Citation

Thomas PD. Int. J. Veh. Safety 2006; 1(4): 267-281.

Affiliation

Vehicle Safety Research Centre, Loughborough University, Holywell Building, Holywell Way, Loughborough LE11 3UZ, UK

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

10.1504/IJVS.2006.011229

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the real-world reduction in crash involvement of cars fitted with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems. The Great Britain national casualty database, STATS19, has been enhanced with details of the equipment fitted resulting in a group of 8951 cars with stability control being available for analysis. The results show that ESC effectiveness in crashes involving these vehicles is 3% in crashes of all severity outcomes. Fatal and serious injury crashes combined are 19% lower compared to non-ESC equipped cars but this reflects the combined effect of ESC and passive safety improvements. There are very large reductions in crashes occurring in wet (34%) or icy (53%) conditions. The reduction in side impacts was greater than frontal impacts, although the difference was non-significant. There was a significant variation in effectiveness with class of car with Superminis showing a 47% relative decrease in crash involvement and large off-road cars showing a 24% increase.