By Amber Stanford
May 17, 2012 – This week, a new federal motor vehicle standard has been proposed by US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the first time ever. It would require all large vehicles to equip an electronic stability control (ESC) system. Research shows this technology could prevent up to 56 percent of the rollover crashes each year, which are the deadliest, and another 14 percent of loss-of-control crashes.
“The Department of Transportation and NHTSA have long recognized the potential impact of stability control technology in reducing deaths and serious injuries that result from rollover crashes,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “The proposal is a major step forward to improving the safety of large commercial trucks, motorcoaches, and other large buses.”
Currently, the ESC Systems are available on typical passenger vehicles and have proven to be very successful in preventing rollovers. This success is a large part of why it is already a requirement on cars and light-duty trucks beginning with model year 2012. NHTSA estimates that a standard requiring ESC on the nation’s large trucks and large buses would prevent up to 2,329 crashes, eliminate an estimated 649 to 858 injuries, and prevent between 49 and 60 fatalities a year.
