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Impact: Real Drivers. Life-Changing Stories.

Explore unscripted accounts of survival and newfound perspective

Edgar D. Preissner

Lake Barrington, Illinois

“The fire department had to pry open the driver-side door to get my wife out.”

My wife was driving our 1983 300SD Sedan (with 135,000 miles on the odometer) through an intersection and was hit by a car running a red light. Our Mercedes was struck on the left side, just behind the front tire. The car was totaled — my wife couldn’t get out of the driver side and was too shaken to crawl out the passenger side. The fire department had to pry open the driver door to get her out, and the police officer on the scene said that if she had been driving any car other than a Mercedes she would have been seriously injured. When I returned home from work, she told me about the accident and was very upset about the loss of our 300SD. I told my wife — whose maiden name happens to be “Benz.” — not to worry, because while I could always buy another Mercedes-Benz, I could never replace my “Benz.” We got a 1998 500SL and always feel safe in it.

Learn more about the 2011 SL-Class

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