In an era when speed seems to be blamed for just about everything on our roads it is satisfying to see leading manufacturers tackling some of the real issues that cause road crashes. Up there with a cure for cancer is the real cause of many crashes, which no car company has yet been able to find technological cure for: bad attitude and/or stupidity.

When you step into the latest incarnation of the Mercedes-Benz E 350 you start to realise just how far cars have come in dealing with the causes of crashes – minor and major - that CAN be avoided. The E-Class for many years has been a Mercedes-Benz technology leader. This is where the expensive, life-saving stuff has it's debut before filtering down to the not-so-expensive makes and models.

Next time you see a late model Mercedes-Benz owner you might like to thank him/her for paying the premium to develop technology such as Electronic Stability Control, (S600 - 1995), crumple zones (220 – 1950s) and ABS brakes (S-Class 1978) . The E-Class continues that tradition with a raft of safety gear that tackles some of the real issues faced by motorists: inattention, distraction, fatigue and tiredness. Each of these can, and has, caused fatal crashes.

The good news for Mercedes-Benz buyers is that this package that supports this safety bonanza is about as refined as cars get these days. The E 350 packs all the power, creature comforts and desirability luxury saloon buyers could want. Is there anything we don't like about this car? You bet. Firstly, we would like to see the cruise control switches on one of the steering wheel spokes. It is currently a stalk at the 10 am position on the left side of the wheel and is easy to confuse with the indicator stalk which is at the 7 am position.

Secondly, we do not like the gear lever, which is also a stalk, coming out on the right side of the steering wheel in exactly the place we normally have an indicator stalk. In Europe or the U.S. our complaint would not be an issue. However, twice we inadvertently flicked the gear lever up in the conditioned response that this was indeed the indicator stalk, as it is in all Australian and Japanese cars in this country. Oops, just took the car out of `drive' and into neutral. This is not the first time we have done this with this Mercedes-style gear selector.

If you are wondering what car manufactures do with all the `accident research' findings, in the case of the E-Class it went into developing systems to counter the crash data. So the E-Class is chock full of sensors, cameras and radar systems. This is the stuff that will filter down in years to come into your garden-variety cars as it becomes more affordable. Right now a Mercedes Benz E-350 V6 Avantgarde buyer is forking out $128,900 for the privilege.

One of the best places to test the technology is on a major, high speed (in the Australian sense) road such as the M1 from Brisbane to the Gold Coast. If crashes happen here they are likely to be serious. It's also how we get home after picking up cars in Brisbane. It's a four lane freeway well marked with white lines, and these are crucial to lane assist technology. If you drift over the line markings the car's steering wheel develops a shudder as if you are going over cat's eyes. The idea is to wake you up if you have gone to sleep at the wheel or get your attention if you've been distracted. Either way it alerts you that you are straying off-line. Drowsiness is a major factor in single vehicle crashes (roll overs – cars into trees) and multi-fatality head-ons on Australia's country roads.

In addition there's Attention Assist. When underway this system constantly monitors and evaluates more than 70 different parameters to identify driver drowsiness. This is the driver's state of consciousness before a microsleep begins. Traveling at 100 km/h a car can be off the road and into a tree in a literal single second. One of the major keys to this is the driver's steering behaviour with the system able to detect steering errors which the driver corrects in a jerky way.

One feature we like is the Blind Spot Assist. Most cars have a blind spot on either side. It is when a car on either side of the vehicle is for a fraction of a second out of view in the side rear-view mirrors – usually at the 4 or 8 position in relations to the driving position. In the E-Class each of the outside mirrors has small triangle that illuminates in orange and then red when a passing car is in this position.

In this way just a cursory glance of the mirrors tells the driver there is a hidden car just to the left or right behind him. In an age of `road rage' much caused by unintentional `cutting off' of one car by another, this technology has more than one benefit.

Ever been blinded by an on-coming car's headlights? Not nice eh. Dangerous too for all the cars involved in the immediate vicinity. Adaptive Main Beam Assist has a camera fitted on the inside of the windscreen that allows the system to detect oncoming vehicles and automatically controls the lights to ensure other road users are not dazzled by your headlights. So if you are in the bush and driving with high beam on the system lowers your headlights to a normal range and then gradually increased to high beam when the traffic has gone past. There's also night assist as pictured above.

There are other systems to which are optional: adaptive cruise control which maintains a constant distance between the car and the vehicle ahead – down to a stop – using short and long range radar and combining this with Brake Assist and Pre-Safe Brake. Pre-Safe engages when a crash is imminent and prepares the passengers for the emergency, even if the driver has not reacted to the warnings. Luckily, we did not try this ourselves, but Mercedes assures us it does work.

The net-effect of this is that in our week in the Merc we felt like a budget-car driver who had been transported into a automobile version of the TV show, `Beyond 2010'. For this is the future for all cars just the same as ESP, ABS and crumple zones were all those years ago. In addition to this current technology makers such as BMW and Mercedes are about to include Speed Limit Assist where a car-based camera recognises speed signs and tells the driver what the local speed limit is at any given time. We guess this means the old excuse to the flashing blue light can no longer be, “Officer, I did not see the sign.” At this stage the technology does not automatically reduce the car's speed, but simply informs the driver. From there he/she takes personal responsibility.

During our time in the E-350 we paid a lot of attention to the technology and less to the car itself. Apart from our dislike of the steering wheel stalk systems, it was a totally enjoyable, fuss-free experience as you would expect from one of the world's leading high-volume luxury cars.

Turbodiesel

E 220 CDI 2.1 L 4 cylinder Elegance $80,900

E 250 CDI 2.1 L 4 cylinder Avantgarde $96,900

E 350 CDI 3.0 L V6 Avantgarde $131,900

Petrol

E 250 CGI 1.8 L 4 cylinder Avantgarde $93,900

E 350 3.5 L V6 Avantgarde $128,900

E500 5.5 L V8 Avantgarde $178,900

ABS Brakes: standard

Air Conditioning: standard

Automatic Transmission: standard

CD Player: standard

Central Locking: standard

Cruise Control: standard

Dual Front Airbags: standard

Front Side Airbags: standard

Stability Control: standard

Traction Control: standard

ENGINE:

Capacity: 3.498 litres

Configuration: V6

Head Design: 24 valve

Compression Ratio: 12.2:1

Bore/Stroke: 92.9 mm x 86 mm

Maximum Power: 200 kW @ 6400 rpm

Maximum Torque: 350 Nm @ 3000- 5100 rpm

Driven Wheels: rear

Manual Transmission: N/A

Automatic Transmission: Seven speed automatic

Final Drive Ratio: 3.07

Length: 4868 mm

Wheelbase: 2874 mm

Width: 1854 mm

Height: 1465 mm

Turning Circle: 11.25 metres

Kerb Mass: 1735 kg

Fuel Tank Capacity: 80/ (reserve 9) litres

Front Suspension: Three link, coil springs, gas shocks

Rear Suspension: multi-link independent, gas shocks

Front Brakes: Ventilated Disc

Rear Brakes: Ventilated Disc

0-100 km/h Acceleration: 6.8 seconds

Type: 95RON

Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 9.4 L/100km

Greenhouse Rating: 6/10

Air Pollution Rating: 8.5/10

3 years/ Unlimted km