New C-Class: Ventilated tail lights for better aerodynamics

Muamer Hodzic February 7, 2007

Engineers at Mercedes have developed two patented innovations that will make the ride in the new C-class a much better experience. The first has to do with ventilating the tail lights. When the car is on the move, air is sucked in from the underbody and is conducted behind the tail lights to flow out of the small ventilating slits in the lenses. As the tail lights are hermetically sealed against the vehicle body, the air is only able to escape to the side via the ventilating slits. In this way the aerodynamic specialists are able to influence the air flow along the side walls by abruptly redirecting it at the tail lights.

The second innovation is reducing the coefficient of drag by special air pressure distribution in the rear roof area of the C-Class, a new Mercedes patent is used here for the first time: a two-piece rubber lip as a transition between the roof and the rear window. This features an open channel and a partly enclosed channel. Owing to the pressure conditions at the rear edge of the vehicle roof, rainwater first runs towards the middle in the open channel, where suction draws it outwards. Via the enclosed channels in the rubber lip, it then flows away downwards along the window edging, keeping the window clean even at high speeds.

These are all good innovations that will possibly make the drivers happy, but I am just not sure if all this is really needed to achieve a better level or aerodynamics. To me it all looks like a lot of effort and resources went into improving something that nobody will notice, well other than the people reading this blog of course.