The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a new federal motor vehicle safety standard to require electronic stability control (ESC) systems on large commercial trucks, motor coaches, and other large buses for the first time. Agency research shows the technology could prevent up to 56% of rollover crashes each year, the deadliest among all crash types, and another 14% of loss-of-control crashes in vehicles weighing above 26,000 pounds.
NHTSA estimates that a standard requiring ESC on the nation’s large trucks and large buses would prevent up to 2,329 crashes, eliminate an estimated 649 to 858 injuries, and prevent between 49 and 60 fatalities annually. Many of these vehicles are now offered with ESC, a computerized system that uses automatic application of individual or multiple wheel brakes to correct for oversteer or understeer.
In 2012, about 26% of new truck tractors and 80% of new buses affected by this proposed rule will be equipped with ESC systems.
“We’ve already seen how effective stability control can be at reducing rollovers in passenger vehicles—the ability for this type of technology to save lives is one reason it is required on cars and light-duty trucks beginning with model year 2012,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. “Now, we’re expanding our efforts to require stability enhancing technology on the many large trucks, motor coaches, and other large buses on our roadways.”
As proposed, the rule would take effect between two and four years after the standard – FMVSS 136 – is finalized, depending on the type of vehicle.
NHTSA said that according to Traffic Safety Facts 2009, the overall crash problem for tractor trailer combination vehicles is approximately 150,000 crashes, 29,000 of which involve injury. The overall crash problem for single-unit trucks is nearly as large – approximately 146,000 crashes, 24,000 of which are injury crashes. However, the fatal crash involvement for truck tractors is much higher. In 2009, there were 2,334 fatal combination truck crashes and 881 fatal single-unit truck crashes.
The rollover crash problem for combination trucks is much greater than for single-unit trucks. In 2009, there were approximately 7,000 crashes involving combination truck rollover and 3,000 crashes involving single-unit truck rollover. As a percentage of all crashes, combination trucks are involved in rollover crashes at twice the rate of single-unit trucks. Approximately 4.4% of all combination truck crashes were rollovers, but 2.2% of single-unit truck crashes were rollovers. Combination trucks were involved in 3,000 injury crashes and 268 fatal crashes, and single-unit trucks were involved in 2,000 injury crashes and 154 fatal crashes.
