- 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