For many years, PRE-SAFE®, the preventive occupant protection system, has supplemented the classic design measures. The result is comprehensive protection that starts well before an accident and is still effective after the accident. Extensive driving assistance systems, as well as the sophisticated crash sensor system, enable PRE-SAFE® to recognise a likely impact in even more situations than before. The protective effect of the systems is improved with a precisely coordinated response of the restraint systems and a number of other measures. As a result, PRE-SAFE® is now able to incorporate an impending side-on collision, for example, in the event of accidents at junctions by means of the close-range radar sensors and move the occupants into the best possible position prior to an imminent impact. Unlike in the case of a frontal collision, there is only a limited crumple zone available in the event of a side impact. To increase the size of this zone, the new PRE-SAFE® Impulse Side function moves the occupant in the danger zone away from the door and towards the centre of the vehicle just before an imminent side impact.
