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No ESC? No Five-star rating!

Alborz Fallah — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:36:50 +0000

The recent five-star safety rating awarded to Subaru’s latest generation Impreza was not the only good news to come from the Australian New Car Assessment Program.

ANCAP boss Lachlan McIntosh, also declared what many in the industry have been asking for, from 2008, all new cars seeking a five-star safety rating require ESC.

“From 2008 a condition of being five-star is that the car is fitted with ESC…” he said

Although still one step short of government intervention to mandate ESP on all new cars, the move by ANCAP will ensure that all vehicles with a five-star safety rating meet the highest degree of passive and active safety.

“The US is mandating ESC and we think it is only reasonable anyone who has a car that they want to be rated as a five-star crashworthy car then it should also have ESC as part of it.” Mr McIntosh said.

Other requirements for attaining a five-star safety rating include a pole test which requires the manufacturer to donate a car.

All other tests are at the expense of ANCAP which buys the cars from the manufacturer. Testing an average car can cost up to $200,000.

To find out the benefits of ESC, check out these videos.

Electronic Stability Control Getting More Popular

Alborz Fallah — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:24:14 +0000

Car manufacturers are getting the message, Electronic Stability Control (ESC/ESP/DSC/etc) is not just a marketing tool, but a life saving feature.

Yesterday the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) released figures which show that 34.7 percent of new passenger and SUV vehicles are fitted standard with ESC. This is a 14.7 percent increase over the last 12 months.

It seems that SUVs have gained the most with nearly half (48.1 percent) of all new SUVs sold between January and June of this year featuring ESC. The figure is lower at 30.6 per cent for cars.

FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar believes the rapid deployment of ESC is a result of the competitive market as well as consumer demand.

“Australian motorists have access to this technology at very affordable levels and they have demonstrated that they do place a value on enhanced vehicle safety.” said Mr McKellar.

The report also shows that 17 of the 38 automotive brands researched are fitting ESC to either 100 per cent of their passenger car models, 100 per cent of their SUVs, or in some cases both.

Not sure what ESC is? This video might help.