As Expatica is reporting, Swedish prosecutors are looking into the test-driving practices of Mercedes-Benz, following a fatal accident involving a 45-year-old mother of two in the Lappland region. The driver, testing a Mercedes model last tuesday, spun out of control on an icy road and plowed into the woman, killing her.
While Mercedes officials ruled out excessive speed or technical problems for the accident, officials in Sweden are investigating reports of residents frightened by Mercedes' test cars driven in packs at high speeds along byways, and of test drivers being above the legal alcohol limit. The investigation comes a year after a DaimlerChrysler test engineer in Germany was found guilty of aggressive driving that caused an accident that killed a young woman and her child.
In all seriousness, while it is most definitely test drivers' job to take prototypes to the edge of control and back (buyers' lives inevitably depend on it), treating rural neighborhoods and superhighways as a private proving ground for extreme maneuvers jeopardizes people's lives. It takes but one lead-footed ex-Cafe racer with a bitchy ex-wife and an extra bock down his gullet, at the helm of a high-powered luxury sedan, and one errant reindeer to cause a tragedy that wrecks lives. And we're sure Mercedes isn't the only company that should be scrutinized in this regard.
Mercedes rules out speed in test car accident [Expatica]
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Spy Photos: Mercedes G-Class, Redux [internal]