Stabilizing Gear Found to Save Lives

Ten thousand fatal automobile crashes a year, or nearly one-third of such accidents in the U.S., could be prevented if more vehicles were equipped with technology that helps to keep them from rolling over, the insurance industry says in a study released today.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said the technology, electronic stability control, reduced the risk of single-vehicle rollovers involving sport utility vehicles by 80%, and by 77% for passenger cars.

Researchers said electronic stability control reduced the risk of fatal crashes by 43%. If all vehicles had this technology, it could prevent as many as 10,000 of the 34,000 fatal crashes on the nation’s highways each year, they estimated.

“The findings indicate that ESC should be standard on all vehicles,” said Susan Ferguson, the insurance institute’s senior vice president for research. “Very few safety technologies show this kind of large effect in reducing crash deaths.”

Auto safety officials note that rollovers are extremely dangerous, accounting for only 3% of all crashes but leading to more than 10,000 deaths a year. An estimated 43,200 people died on U.S. highways in 2005.

Stability control, which automatically applies brakes to individual wheels if it senses that a vehicle is veering off course, has become more widely available in recent years, especially on SUVs and pickups.