According to this story, a Mercedes test of an automated radar braking system in the S-Class ended in an embarassing failure. Actually it sounds like adaptive cruise control, but anyway, the explanation was that the radar failed due to the steel sheeted hall in which the test was conducted.
Fair enough, embarassing for Mercedes, but explainable, because we normally don't drive in steel encased rooms, unless we're the Ubermenschy Superman and are trying to avoid Lex Luthor's latest Kyrptonite attack.
But, the story gets better. It seems that Mercedes' engineers knew in advance the test would fail, and tried to talk the TV journalist out of conducting it. No, no, said the journalist, Michael Specht, of AutoBild.
Sprecht suggested they fake the test, and that he would manually brake the car before hitting the one in front. Didn't work, obviously.
According to this follow-up story, Specht couldn't see the car in front of him due to smoke machines, so the Mercedes engineers put a piece of wood across the path so he would know when to brake.
Problem was, Sprecht never felt the bump in the road due to the fine suspension on the S-Class. And thus, the fender munch. While it only looked as if Mercedes got injured in this pile-up, it turns out that Sprecht had an audio recorder with him in the car that recorded his part of the conspiracy.
Sprecht has now been fired from his position as an automotive journalist. The only part of this story that hasn't been covered is who got to Sprecht's audio recorder and ratted him out.
Original hat tip: Matt B.
Follow-up hat tip: Jalopnik.
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