• U 500 with 4-wheel steering demonstrated convincing performance in the face of over 10 metres of fresh snow
  • Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks unit offers 4-wheel steering as a factory-fitted technical variant for Unimog, Econic and all municipal and fire-fighting vehicles
  • Vorarlberg highways authority sets the benchmark - best practice example for Andorra

Stuttgart/Feldkirch-Arlbergpass (Austria) - The Mercedes-Benz Unimog is in all-year-round use in the Austrian Vorarlberg region: snow clearing, road and crash barrier cleaning as well as grass verge mowing duties have been undertaken for many years now with the help of the "Universal-Motor-Gerät", or "Universal Motor Device", commonly known as the Unimog. In early 2012, the tropical cyclone "Andrea" brought particular challenges for the Unimog fleet operated out of the Felsenau depot near Feldkirch/
Frastanz, which is responsible for road maintenance services on some two-thirds of the roads in the Vorarlberg region. More than ten metres of fresh snow fell on the Arlberg pass, the most important link between Austria's most westerly region and Innsbruck, taking the highway maintenance authorities by surprise. The situation was similarly dramatic in the Montafon region, over towards the Silvretta high Alpine road, in the Great Walser Valley and on the Flexen route towards Zürs and Lech. The only vehicle up to the task was the 210 kW (286 hp) Unimog U 500 fitted with a Schmidt 105 front-end snow cutter - clearing width 2.60 metres. This combination proved extremely effective in clearing the exceptional volume of snow from the roads, according to Helmut Feuerstein, technical director of the Felsenau depot.

4-wheel steering for exceptional manoeuvrability in snow

The metre-high banks of snow on either side of the road demand precision work from the Unimog's driver. It is in situations like this that the transferable steering system VarioPilot and the 4-wheel steering system really come into their own. With 4