Mercedes-Benz is one of the most highly regarded luxury automakers, and the German brand’s cars are well known for their opulence. They’re also known for their host of safety features. However, one model performed poorly in Consumer Reports’ recent rear-seat safety testing. Find out why the 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class finished dead last.
Consumer Reports now tests for rear-seat safety
2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class | MBUSA
According to Consumer Reports, the rear-seat safety test is an evaluation of the consumer site introduced in 2021. Its purpose is to evaluate the safety of vehicles’ rear seats for children and adults. CR’s testers look at six aspects. Three are related to children, and the others are general categories.
The areas related to kids include the child-seat fit category, measuring the ease of properly installing children’s car seats. Then there’s the booster-seat use category, which measures how easy it is to install booster seats and whether those seats stay in place. Finally, there’s the rear-occupant alert category. It looks at whether a car has safety features that might prevent hot-car deaths.
The other three testing categories relate to rear restraints. Rear-seat minders remind passengers in the back to buckle up. Advanced rear restraints can enhance seat belts’ effectiveness. And rear head restraints measure the effectiveness and safety of the car’s rear head restraints.
“The message from our new rear-seat safety testing is not that vehicles with lower scores are unsafe, but that they do not offer the same comparative margin of protection as those vehicles that earn higher marks,” says @emathmsphd, automotive safety engineer at CR.
— Consumer Reports (@ConsumerReports) September 28, 2021
CR clarifies that cars that perform poorly in these evaluations aren’t necessarily dangerous. “The message from our new rear-seat safety testing is not that vehicles with lower scores are unsafe, but that they do not offer the same comparative margin of protection as those vehicles that earn higher marks,” says Emily A. Thomas, an automotive safety engineer at Consumer Reports.
The 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class finished last on Consumer Reports’ rear-seat safety tests
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Overview of the 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
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