Mosley voiced concerns about the slow uptake of ESC at a recent CARS 21 meeting at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on November 21. He also raised the issue at the Euro NCAP 10th Anniversary Conference.
 
Mosley argued that if all cars were fitted with ESC as standard it would hugely reduce the number of fatalities on the road each year.
 
The effectiveness of ESC devices to reduce the number of accidents on the roads is certainly well documented. These systems can compensate driver error by automatically moderating a vehicle’s lateral stability through use of ABS and traction control technologies. In this way, ESC reduces the likelihood of side impact crashes into on coming vehicles.
 
Speaking about the latest CARS 21 roadmap Mosley commented: “I am especially pleased that CARS 21 encourages a fast track for the use of life saving crash avoidance technologies such as Electronic Stability Control.”
 
ESC has enormous potential to avoid crashes and not merely mitigate their consequences. But only a minority of cars have these systems fitted as standard. Studies from Europe, Japan and the US indicate a reduction in single car crashes that range between 30 per cent and 40 per cent with ESC. Market penetration of the system is, however, extremely low in many countries.
 
Last year only 24 per cent of new cars in Italy were ESC equipped. The figure in the UK was 29 per cent, and in France 39 per cent. Only in Germany and Sweden were ESC rates above 60 per cent.