Mercedes is understandably proud of being responsible for the invention of the airbag and anti-lock brakes - accomplishments that, at the launch of its new ESF 2009 safety car, prompted its head of safety development, Dr. Rodolfo Schoneburg, to jauntily remark that "there's a bit of Mercedes in every car on the road."

He makes a fair point. We might never again see advances quite as seminal as those two things in terms of tangible and quantifiable in-car life saving, but until someone can eradicate human error and stop us bumping into things, there'll always be room for improvement. Between 1971 and 1974, Mercedes developed four so-called Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESF), each used in the gestation of the two aforementioned safety landmarks. What you're looking at is the fifth in the series, built to showcase the future - making it perhaps the most purposeful Mercedes concept car ever.

It essentially takes Mercedes-Benz's existing Pre-Safe system - which currently detects an imminent front-end collision and automatically applies the brakes and tightens up the seat belts in anticipation - to another level entirely. Pre-Safe in its latest application senses shunts all around the car and triggers a number of new features that mitigate the impact.

Our favourite thing is the new Braking Bag - an airbag positioned between the front wheels underneath the car that inflates during emergency braking, unleashing a full 2g of stopping power thanks to the friction between bag and road. It destroys the car, of course, but at 30mph it effectively adds 18cm to the car's crumple zone.

Then there's Pre-Safe Structure - a series of inflatable metal beams that are hollow until a side impact is unavoidable, in which case a high pressure gas discharges into them like balloons, cushioning the impact, while being much lighter than traditional steel bars (2kg in total, apparently). That system works in tandem with Pre-Safe Pulse too, which utilises the seat bolsters to purposely prod the front seat occupant away from the side impact point by a few millimetres, using the physics of momentum to cushion the blow (because the occupant is travelling in the direction of the impact).

And to avoid injuries in which passengers sat beside each other clash heads, those in the front are protected by a stiff airbag that deploys above the transmission tunnel, while rear seat occupants get a spongy block above the armrest, which can actually be operated manually to provide a handy cushion for sleepy journeys. The front airbags are tweaked too, because they're able to sense the weight and seating position of the driver and inflate to an optimally safe volume - anything between 90 and 150 litres.

And at the back, in order to prevent secondary collisions during a rear-end shunt, Pre-Safe will apply the brakes hard automatically, 600 milliseconds before impact. When that happens, rear seat passengers will have less to fear from seatbelt-exacerbated chest injuries too, thanks to the almost obvious yet never before seen Belt Bag - a seatbelt airbag that reduces pressure on the chest.

Child safety is focused on too, with Mercedes developing a brand new modular child seat system that better protects the side of the body and head, and there's a camera that displays a sequence of still images to the driver so that his or her kids can be observed more easily without actually turning around or, alternatively, being distracted by an actual video.

Mercs of the future will talk to each other, too, via the Internet, which serves the dual purpose of collision avoidance and congestion reduction. And far less techy, but arguably just as important, is Side Reflect, which is nothing more than a bunch of glass-based reflective material on the tyres, doors and roof that make the car more visible at night.

All clever stuff, we'd all agree, but for some the issue of extra weight is a bugbear. Of course, the S-Class is already a big, heavy limo, but Mercedes is very keen to make weight saving a priority - just look at the inflatable side protection bars as an example. And in fact, the ESF 2009 weighs 1,955kg - that's exactly the same as the S 350 Limousine and only 25kg more than the last safety car - revealed in 1974. Bearing in mind the ESF 2009 is based on the S 400 Hybrid model, that's quite impressive.

Of course, cost is a major consideration, as is getting the Pre-Safe triggering mechanisms right so that Mercs aren't writing themselves off left, right and centre because of faulty software - many of the Pre-Safe systems are irreversible and will ruin the car, the Braking Bag for one. But when the maker does get it right - which it's evidently determined to do - most of these things will filter into our cars sooner rather than later.

Mark Nichol - 9 Jun 2009