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ABC - Active Body Control

The active suspension system Active Body Control (ABC) was developed by Mercedes-Benz in an effort to combine active safety and handling with ride comfort. Using high-pressure hydraulic servos, a multitude of sensor and high-performance microprocessors, ABC adapts the suspension and damping settings to different driving situations.

Computer-controlled hydraulic servos are mounted in the spring struts between the coil springs and the body, and are used to develop additional forces which act on the suspension and damping to control the car's body motion on the horizontal. Designed to control body vibrations in a range of frequency of up to 5 Hz, ABC reduces to a minimum caused is designed to control body vibrations in the frequency range up to 5 Hz - the kind of vibrations typically caused by uneven road surfaces, braking and cornering.

Mercedes-Benz engineers have used passive gas-pressure shock absorbers and coil springs which can be tuned in real time and independently to provide a good ride quality no matter the road conditions. In its latest generation on the S, CL and SL-Klasse models, ABC virtually eliminates body roll and pitch when accelerating, braking or cornering. Like most active suspension systems nowadays, ABC has different preset settings which can be chosen by the driver at the flick of a switch.