Vital car safety system could 'prevent more than 400 deaths'
Some car buyers are being denied a vital safety system which could prevent more than 400 deaths and 3,000 serious injuries a year, it was revealed today.
The system - electronic stability control (ESC) - costs just £50 to manufacture but is available as standard in fewer than 40% of new British cars.
Experts at Thatcham, the Berkshire-based motor insurance research centre, today called on manufacturers to fit the system as standard on all new cars.
ESC works in situations where a driver may be losing control of his vehicle, skidding off the road or spinning on a carriageway.
Sensors feed the nature of the emergency to a computer, which then intervenes by selectively braking individual wheels automatically, which will help the driver control the vehicle.
More than 90% of new cars in Sweden and 60% in Germany have ESC as standard.
Thatcham said just six out of 38 manufacturers fit ESC as standard to their entire range of UK vehicles. They are Mercedes, Audi, Volvo, Porsche, Lexus and Cadillac.
Five manufacturers do not have ESC at all - even as an optional extra. They are Chevrolet, Daihatsu, Lotus, Proton and Suzuki.
Matthew Avery, Thatcham's crash laboratory manager, said: "This is a shocking state of affairs. British motorists, their passengers and other road users deserve the very best. Do manufacturers think that their lives are less valuable?
"This is collision avoidance technology - the data is irrefutable. Pressure must be brought to bear to make ESC as commonplace as ABS (anti-lock braking system) or airbags.
"ESC doesn't just help during a crash like an airbag - it helps prevent the accident happening in the first place."
Source:
http://www.24dash.com/content/news/v...=7&newsID=9523