Mercedes to Simplify Electronics

A Mercedes-Benz electronics vice president recently told an innovation symposium that it had already removed 600 electronic functions from its cars and that the process continues.

In a 20-minute address, Stephan Wolfsried spoke against overloading the car with electronic functions that have no use for the customer.

“Last year we removed over 600 functions from our cars – functions that no one really needed and no one knew how to use,” Wolfsried said, according to a story in Automotive News Europe reported on www.autoserviceworld.com.

Because of failing integration into the overall electronics infrastructure, they only tend to cause the malfunctioning of really important electronic parts, he said.

Wolfsried, who is vice president at Mercedes-Benz for electrical, electronics, chassis development and reengineering, spoke on the subject at a critical juncture for the DaimlerChrysler car division.

In May, Mercedes had to recall more than 650,000 cars worldwide because of a possible malfunctioning of the new electronic brake system.