Tag Archives: esc

NHTSA Wants Stability Control on Large Trucks and Buses

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. Continue reading

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2012 Cadillac SRX Dries Wet Brakes Automatically

Building on ESC technology, Cadillac has announced that 2012 SRX SUVs will use its electronic stability control (StabiliTrak) to automatically dry wet brakes. This is not as frivolous as it may seem on first glance: data that predates Hurricane Irene, the U.S. Department of Transportation says 620,000 crashes on the nation’s roadways in 2009 or 10% occurred in the rain. Continue reading

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SUVs Now Among the Safest as Electronics Stop Rollovers

The safety improvements are so large that SUVs drivers are now statistically less likely to die in a crash than drivers of equivalent size cars. This conclusion on driver death rates was published today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which for decades pointed out that SUVs were among the most dangerous vehicles on the road. Continue reading

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