Car stability controls to be required

All new vehicles will be required to have anti-rollover technology by the 2012 model year, the government said Thursday, predicting it could prevent thousands of roadway deaths a year.

The Transportation Department said electronic stability control could save 5,300 to 9,600 lives annually and prevent as many as 238,000 injuries a year once it was fully deployed into the nation’s fleet.

“Like air bags and like seat belts, 10 years down the road we’re going to look back and wonder how the [stability] technology was ever lived without,” Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said at the New York International Auto Show.

Electronic stability control senses when a driver might lose control of the vehicle and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to help stabilize it and avoid a rollover.

Many vehicles, including sport utility vehicles, already have the technology, and several automakers have outlined plans to make it standard in future cars.

The mandate has been widely supported in the industry because of its far-reaching safety benefits.

“There seems to be general recognition from auto manufacturers and the suppliers and safety advocates that this is technology that will save” thousands of lives, said Nicole Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

More than 43,000 people are killed annually on the nation’s roadways. Safety advocates view electronic stability control as a major advancement in safety because it holds the potential of reducing rollover deaths.

More than 10,000 people die in rollover accidents a year, even though only 3% of crashes involve rollovers.

Peters said nearly 40% of all 2007 vehicles had the technology, including about 90% of SUVs.

The safety agency said the proposal would cost about $111 per vehicle on those that already include anti-lock brakes, or a total of $479 per vehicle for the entire system. Automakers will need to comply with a 50-mph test involving a double-lane change.

The requirement first was proposed last year, and the final regulations include a swifter phase-in plan. Stability control will be implemented beginning in the 2009 model year, when 55% of new vehicles will need to have it. By the 2011 model year, it will be in 95% of new vehicles.

Congress had required the highway safety agency to implement a rule by 2009.