Currently in the concept stage, the various components of Mercedes-Benz’s envisioned headlight such as the lens, cover trim and frame, housing and electronics are joined with fasteners rather than glue (today’s standard practice). As a result, the headlight can be separated into individual components with ease and without damage. This means individual components can be replaced, making a modern headlight repairable for the first time. Following a stone chip, for instance, there is no need to replace the entire headlight, just the lens. For customers, this could make repairs more efficient in future. The longer service life of headlights could also help conserve resources and minimize carbon emissions.

The headlight concept is also designed to be better for recycling. Individual modules are each made of only one material to ease sorting and to be highly efficient to recycle. Looking to the future, this mono-material design should make it possible to use more recycled material and source a large part of this from old headlights. The proportion of secondary materials could potentially be almost doubled compared to today’s headlights, while carbon emissions could be reduced by nearly 50 percent.

A similarly complex component are interior door panels, which consist of different parts joined by ultrasonic welding. Mercedes-Benz has developed a new joining technology to better and more easily separate individual materials. The adapted thermoplastic rivet is now easy to undo, allowing faster separation of individual components without damage. Optimizing dismantling in this way both simplifies repair and improves recyclability. The new technology could potentially replace many thermoplastic joints in vehicle interiors.