Electronic stability control (ESC) is highly effective at preventing certain types of crashes, including rollovers that result from loss of vehicle control. Although crash data does not show a significant decrease in the overall rate of rollover fatalities relative to all other traffic fatalities over the last several years, when analysis is restricted to newer vehicles and to the types of rollovers that ESC is designed to prevent, there is an obvious decline that is likely to be partially due to the effects of ESC. As ESC saturates the on-road fleet in the coming years, it is likely that rollovers resulting from loss of vehicle control will continue to decline. Other types of rollovers, such as those caused by an impact with another vehicle, are not likely to be affected by the spread of ESC in the population. (Author/publisher)
Abstract