ESC ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL

You may never have heard of ESC but it could save your life and the race is on to make it compulsory in all cars. Steve Walker reports

If you could see what ESC does, you'd want it on your car. At its base level, the issue isn't any more complicated than that. What tends to put the fly in the ointment are the twin facts that you probably haven't seen what ESC does and you may also have no idea what it actually is. The plan is for all that to change and, if the European Commission, Euro NCAP and Michael Schumacher have anything to do with it, for ECS to become a standard inclusion on all cars sold the EU.

ESC stands for Electronic Stability Control and it's an active safety system that's fitted to cars. Active safety systems are devices that work to prevent a car accident happening - as opposed to passive safety systems like seatbelts and airbags that work to minimise personal injury when an accident does occur.

ECS reduces the risk of skidding and helps drivers retain control of their vehicles. It's thought that ESC reduces the risk of skidding by up to 80% and with skidding established as the cause of at least 40% of all fatal road accidents in EU countries, its widespread use can have a major impact.

Government research has shown that a vehicle equipped with ESC is 25% less likely to be involved in a fatal accident than one without it, which would equate to 380 fewer road deaths in the UK every year if all vehicles had ESC. Across an all ESC-equipped European Union, the benefits would be multiplied with 4,000 deaths and 100,000 serious injuries prevented annually. It's a compelling case.

As car safety innovations go, ESC ranks alongside the seatbelt and ABS in terms of importance and lifesaving potential. It works by collating information from a se...