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ESP® TO BE MANDATORY IN THE U.S. BY 2008
Ben Corley | September 25, 2006
ESP® is greatest lifesaving development since the seat belt
Across-the-board application of ESP® reduces number of single-vehicle crashes in passenger cars by 34 percent and in SUV’s by 59 percent
The U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Authority (NHTSA) plans to significantly increase safety on U.S. roads by making the electronic stability program (ESP®) a mandatory requirement for all light cars. According to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on September 14, all light cars in the U.S. with a gross vehicle weight of up to 4.5 metric tonnes are to be equipped with this active safety system, a requirement that will be phased in gradually from the 2009 model year up to the 2012 model year. This would make the U.S. the first country to mandate the installation of an active safety system. In 2005, one in every four vehicles in this class in the U.S. was equipped with this active safety system. The figure for Europe in the same year was 40 percent of all newly registered vehicles, while in Germany the figure was 72 percent. In the UK the figure is 36%.
The initiative is the result of extensive studies by the NHTSA, which found that installing the active safety system as standard equipment in the U.S. would allow 34 percent of all single-vehicle crashes and 71 percent of all rollovers of passenger cars to be prevented. The number of single-vehicle crashes involving SUV’s would be reduced by as much as 59 percent. The active safety system was developed by Bosch, and in 1995 Bosch was the first company in the world to begin series-production of the product. NHTSA reports that up to 10,300 lives could be saved every year in the U.S. alone, and as many as 252,000 injuries could be prevented. According to the NHTSA experts, the introduction of ESP® would be the greatest lifesaving development since the seat-belt rule was issued. These findings were largely corroborated by a study published last summer by the North American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It stated that the number of fatal accidents involvings vehicles not equipped with ESP® could be reduced by 43 percent.
Many other associates and institutions worldwide agree with the NHTSA’s conclusions. For example, Thatcham, the British motor insurance repair research center, and GDV, the German insurance association, also call for ESP® to be installed in every class of vehicle. Similarly, one of the recommendations to the EU Commission in the ten-year plan of CARS21, the working group set up by the EU Commission and chaired by Vice President and Commissioner Verheugen, is the mandatory introduction of ESP®.
Comments on the NHTSA draft can be posted over a 60-day period from date of publication. Relevant observations will then be included in the new regulation, entitled “Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) no. 126.”
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