2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

midsize luxury car / 4-door sedan

2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class 4-door sedan

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Small overlap front: driver-side
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Roof strength
Head restraints & seats

Crash avoidance & mitigation

Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle
Optional system
Superior
Standard system
Advanced

Seat belts & child restraints

LATCH ease of use

Other available safety features

  • Optional blind spot detection
  • Optional lane departure warning
  • Optional lane departure prevention

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Small overlap front: driver-side

Rating applies to 2015-21 models

Tested vehicle: 2016 Mercedes-Benz C 300 4-door

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class was redesigned for the 2015 model year.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Hip/thigh
Lower leg/foot
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
The dummy’s head contacted the frontal airbag but rolled to the left because the seat belt allowed excessive forward excursion of the head and torso. The side curtain airbag deployed and has sufficient forward coverage to protect the head from contact with side structure and outside objects.

Action shot taken during the small overlap frontal crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the door frame, steering wheel, and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained well.

The dummy's head contacted the frontal airbag but rolled partway around the left side, allowing the head to move toward the gap in coverage between the frontal and side curtain airbags.

The driver's space was maintained well, and risk of injuries to the dummy's legs and feet was low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEN1634
Lower occupant compartment
Lower hinge pillar max (cm) 5
Footrest (cm) 10
Left toepan (cm) 5
Brake pedal (cm) 8
Parking brake (cm)
Rocker panel lateral average (cm) 2
Upper occupant compartment
Steering column 1
Upper hinge pillar max (cm) 4
Upper dash (cm) 4
Lower instrument panel (cm) 4

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEN1634
Head
HIC-15 161
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0
Extension bending moment (Nm) 5
Maximum Nij 0.20
Chest maximum compression (mm) 21
Femur (kN)
Left 1.2
Right 1.3
Knee displacement (mm)
Left 3
Right 5
Knee-thigh-hip injury risk (%)
Left 0
Right 0
Maximum tibia index
Left 0.50
Right 0.43
Tibia axial force (kN)
Left 2.8
Right 2.4
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 80
Right 73

About the small overlap front test

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2015-21 models

Tested vehicle: 2015 Mercedes-Benz C 300 4-door 4wd

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class was redesigned for the 2015 model year. Moderate overlap frontal ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Mercedes-Benz.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics
Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID VTF1415
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 1
Left (cm) 1
Center (cm) 1
Right (cm) 1
Brake pedal (cm) 2
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 0
Right (cm) 0
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 3
Rearward (cm) -7
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 0

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTF1415
Head
HIC-15 148
Peak gs at hard contact 16
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.1
Extension bending moment (Nm) 11
Maximum Nij 0.20
Chest maximum compression (mm) 22
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 1.6
Femur force - right (kN) 1.3
Knee displacement - left (mm) 1
Knee displacement - right (mm) 2
Maximum tibia index - left 0.40
Maximum tibia index - right 0.31
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 2.3
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.5
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 36
Right 53

About the original moderate overlap front test

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2015-21 models

Tested vehicle: 2015 Mercedes-Benz C 400 4-door 4wd with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class was redesigned for the 2015 model year. Side ratings are assigned by the Institute based on a test conducted by Mercedes-Benz.

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection
Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID VTS1417
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) -20.5
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID VTS1417
Head HIC-15 228
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.0
Compression (kN) 0.3
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 40
Lateral force (kN) 1.2
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 35
Average deflection (mm) 32
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 4.56
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.51
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.4
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.2
Combined force (kN) 3.6
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.4
L-M moment (Nm) 36
A-P moment (Nm) 74

Passenger injury measures

Test ID VTS1417
Head HIC-15 225
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.7
Compression (kN) 0.1
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 34
Lateral force (kN) 1.1
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 22
Average deflection (mm) 18
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 1.94
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.19
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.4
Acetabulum force (kN) 2.0
Combined force (kN) 4.2
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.5
L-M moment (Nm) 33
A-P moment (Nm) 51

About the original side crash test

Roof strength

Rating applies to 2015-21 models

Tested vehicle: 2016 Mercedes-Benz C 300 4-door

Overall evaluation
Curb weight3,522 lbs
Peak force24,642 lbs
Strength-to-weight ratio7.00

About the roof strength test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Power leather seat

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Power leather seat
Geometry
Backset (mm) 38
Distance below top of head (mm) -14
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g) 16.1
Head contact time (ms) 57
Force rating 1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 21
Max neck tension (N) 464

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.

Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle

Ratings are given for 2 different trim variations available on this vehicle.

System details

  • Optional Pre-Safe Brake
  • Standard Collision Prevention Assist Plus

Package name

  • Optional Driver Assistance Package

Overall evaluation

Applies to 2015-16 models

Superior
Superior
with optional equipment
  • This system meets the requirements for forward collision warning.
  • In the 12 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 25 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

System details

  • Standard Collision Prevention Assist Plus

Overall evaluation

Applies to 2015-16 models

Advanced
Advanced
  • This system does not meet the requirements for forward collision warning.
  • In the 12 mph test, this vehicle avoided a collision.
  • In the 25 mph test, impact speed was reduced by 14 mph.

About the original front crash prevention test

Child seat anchors

Rating applies to 2015-21 models

Overall evaluation
Vehicle trimC 300
Seat type leather

This vehicle has 2 rear seating positions with complete child seat attachment (LATCH) hardware.

It has 1 additional seating position with a tether anchor only.

Overall evaluation
Vehicle trimC 300
Seat type leather
1 2 3
GGood
AAcceptable
MMarginal
PPoor
Seating positions that rely on borrowed lower anchors or have only a tether anchor available are not rated.
thether anchor symbol
Tether anchor
lower anchor symbol
Lower anchors
shared lower achors symbol
Lower anchor(s) can be borrowed from adjacent positions(s)
No hardware available

Details by seating position

1
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
not too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
2
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
none available
3
Tether anchor
easy-to-find location
no other hardware could be confused for anchor
Lower anchors
not too deep in seat
not too much force needed to attach
easy to maneuver around anchors
Technical measurements for this test

Seat position 21

3

Lower anchor A
Open access rated Yes
Depth Visible
Force (lbs) 3
Clearance angle (degrees) 69
Lower anchor B
Open access rated Yes
Depth Visible
Force (lbs) 2
Clearance angle (degrees) 61
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor		 No
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH		 Not measured

Seat position 22

2

Lower anchor A
No lower latch for this seat position
Lower anchor B
No lower latch for this seat position
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor		 No
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH		 Not measured

Seat position 23

1

Lower anchor A
Open access rated Yes
Depth Visible
Force (lbs) 4
Clearance angle (degrees) 56
Lower anchor B
Open access rated Yes
Depth Visible
Force (lbs) 5
Clearance angle (degrees) 70
Tether anchor
Location Rear deck
Confusing hardware present No
Has contrasting label
within 3 inches of tether anchor		 No
Tether anchors can be accessed
while seatback is properly positioned
for use of LATCH		 Not measured

About the child seat anchor evaluation