous active and passive assistance systems:

ATTENTION ASSIST, warns the driver of drowsiness
Speed Limit Assist, displays road signs in the instrument cluster
Tyre pressure loss warning system
Intelligent Light System with specific lighting functions to match the relevant road and weather conditions
Night View Assist Plus with automatic person recognition
ADAPTIVE BRAKE with the functions Hill-Start Assist, priming, brake drying and hold function
Brake Assist BAS to support the driver in critical braking manoeuvres
DISTRONIC PLUS with BAS PLUS
Lane Keeping Assist warns the driver as soon as it detects that the driver has unintentionally left a recognised marked lane. In addition, Active Lane Keeping Assist can react with lane-correcting brake application
Blind Spot Assist warns the driver when vehicles are detected in the area of poor visibility, the so-called "blind spot". Additionally, Active Blind Spot Assist can counteract a possible collision by specific application of the brakes on one side of the vehicle, if the driver does not react to the warning.
Park Assist with PARKTRONIC, a system which can detect parking spaces and carry out the steering manoeuvres required for the parking process, simply leaving the driver to operate the brake and accelerator
Reversing camera, e.g. with "back-in" mode with dynamic guide lines for reversing into narrow parking bays or to aid with the coupling of trailers
Adaptive brake light warns vehicles behind in an emergency braking situation with flashing brake lights

Standard equipment forming part of the safety concept of the new M-Class includes the anticipatory safety system PRE-SAFE®, which combines active and passive safety synergies to reduce the loads exerted on the vehicle occupants in the event of an accident by up to 40 percent. Depending on the potential accident situation detected, the following reversible measures can be initiated for preventive occupant protection:

Driver and front passenger seat belts are tensioned
Windows are closed
Sliding sunroof is closed
Front passenger seat is adjusted (when fitted with Memory package)