Sicherheit

Standard and class-first features

• Dual full-size front airbags, standard from September 1994.
• Seat-belt pretensioners and force limiters on all four outboard seats.
• Side-impact beams in all doors; the car met the 1995 US FMVSS 201 side-impact standard three years early.
• ABS standard on all six-cylinder and AMG models, optional on four-cylinders.
• Electronic Stability Program, first offered on the C280 in 1995, a world first for a mass-production saloon, optional across the range by the 1997 facelift and standard on V6 models.
• Side airbags from 1995, standard on Elegance and Avantgarde after 1997; ASR traction control optional on fours, standard on sixes and AMG.

Crash performance

Euro NCAP did not test the W202, but independent crash testing by the German ADAC in 1994 showed excellent occupant protection for the era, the product of the 41 percent high-strength-steel body and repeated frontal-offset development.