The new A-Class performed strongly to gain five stars for adult occupant protection. Its passenger cell safeguarded its occupants, the car losing just over one point in the frontal and side impacts.
The restraint systems included dual stage airbags, front belt pre-tensioners and adaptive load limiters and seatmounted side airbags. An intelligent belt reminder system is fitted for all seating positions.
The protection it gave to child occupants was good. Protection for pedestrians was also reasonably good, gaining 17 points out of a possible 36.
Front impact
The body suffered minimal deformation and the driver’s door could be opened almost normally after the impact. The footwell suffered only minor intrusion and movement of the foot pedals was well controlled.
The dual-stage frontal airbags, belt pre-tensioners and load limiters restricted forward movement of the front occupants and there was much effort put into designing the A-class to safeguard their knees and upper legs. The dummy’s instrumentation recorded low values during the crash test.
Side impact
The protection system included seat mounted head and thorax airbags, which worked with the structure to keep readings from the dummies low. The A-class gained full marks in the side and pole impact tests.
Child occupant
A two-language text label warned against placing a child in a rear facing restraint opposite an active airbag. These were fitted to both sides of the passenger’s sun visor but could easily be peeled off.
The older child sat in a Mercedes-branded Britax Romer Duo Plus restraint fitted forward facing using the car’s ISOFIX mounting points and top tethers. The younger child’s restraint was a rear facing Britax Romer BabySafe Plus fitted using the adult belts. Both were protected throughout.
Pedestrian
The car gave reasonable protection overall. The bumper met test requirements, while the bonnet top provided some cushioning in the areas where an adult’s or child’s head might most likely strike it. The bonnet’s leading edge also offered some degree of safeguard to pedestrians.