Government to Require All Cars to Have Electronic Stability Control
Sept. 14, 2006 — -- The government plans to require automakers to include electronic stability control devices on all new vehicles in the coming years.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveils its stability control requirements today.
Electronic stability control (ESC) in cars helps prevent rollovers and skidding, and could save thousands of lives.
Seat belts save an estimated 15,000 lives a year, while air bags save 2,500.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects that mandatory electronic stability control will save 10,000 lives per year.
Stability control uses computer sensors to detect when a vehicle is going out of control.
The sensors automatically adjust the speed and apply the brakes to each wheel individually, as needed.
Ford announced this week that it would be the first American auto company to make ESC standard fleetwide by 2009.
"We believe that safety is one of those attributes that customers do demand," said Ford's Susan Cischke.
GM will follow Ford's lead by 2010. Chrysler hasn't announced any plans.
Experts estimate including ESC will add about $300 to $600 to the price of a new car.
Most used cars cannot be retrofitted with ESC.
Drivers who have been in rollover accidents, like Emily Bowness of Grand Rapids, Mich., say they felt helpless.
"I tried to correct, and I guess I overcorrected," Bowness said.
She was lucky. She was not injured.
Electronic stabilization control could have prevented the accident.
"People tend to overcorrect in those situations, and electronic stability control allows the driver to steer where he wants to go and it takes care of the correction," said Rich Golitko of Bosch Corp., a division of the German auto parts company that makes ESC systems.
"It keeps the accident from occurring," said Bill Kozyra of Continental ESC, another stability control developer.
"The driver doesn't have to do anything other than their natural instinct, which is point the vehicle where they want to go."
"I certainly wouldn't drive a vehicle without ESC, and I don't think anyone else should, either," said Sue Ferguson of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The institute's research shows stability control can cut the risk of deadly single-vehicle crashes by 56 percent.
"This is remarkable equipment," said Barry McCahill of the SUV Owners of America. "That is going to prevent one of the most serious forms of crashes."
Mercedes-Benz pioneered ESC, now standard on all Mercedes models.
The technology is also standard for BMWs, Audis, Infinitis and Porsches.
If the government makes stability control mandatory, rollover accidents could become extremely rare.
Victims like Bowness are hopeful.
"I just didn't think that it would ever happen to me. No one thinks it's going to happen," she said.