Mercedes-Benz adding safety QR codes

Mercedes QR app. Photo / Supplied

Daimler is adding a QR code - a black-and-white square symbol which can be read by smartphones and tablets - to all new Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the name of safety.

The QR (Quick Response) codes will enable firefighters, police and paramedics to instantly access details about the vehicle model, including the location of the airbags, battery, tanks, electric cables and high-pressure cylinders.

The German manufacturer said a simple scan with a mobile device would direct rescuers to a webpage showing the quickest and safest way to cut into each vehicle.

"This information can save lives, because in an emergency every action counts and every second is precious," the company said in a press release.

In the case of hybrid models, the rescue sheet would show the location of extra batteries and high-voltage cables.

All German automakers currently provide rescue sheets with their vehicle models but these are often not in the car, because the driver has left it at home, or are difficult for the rescuer to to find.

Rescuers often struggle to identify the accident vehicle model if it has suffered severe accident damage, Daimler said.

"The Mercedes-Benz innovation, on the other hand, offers - in almost all cases - a swift and reliable way to a vehicle-specific correct security identity card - and can do this without requiring any action on the part of the driver."

From this year, all new Mercedes-Benz vehicles would be sold with two QR codes - one on the fuel tank flap and the other on the B-pillar on the opposite vehicle side.

"For it seldom occurs that both these parts are badly damaged at the same time in an accident, and they are furthermore easily accessible from the outside," Daimler said.

Mercedes-Benz has waived the right to a patent registration in order to make the system available to all automakers, it said.