I’ll take ventilated taillights over ventilated seats any day…
February 13th, 2007Mercedes has come up with yet another innovation: vented taillights.
It’s far more useful than it seems – as you might know, cars get lighter (and therefore less stable) as speeds increase. To keep them firmly planted on terra firma, manufacturers sometimes attach large wings or deep chin spoilers – that’s the easy way to do it – but more recently they’re paying attention to what lies beneath, smoothing out the underbodies to promote smooth airflow over the underbody literally creating a vacumn that pulls the car down to the road firmly. (With its smooth underpanel in place, my 95 m3 feels more stale at 85 than 65, without it it’s nearly undriveable over 70). Underbody venturis are common on uncommon cars like the Ferrari F430 but the rest of us aren’t expected to expect high speed stability.
In the case of the new C class, air is drawn from underneath the car to exit the rear, reducing lift on the rear axle and increasing fuel economy.
This isn’t the first time Mercedes has turned its attention to the tail lights – remember the ribbed designs on older Benzes? Those weren’t a cosmetic touch – they were made to make sure that there was clean lens area as the rest of the car got dirty.
When I say Mercedes is hellbent on leading again, this is the kind of stuff I am referring to…