US Regulators Push For Mandatory ESC Fitment

(Akron/Tire Review) Federal regulators have announced plans to require electronic stability control in all vehicles, a move that advocates call the single greatest vehicle safety improvement since the seat belt. Once all vehicles are equipped with the stability systems, likely by 2012, they could save more than 10,000 lives, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and eliminate more than 500,000 crashes annually, while saving billions of dollars in medical, repair and insurance costs.

Amongst other things, stability controls prevent up to 80 per cent of SUV rollovers. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute said ESC reduces the odds of fatal rollovers by 73 per cent in SUVs and 40 per cent in passenger cars, comparing it to a “guardian angel sitting on the shoulder of the driver.”

“Lots of drivers have no idea that it just saved their life or prevented a terrible accident,” said Bill Kozrya, president and CEO of Troy-based Continental Automotive Systems, which makes more than 40 per cent of all stability control systems. “It has the potential to save more lives and prevent more property damage than anything in NHTSA’s history.”