By
EWAN KENNEDY
17 September 2007
ESP (Electronic Stability Program) is the hot topic in automotive
safety discussions these days. And rightfully so because this electronic
aid can certainly cut the number of crashes on our roads.
Research is showing that single car crashes on open
roads are the ones being most reduced when ESP is installed. That’s
probably because drivers are going to sleep at the wheel, either due to
them driving for too long or because artificially low speed limits tend
to dull driver concentration. Typically the car starts to run off the
road, the two wheels on the soft edges cause it to slew to one side, the
driver then wakes up, panics and over corrects.
Without ESP the car then kicks its tail out too far in
the opposite direction and slides sideways. If there's nothing much to
hit the driver gets a huge fright, gets the car back on the road and
keeps going. If there's a something coming the other way, or a big tree,
a deep ditch or some other serious obstacle at the side of the road then
expect a funeral a few days later.
Early figures are saying that as many as one third of
single car crashes can be prevented by ESP.
Without going into complex technical detail, an ESP
system senses that the car is starting to skid or slide and attempts to
help it out of trouble. It does so by braking individual wheels and/or
reducing engine power. The brakes can operate on a single wheel,
something that the driver cannot do as they are limited to controlling
all four wheels at once. Slowing a single wheel can help push the car
back onto the correct line.
ESP isn’t intended to be a handling aid. Some people
mistakenly think it’s there to help a car corner better but that’s
not its primary purpose. Every time the ESP works on your car it’s
because some extreme circumstance has occurred. It’s up to the driver
to avoid that situation driving in the first place.
Note that physics will always win in the end, so don’t
expect ESP to perform miracles.
There are calls for ESP to be fitted as standard to all
new cars. While this may seem to make sense, ESP costs money and it’s
unreasonable to ask the car makers to supply it free of charge. So
prices would have to go up, probably by $500 to $1000. At the bottom end
of the market this price rise could make a car unaffordable to some.
Obviously it’s better to have someone in a newer car without ESP than
in an old car that’s less safe.
ESP comes in a variety of names. It was originally
developed by Mercedes-Benz in the early 1990s and stands for Electronic
Stability Program. It’s a clever acronym because ESP also stands for
Extra Sensory Perception and when I test a car on a skid pan it almost
does give the impression that it can see into the future. Mercedes has
registered the ESP name but doesn’t appear to be concerned when others
use it.
There are various other acronyms, DSC, ESC and VSC –
for Dynamic, Electronic and Vehicle stability control, among others. It
would be nice to see a single name used for the system as that would
make it easier for the general public. My favourite is ESP because of
the aforementioned double meaning, time will tell which name wins in the
end.
In an interesting move the Australasian NCAP (New Car
Assessment Program), which crash tests cars and gives the results a star
rating, has announced that from 2008 any car not fitted with ESP won’t
be eligible for the maximum ratings.
ewan@marque.com.au
