[Porsche virgin]

I've never had a car with stability control, but I would like it for my wife in bad weather. That said, I dread the idea of more electronic babysitters, more complexity, and more cost.

U.S. to require car stability control
Federal agency proposal is expected
JAYNE O'DONNELL
USA TODAY

September 11, 2006

Federal officials this week are expected to propose requiring that all vehicles have stability-control systems to reduce the risk of rollovers and other crashes.

More than 10,000 lives could be saved each year when the systems, which use brakes and engine power to keep a car from veering out of the driver's control, are on all vehicles, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That would make it the most life-saving safety device since the seat belt.

When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's proposed rule becomes final, it would likely be at least three years before stability control would be on all new vehicles. It is available on more than half of new vehicles sold but can cost up to $900 as a stand-alone option.

NHTSA typically lets automakers decide on the technology they use to meet the agency's rules. But studies have been so convincing about stability control's ability to dramatically reduce crashes that Congress ordered NHTSA to require it. Comments on the proposal will be taken for 60 days, and a final rule will likely be issued early next year.

Automakers aren't expected to oppose the requirement. But those that currently have fewer models with stability control likely will argue for a lengthy phase-in period.

Bill Kozyra, CEO of Continental Teves, a supplier of stability-control systems, says one of the benefits is that it doesn't require drivers to do anything other than what they'd typically do in an emergency -- steer. The system kicks in when the vehicle isn't heading where the driver intended and helps bring it back under the driver's control.

"You don't know it's really there helping you until something happens," says Andy Brown of supplier Delphi. "Then you see the merits."

IIHS estimates that if all vehicles had stability control, the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes would be reduced by 56% and the overall risk of single-vehicle crashes would be cut by 40%.

The proposed rule comes about two decades after engineers began testing stability control. The effort was slowed about 10 years ago because of questions about the benefits of anti-lock brakes (ABS), the backbone of stability control.

The ABS problem ultimately was linked to misuse by drivers who needed to be taught not to pump anti-lock brakes as they would conventional brakes but to "stomp and steer."

NHTSA never required ABS, but more than 80% of new vehicles have it as standard equipment. It is also needed for technology such as traction control and automatically adjusting cruise control.

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.