The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) has mandated the inclusion of electronic stability control (ESC) on all vehicles less than 10,000 lbs. gross vehicle weight sold in the U.S. by the 2012 model year. This new regulation is supported by the NHTSA's study that analyzed 40,000 crashes over a six-year period, which found that ESC could reduce fatalities in single-vehicle crashes by 30 percent for passenger cars and 63 percent for SUVs. In addition to safety benefits, the study also found that ESC could help avoid a staggering $35 billion dollars in economic losses. While these are extremely substantial and compelling numbers, it is important to understand what's behind the math.

What Is ESC?

Believe it or not, the origin of ESC began over 20 years ago in 1987. Daimler Benz worked with Bosch Electronics to co-develop the system it called “Elektronisches Stabilit?tsprogramm” (German for “electronic stability program”), which it patented in 1992 under the acronym ESP. From then until 1999, Mercedes studied the impact of this safety feature and found that vehicles equipped with the patented ESP technology reduced accidents of all types by 15 percent. This statistic led Mercedes to make ESP standard on all of its vehicles.