When Mercedes-Benz held its safety driving programme recently, we were there to push expensive cars hard and learn something along the way.
Mercedes-Benz's 2009 Driving Experience event took place at the Sepang International Circuit, home of Malaysian motorsport.
The full-day affair was tailor-made to teach participants safe driving skills through hands-on exercises while imparting a better understanding of the electronic assistance systems on every Mercedes-Benz.
Safety is, of course, something the Stuttgart-based premium auto maker has been advocating for decades and the day saw participants - mostly customers - getting to grips with how acronyms like ESP (Electronic Stability Programme), ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) and many others can really get them out of a tight spot.
Understanding and experiencing them is what allows a person to truly place his faith in the car. But more on that later.
The day began with a briefing about correct driving techniques from trained instructors and a history lesson on Mercedes-Benz's innovations in automotive safety.
For example, Mercedes-Benz introduced the Safety Steering Gear in 1967.
It was a steering wheel impact absorber and telescopic steering column used to help reduce the after-effects of a head-on collision.
Other inventions included the Passenger Safety Cell in 1959, Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) in 1978, the first airbag in 1981 and the first rollover bars in 1989 for the 129 SL Roadster.
These days, it seems much of the auto maker safety efforts include systems which border on the pre-emptive.
These range from PRESAFE and Distronic Plus (cruise control system that can maintain distance between the car in front and even apply the brakes if neccesary) and brake assist.
The PRESAFE pre-detects a potential accident (when there is hard-braking, understeer or oversteer) and closes the sun roof and windows, adjusts the seats to a more upright position, pre-tensions the seat belts and bolsters backrests and cushions by further inflating them to offer improved protection.
If an unavoidable collision occurs, there is also a system that, apart from activating the airbags, shuts down fuel supply and engine, turns on the hazard lights and unlocks the doors.
Of course, the prime motivation for attending such a course is getting to drive expensive cars around a race track.
And the buffet of vehicles arranged by Mercedes-Benz Malaysia did not disappoint.
The spread included the S-Class, the E-Class, the C-Class as well as the B-Class shod on Continental's ContiPremiumContact 2 (CPC-2) and ContiSportContact 3 (CPC-3) rubbers that worked really well on both wet and dry conditions.
First up was the braking lesson where we went up to speed and braked really how to take corners the right way via the quickest line.
Before we adjourned for lunch, there was another round of hard braking, but this time with a swerve, to show how ABS enabled steering to be possible even under heavy braking.
After a quick bite - and you wouldn't want to eat too much with lots of driving ahead - it was the slalom test.
Here we pushed the car's handling to its limits by steering left and right through a set of adjacently-positioned safety cones.
We even made a try with the S-Class, and was surprised that this heavy luxury people mover, handled pretty well.
In the B-Class, we had a go at the second-last corner of the Sepang track, which proved to be tricky since we had to brake while cornering before hitting the late apex.
We were impressed with the handling of the B-Class. It was nimble enough, although its acceleration performance was modest.
Lastly, the lesson ended with a heart-pounding event.
We had to drive straight ahead at speeds of up 90kph and make a sudden right-left swerve. It was rather adrenaline pumping to do that.
Here, more than any other segment of the course was where we came face to face with some of the safety systems that had previously been lurking quietly in the background.
As we made the erratic right-hander, the car's safety system predicted a potential accident and subsequently, the system switched on the hazard lights, pre-tensioned the seat belts and even turned off the air-conditioning system.
The climax of the event was the full-track driving, where we performed five laps in the E-Class, which rounded off the event on a high note.
Mercedes-Benz Malaysia will also hold the event in July and November. --The Star/Asia News Network
