High level speakers at the ESC Symposium
More than 200 experts from around the world attended the ChooseESC! Symposium in Brussels on 1 July to discuss progress and challenges for the deployment of road safety technologies.
The ChooseESC! campaign, which is chaired by the FIA Foundation, has been calling for increased take up of anti-skid technology Electronic Stability Control (ESC) around the world.
The campaign warns that the take-up of ESC for new cars in Europe is too slow and in some countries even stagnating. Slow penetration of the technology into new cars will make it harder for the European Union to reach its target to cut road deaths by 50% by 2010. In the United States ESC will become mandatory from 2012. Europe, Canada and Australia now plan to make ESC mandatory for all new cars from 2012.
ESC is a safety technology that identifies the risk of a skid at an early stage – even before the driver – and uses the vehicle’s brakes to steer the vehicle safely back on track. Whether the skid is the result of an emergency avoidance manoeuvre or a simple error of judgement, ESC can help the driver maintain control.
In Europe today more than 40,000 people are killed in the traffic every year and more than 1 million injured. ESC can prevent the accident from happening in the first place and it has been hailed the greatest road safety innovation since the seatbelt. 4,000 lives and 100,000 injuries could be avoided every year if all cars in the EU had ESC but more actions are needed to bring safety technologies like ESC to the consumer.
The campaign, which particularly focuses on new car buyers, has been strongly endorsed by Michael Schumacher. In a video statement, the seven times F1 World Champion told car buyers: “Next time you are buying a car think about ESC. Ask your dealer for a model that is ESC equipped. You never know when a crash might happen so don’t take chances with the lives of you or your family. Make sure you choose ESC”.
Four times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb is one of the strong supporters of the campaign. Mr Loeb said: "Controlled slides are part of rallying, but when I am driving on public roads with my family, I want to avoid skidding at all costs. That's why I would always choose ESC for my car.”
European Commissioner and campaign Patron Viviane Reding has played a key role in promoting ESC within the EU. “The European Commission has proposed to make ESC mandatory from 2012 but that does not mean that we can stop our promotion of safety technologies,” she said. “We know that thousands of lives can be saved through our campaigning and training activities for safety technologies like ESC. We are obliged to tell the citizens that they should look for safety when they buy a new car as it might save their life one day.”
ChooseESC! Campaign Chairman David Ward of the FIA Foundation said: “We have been campaigning for Electronic Stability Control to be made mandatory for one year now. It’s unacceptable that thousands of lives are lost as too many cars are still not fitted with this crucial life saving system. It’s bad enough that many cars still don’t have this life saving technology fitted as standard. What makes matters worse is that dealerships are doing a very poor job at explaining the benefits of ESC.”
A major feature at the event on 1 July European New Car Assessment Programme’s release (Euro NCAP) of a country by country survey of ESC availability across Europe. The survey reveals that although some manufacturers have made efforts to improve ESC availability across their ranges, on many vehicles this life-saving technology is still being offered as optional rather than as standard fitment. There are also still huge differences between how the technology is offered across countries and vehicle size categories.
Commenting on the survey the Secretary General of Euro NCAP Michiel Van Ratingen said: “Given ESC’s life saving potential Euro NCAP believes there is no reason why ESC should not be fitted as standard on all vehicles and offered to consumers in all countries. Why should only a minority of consumers benefit from this safety technology that has been around for over ten years? Some manufacturers are showing they prioritise safety, but for others ESC is another business decision. Together we must do all we can to raise awareness of ESC’s importance.”