How Mercedes Benz uses QR codes to help save lives in car crashes

If you think QR (Quick Response) codes don't have much use other than as a high-tech promo gimmick for products and services, this might change your mind.

 

German carmaker Daimler has found a potential life-saving use for the machine-readable barcode, and will integrate them into its Mercedes Benz cars.

 

"When every second counts: with a small yet effective innovation, Mercedes-Benz wants to make the rescue of accident victims safer and swifter. In future a QR code, which can be read by smartphones and tablets, placed on Mercedes-Benz cars, will provide a rescue map for every vehicle type, which can be shown on the device's display," Daimler said.

 

It said the chart "contains all the information necessary to rescue any injured occupants speedily."

 

Daimler said the QR codes use rescue sheets developed by the ADAC, the German Automobile Association, and which are already provided by automakers for all vehicle models.

 

"The sheets show firefighters, police and paramedics the design details they need to know in order to use the rescue shears effectively, for example. The rescue sheet, specific for each vehicle type, also informs about the location of the airbags, the battery, the tanks, electric cables, high-pressure cylinders and other components – in the case of hybrid models the location of the additional batteries and high-voltage cables, too," it said.

 

QR code stickers

 

From this year on, all new Mercedes-Benz vehicles will have two stickers with a QR code that can be read by camera-equipped smartphones and tablets, Daimler said.

 

"In order to make it easy to find the label with the potentially lifesaving QR code, Mercedes-Benz places 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," it said.

 

A separate article on Mashable said Germany's regulatory body for automobiles mandates that all cars should have a copy of their schematics available to aid rescuers.

 

"The idea is so that firefighters, paramedics and police don't accidentally cut through a power line or trigger an airbag and so that they know where important parts like the battery and tanks are located," it said.

 

It added the Mercedes QR codes can also be retrofitted for existing cars.

 

"The automaker is also waiving its right to patent this idea so that other car companies can implement this sort of technology," Mashable said.  — TJD, GMA News