New Technology Helps Drivers Stay in Control

As a car speeds down a busy highway, the driver swerves and loses control. It is every driver's worst nightmare, but it may become a thing of the past. New technology actually allows the car to take control away from the skid, and give it back to the driver. This is not a pipe dream; 10 percent of new cars sold have this technology, called electronic stability control.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report today that says equipping vehicles with ESC could reduce single-vehicle fatal accidents by more than half.

ESC helps drivers stay in control when they must suddenly swerve or spin out on wet roads. The system automatically brakes the appropriate wheel to help stabilize the vehicle. It utilizes six sensors to make this determination: one on the steering wheel, one that measures the orientation of the car and four that measure the speed of each individual wheel.

If the system notices that the car is responding too much -- or not enough -- to the amount the steering wheel has been turned, it will slow the appropriate wheel.

Cars with ESC are far from accident-proof. "For most drivers, ESC isn't likely to activate frequently. For example, it won't prevent most of the fender-bender crashes that occur so often in stop-and-go traffic," said Susan Ferguson, senior vice president for research at IIHS. "ESC," she said, "is designed to help a driver in the relatively rare event of loss of control at high speed or on a slippery road."

The institute analyzed data from thousands of accidents in seven states over two years. It compared models that came with ESC as standard equipment with the same model vehicle where ESC was not available or was optional.

IIHS found that ESC made the biggest difference in single-car collisions, where loss of control is a common factor. The system reduced all single-vehicle crashes by 41 percent, and cut the number of fatal single-vehicle crashes by 56 percent.

This study comes on the heels of a similar finding by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA last month reported that ESC reduced the risk of a single-vehicle fatal accident by 35 percent, and the risk of a single-vehicle fatal SUV accident by 67 percent. The system is considered especially helpful in sport utility vehicles, because they have a greater tendency to roll over.