While many brands have used QR code technology to drive traffic to their website, Mercedes-Benz has opted to safeguard drivers.
A new range of rescue stickers has been launched as an additional safety measure, providing emergency service teams with important technical details about the car model’s design and structure.
Even the abbreviation's full name, “Quick Response code”, seems to allude to emergency rescue, but the German automaker is the first to use the technology in such a way.
The stickers, read by a smartphone or tablet, provide access to the digital rescue cards for the vehicle, including small diagrams that contain all of the key details regarding the model's design and structure.
The stickers are placed in the fuel filler cap and on the B-pillar opposite in the passenger cars - which rarely both suffer serious damage from a single collision.
"It's important to be able to access the vital information on the rescue card from outside the vehicle," said a firefighter, used in Mercedes’ promotional campaign.
The rescue card will display in the language of the mobile device. There are seven languages currently available, with a further 16 languages to be added from February onwards. If a language is not available, the rescue card automatically displays English text.
All new and current Mercedes-Benz passenger cars are now being fitted with the sticker and any driver who does not yet have a QR code can have it retrofitted – valid for all passenger models from 1990 onwards.
Mercedes first announced plans for "Rescue Assist" in mid-2013 and revealved it would waive any patent rights, with the hope that other carmakers would follow suit.