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SINDELFINGEN, Germany (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz engineers strive to meet all definitions of comfort in the new S-Class sedan as they try to get ahead of rival Tesla, which wowed audiences with its “fart mode.”
The German automaker, inventor of the modern automobile, defends “Einsitzkomfort”, the sensation that customers experience when they recline in one of the luxurious seats.
That’s coupled with “Uebertragungsverhalten,” or the seat’s ability to absorb shocks on the road, and “Langstreckenkomfort,” or long-range comfort features, the vehicle’s mustachioed chief engineer Juergen Weissinger told Reuters.
The growing lexicon of engineering features is a sign of Mercedes’ determination to push the boundaries of automotive refinement as it tries to reclaim the high-tech bragging rights that have been hijacked by electric car pioneer Tesla.
It has led the Lastenheft, or engineering project, of the S-Class to expand from a pamphlet to a large tome.
“The Lastenheft for this S-Class that was conceptualized in 2014 is now 689 pages long,” Weissinger said at the Daimler-owned company’s Sindelfingen factory.
“That’s a five-fold increase from 30 years ago.”
Seats, and rear seats in particular, have become a key battlefield in the automotive industry, where the rise of automated driving has made the passenger experience as important as the driver’s.
Tesla has picked up the pace of industry innovation by using remote software updates to introduce wacky features like “fart mode,” which emits a farting sound through car speakers for fun, or not, of the passengers.
Mercedes also wants to persuade drivers that it has thought of everything.
“The essence of the S-Class is comfort and safety in a luxury package,” said Weissinger, explaining that the seats have 19 internal motors: eight for adjustments, four for massage, five for ventilation, one for lumbar support and one to move a monitor attached to the backrest.
The seats also have built-in speakers, so customers can “feel” the sound.
Ten different massage programs are available, including one that pulses to the beat of the music and a heated one that uses vibration motors and inflatable air chambers in the seat.
Four radial fans on the cushion and two on the backrest can also cool the passengers.
There are also safety innovations, including digital headlights that can fire warning beams at distracted pedestrians or project lines ahead to help the driver maneuver between objects.
Navigation is assisted by a three-dimensional augmented reality screen, while a high-tech driver assistance system allows the car to drive in automatic mode at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour.
This so-called Level 3 automation system will be introduced for the first time in Germany in 2021, Mercedes said.
The new S-Class can be ordered in Germany from mid-September and will be in dealerships in December. The market launch in the United States and China will begin in February 2021.
Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Mark Potter
