The Benefits of Electronic
Stability Control in Your Car
Electronic
Stability Control (ESC) systems appear to be effective in
reducing the number of single-vehicle crashes, including rollovers,
according to a preliminary study by the U. S. Department of
Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA). Tthe study found that ESC technology has proved particularly
effective for sport utility vehicles (SUVs), .
In
2003, 7.4 percent of the light vehicle fleet was sold with
some form of ESC. The systems can improve a vehicle’s
stability by electronically assisting drivers in dangerous
situations. In most vehicles, the ESC system improves the
vehicle’s lateral stability and, at the same time,
electronically combines the attributes of anti-lock brakes
and traction control systems to help a driver avoid a potentially
dangerous situation.
Among
vehicles in the NHTSA study, ESC reduced single vehicle
crashes in passenger cars by 35 percent when compared to
the same models sold in prior years without the technology.
The preliminary results were even more dramatic for the
much smaller sample of SUVs in the study: Single vehicle
crashes were reduced by 67 percent in models with ESC. Evaluating
fatal crashes only, ESC was associated with a 30 percent
reduction for passenger cars, 63 percent for SUVs.
“This
technology appears to provide safety benefits by reducing
the number of crashes due to driver error and loss of control
because it has the potential to anticipate situations leading
up to some crashes before they occur and automatically intervene
to assist the driver…,” according to the study.
NHTSA
evaluated the technology by studying fatal and non-fatal
crashes from 1997-2003. The study examined crash statistics
only for vehicles equipped with ESC as standard equipment.
The agency emphasized that the results are preliminary and
that it will have more confidence in the effectiveness of
ESC when studies can evaluate a larger cross-section of
the vehicle fleet.
In
2003, 15,621 people died in single vehicle passenger crashes
on the nation’s highways.
Summaries
of the study are available on the NHTSA web site at: www.nhtsa.dot.gov |
