InfraStructures - August 2012 - Winter Test of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter: Continuous Development and Testing Under the Toughest Conditions

Winter Test of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter: Continuous Development and Testing Under the Toughest Conditions

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter will soon adopt a number of product enhancements which underline its ambition to lead the large van segment.

At temperatures of -30°C – and even lower – the new features have to prove that they meet the high quality standards of Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz has raised the already exemplary safety standard of the Sprinter to an even higher level. Since the start of the year, the van has been equipped with a new generation of ADAPTIVE ESP® with additional functions. The new features include:

Brake Disk Wipe: in the wet, this system builds up a low level of brake pressure on a cyclical basis. This wipes the film of water off the brake disc so that the full braking power is available straight away if it should be required.
Electronic Brake Prefill: if the driver releases the pressure on the accelerator suddenly, this is interpreted as the first step of an imminent braking process. The system reacts to this by gently applying the brake pads to the brake disc. This means that the air gap between the two friction partners is effectively already reduced to zero by the time the driver presses the brake pedal. In this way, the reaction time for any braking which may be required is reduced.

In order to ensure that the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter meets the high standards demanded by its customers, tough quality checks were also carried out during the winter testing in Arjeplog. These concern all the vehicle systems. The verdict of the test engineers is unequivocal: top quality performance, even under extreme winter conditions.

Source: Daimler AG