2005 is the Year of ESP

The safety benefits of Electronic Stability Programs have now been felt on the streets for a decade. Now, after becoming the first supplier to initiate volume production of ESP, Bosch looks back at its achievements, while highlighting the technology’s bright future.

What started out as an optional extra for high-end passenger cars is now more or less standard in many new cars. “In the last ten years, ESP has made a major contribution to increase road safety,” said Wolfgang Drees, member of the Rober Bosch GmbH management board in charge of the division chassis systems. “It has meanwhile been confirmed by several scientific studies that with the help of the safety system the number of accidents in which the driver loses control of his vehicle without other road users being involved is reduced by up to 50 per cent.”

The EU commission has made reducing the number of people killed in road accidents part of its traffic policy, aiming to halve the figure by 2010. The EU working group eSafety, which was installed for this purpose, considers innovative safety systems like ESP an integral part of reaching this goal. Another measure is the European Charter for Road Safety. This charter aims to rally companies, associations and other groups under the slogan “25,000 lives to save.” Bosch signed this charter as one of the first companies in April last year leaving Erkki Liikanen, European Commission member until 2004, to declare 2005 as the year of ESP.

The rate of equipment differs from one country to the other. According to preliminary calculations, some 64 per cent of all new vehicles in Germany were already fitted with ESP in 2004, in France, about 39 per cent of the new passenger cars were equipped with the system. The share for Europe in general amounted to 36 per cent. The equipment rate is even lower in Japan and North America: it is a little more than 10 per cent for the US, and a little less than that in Japan. However, major growth is expected. The three biggest US car makers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler announced that they would provide most of their SUVs with the safety system as standard by 2006.

It started with improving the ABS

As early as 1983, engineers at Bosch gave thoughts to a better vehicle stability during full braking through an optimised ABS control. This approach was enhanced in the subsequent years, and the respective basic patent registration by Bosch was finally entered in the year 1987. In 1990/91, engineers extended the system’s function to all other driving modes. Bosch’ cooperation with DaimlerChrysler began, where similar considerations were made. A joint project house was established to this purpose in 1992 – quite a novelty in those days. Just two and a half years later, the product was ready for large scale production. ESP manufacture began in March 1995.

The safety system has won numerous prestigious awards in recent years. In 1995, ESP was awarded the “Henry Ford II Distinguished Award for Excellence in Automotive Engineering” by the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) and in 1999, it received the “Porsche Prize” of the University of Vienna. In the UK, the system was honoured “Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for Driver and Passenger Safety” in 2004.

There is plenty of research behind the safety claims made by Bosch and manufacturers of other similar products. For example, in 2004 DaimlerChrysler confirmed that the standard deployment of ESP in all Mercedes passenger cars reduced their share of accidents where no other cars are involved by some 42 per cent.

After the evaluation of some one million accidents involving injuries, Toyota came to the conclusion that the standard fitment of ESP could cut the number of serious accidents in half. Studies by institutions like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirm these findings. According to this association’s research, passenger cars fitted with this equipment between 1997 and 2002 have 35 per cent less driving accidents, where no other car is involved, on average. The number of fatal driving accidents was reduced by 30 per cent. With regard to SUVs, the effect was even greater. According to the study, the number of road accidents in this class was reduced by 67 per cent, with fatal accidents falling to 63 per cent.

A lot of the explanation for the system’s success comes down to these clearly recognisable safety benefits. In the following years Bosch went on to optimise its design. By 1998, the system had got to Generation 5.7, with Generation 8 being produced in 2002. Compared to the first system, the weight was brought down by almost 60 per cent from 5.6 kg to 2.3 kilograms, reducing fuel consumption.

An ESP system is always made up of a “controller,” which counteracts the skidding motion, and an antilock braking system as well as traction control. These three basic functions were for the first time in 1999. At this time the company installed a “Hill Descent Control” for SUVs. This kept a regular speed when descending a steep hill. A great number of functions were added to the process including “Roll Over Mitigation,” “Trailer Sway Control,” and “Load Adaptive Control” which identifies the actual vehicle weight of light trucks and adjusts the ESP actions according. There are also “Hill Hold” and “Traffic Jam Assist” functions. Bosch plans to add more over the next few years.

The company says it is focusing on networking these passive safety systems with predictive driver assistance systems. Bosch comprises these activities in the CAPS program (Combined Active and Passive Safety Systems). Furthermore, Bosch is developing a scalable product line based on ESP. The first stage ESP plus will start volume production in the first half of 2005, another, after a considerably more extensive development stage, will see electrohydraulic braking system, EHB3, arrive in the year 2006.