Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Must Become a Standard Fit Worldwide, Says Global NCAP

TIANJIN, China, October 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Global NCAP warmly welcomes the mandatory fitment of the life-saving crash avoidance technology electronic stability control (ESC) across the European Union from 1 November 2014 in all new cars. In the EU it is estimated that since 1995 at least 188,500 crashes involving injury have been avoided and more than 6,100 lives saved by ESC.

The umbrella body for NCAPs is now calling for the benefits of this life-saving technology to be extended worldwide. Global NCAP is urging all UN Member States to make ESC a standard fit on all cars worldwide during the current UN Decade of Action.  

Max Mosley, Chairman of Global NCAP, said: "The current ESC global fitment rate of approximately 59% of new passenger and light duty vehicles is too low, action is needed to raise this to 100%, at the latest by the close of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in 2020."

Global NCAP's Secretary General David Ward said: "ESC is the most significant advance in vehicle safety since the introduction of the seatbelt. The anti-skid technology is already preventing hundreds of thousands of loss of control crashes and saving tens of thousands of lives, but will achieve even more if legislators around the world make ESC compulsory."

At Global NCAP's Annual Meeting, which took place in Tianjin, China on October 30, held in parallel with the 2014 UN Decade of Action for Road Safety Summit, Global NCAP adopted the Tianjin Declaration.

Global NCAP's declaration applauds all those countries and regions that have made the application of ESC mandatory, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Turkey, and the United States of America, and welcomes the legislative commitments recently made by the governments of Argentina and New Zealand to mandate this life-saving technology in 2018 and 2015 respectively.  

The Declaration asks all UN Member States, especially those that produce automobiles, to mandate ESC in new models by 2018 and in all automobiles by 2020. The Declaration recommends doing so using the recognised minimum safety standards UN Regulation 13H or Global Technical Regulation 127.

Global NCAP also recommends that automobile manufacturers increase the availability of ESC as standard fit, that governments and insurance providers consider incentives for ESC fitment and that fleet managers and car rental operators make ESC fitment a requirement for their fleets.

"ESC is a mature technology proven to save lives," said Ward. "It is simple and inexpensive for automakers to integrate ESC into their cars. That's why the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety strongly recommends fitment of ESC. Wherever in the world consumers, fleet managers and car rental operators buy cars, they should only choose vehicles equipped with ESC."

ESC uses sensors to continuously monitor the vehicle's stability. On dry, wet or slippery roads, if the vehicle starts skidding, the system intervenes. By reducing engine torque and braking individual wheels, the system generates the force needed to put a vehicle back on course. Severe crashes are thus avoided.

A large number of studies available worldwide confirm the effectiveness of ESC in reducing single passenger vehicle crashes that result in fatalities by as much as 40%, and that the Global Plan of the UN Decade of Action includes a recommendation to encourage "global deployment of crash avoidance technologies of proven effectiveness such as ESC".

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