Anti-crash technology

by Bob Gillespie
I think air bags, antilock brakes, and electronic stability control is amazing technology, and anything that can be done to save lives is a wonderful thing. But if you stop and think about it, if everyone was a really good driver, we wouldn't need these things, right?

We wouldn't need car insurance either, or seat belts, or telescoping steering columns, or all the other safety features that modern vehicles have. That is, if we're talking about driver error only. There's a very small percentage of traffic accidents that are caused by things other than driver error: a large animal such as a deer running in front of your vehicle, a tree falling on the road, or someone falling asleep behind the wheel.

Falling asleep behind the wheel happens sometimes because a person has sleep apnea, and may not even know they have it. I'm sure there are other medical conditions that can cause drowsiness, but sleep apnea is the only one I'm familiar with. So if a person doesn't even know they have a medical condition, we can't be too hard on them.

Taking all of the above into consideration then, I think anti-crash technology is a very good thing, and very important. I know I'm a safe, defensive driver, yet I must admit I do like that feeling of knowing there's an airbag and seatbelts there, just in case.


Anticrash Tech Gets Nod from Regulators By Jennifer LeClaire April 6, 2007

According to Barry McCahill, a retired National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, the ruling to require Electronic Stability Control, or ESC, is arguably the most important regulation the NHTSA has ever issued. The safety benefits of ESC are massive and the ESC rule ushers in a new era where preventing a crash is paramount, he explained.

Crash-prevention technology will come preinstalled on all passenger vehicles sold in the United States by 2012 as part of new government regulations that aim to save thousands of lives each year. Dubbed Electronic Stability Control, or ESC, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Nicole Nason announced the final rule at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday.

"This technology will save thousands of lives. Like airbags and seat belts, 10 years down the road we will look back at the new ESC technology and wonder how we ever drove a car without it." Peters said in a statement.

Antilock brakes have speed sensors and independent braking capability. ESC adds sensors that continuously monitor how well a vehicle is responding to a driver's steering input.
These sensors can detect when a driver is about to lose control because the vehicle is straying from the intended line of travel -- a problem that usually occurs in high-speed maneuvers or on slippery roads. In these circumstances, ESC brakes individual wheels automatically to keep the vehicle under control.

When a driver makes a sudden emergency maneuver or, for example, enters a curve too quickly, the vehicle might spin out of control. Then ESC's automatic braking is applied and in some cases the throttle is reduced to help keep the vehicle under control.

An Important Regulation
The final rule will require all manufacturers to begin equipping passenger vehicles with ESC starting with model year 2009, and to have the feature available as standard equipment on all new passenger vehicles by the 2012 model year, which rolls out September 2011.

The agency estimates ESC will save between 5,300 and 9,600 lives annually and prevent between 168,000 and 238,000 injuries. The estimated average cost of ESC is approximately $111 per vehicle, if the model already features ABS brakes.

According to Barry McCahill, president of SUV Owners of America and a retired NHTSA official, the ESC ruling is arguably the most important regulation the agency has ever issued. The safety benefits are massive and the rule ushers in a new era where preventing a crash is paramount, he explained.

"Protection after a crash is vitally important but preventing a crash from happening should be the first goal of auto safety efforts," McCahill said. "Seat belts are great safety equipment, but they only work in crashes, so injuries and property damage always occur even when the belt saves your life. With ESC nothing occurs -- no injuries, no damage to the vehicle."

Why Wait Until 2012?
If the regulation can save thousands of lives and save insurance companies thousands of dollars, then why wait? "We think it could and should be implemented much faster," said Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Indeed, he pointed out that ESC is standard on 40 percent of 2006 passenger vehicle models and optional on another 15 percent. It's standard on every 2006 Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Mercedes, and Porsche. Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mini, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo offer at least optional ESC on all of their models.

McCahill offered an answer to the question about waiting: He explained that all auto safety regulations have a phase-in schedule so manufacturers can introduce the technology in parallel with the lead times for their product plans. "Lead time for auto platforms usually is around seven years," he said. "So, there is nothing unreasonable about the timeline."