Europe is late to join the mandatory stability control program train, since the US and Canada have had it passed into law since September of 2011. As of November 1, all cars (and vehicles under 3.5 metric tons) intended for sale on the Old Continent need to be fitted with ESP.
Bosch, the market leader and main provider of ESP systems for the automotive industry, says this is very good news since the system has saved an estimated 6,000 lives and 190,000 accidents since its introduction in 1995. While those two numbers can’t be more than guesstimates, the fact that the company has manufactured 100 million such systems since then isn’t.
Currently, around 84 percent of all vehicles under 3.5 tons sold on the continent came with standard ESP, which is more than the world average of 59 percent.
Next up, in a few years’ time, we expect to be writing a similar story about autonomous emergency braking, a system that’s already gaining ground, being fitted to more and more cars.
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