ESP - electronic stability program
Electronic stability program or ESP is known by many names! BMW refer to it as Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). Ford Motor Company in the USA call it Advance Trac. At Jaguar its known as Dynamic Stability Control (DSM), Porsche: Porsche Stability Management (PSM), Volvo: Dynamic Stability Traction Control (DTSC), Lexus: Vehicle Skid Control (VSC) and to really confuse things General Motors refer to it as different systems for individual brands, for instance fitted to a Corvette its called Active Handling System - whereas in a Pontiac, Buick or Cadillac its called Stabilitrak!
Whatever you call it however, its a lifesaver! Worryingly, although the main manufacturer of such systems (Bosch) estimates the costs for car manufacturers to fit ESP systems to vehicles is less than £200, its not a standard fit item on any car range. The probable reason for this is that there is currently no legislation in place to enforce the fitment of these safety systems. You may think that as their is no legislation then perhaps having ESP fitted to a car is no big deal - it cant make that much difference to safety if the governments are not involved, right? Wrong! According to many automotive experts “ESP is the greatest single safety equipment development since seat belts and air bags”, It is generally acccepted that stability control systems reduce the likelihood of all fatal accidents by 43 percent and fatal single-vehicle crashes by 56 percent. Lets examine some other figures:
- The NHTSA (National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration) concluded that ESC reduces crashes by 35%.
- According to the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) the widespread application of ESC could save 7,000 lives a year in the USA alone - this was updated in 2006 where they concluded that up to 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided annually if all vehicles were equipped with ESP
In Europe, EuroNCAP “strongly recommends” that people buy cars fitted with stability control!- Sport utility vehicles with stability control are involved in 67 percent fewer accidents than SUVs without the system
Just in case you failed to grasp the importance of those statistics, lets put it another way, in the last 12 months 7000 people in the USA have died due to ESP not being standard fit on vehicles! With similar (prorata) figures for the UK, Europe and rest of the world. Car manufacturers and governments alike should hang there heads in shame.