Stability system may be in all cars before long

Stability control systems that have been credited with reducing the risk of sport utility vehicle rollovers may become standard equipment for all cars and trucks soon.

But many carmakers, such as General Motors Corp. and Nashville-based Nissan North America, have already announced plans to make the electronic stability control systems standard on all of their vehicles in the next few years.

Most luxury brands, including Nissan's Infiniti, already have it on all models.

GM was in Nashville this week demonstrating its system to public safety officials and reporters on a test track in a downtown parking lot. Using a series of onboard sensors and computer processors, the system looks for situations in which a vehicle is about to skid or spin out of control. Using selective braking and speed controls, the technology keeps the vehicle upright

"It gives you back control," said Lou Carlin, GM's safety integration director.

"It stops your skid, as well as gets you going where you want to go," he said. "You maintain control, don't spin out of control and hit other vehicles."

Kendall Poole, director of the Governor's Highway Safety Council in Tennessee, and one of about 50 people to drive a Chevrolet Tahoe on the test track, said the technology could help reduce rollover accidents in Tennessee.

"The technology they have is very impressive," Poole said. "You could really feel what it was doing. It simply prevents the rollover. … If you go into a slide to the left, you could feel the pressure that built up in that front left tire."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is preparing to issue new rules in October that many believe will require the use of electronic stability control technology on all vehicles to reduce accidents.

Safety advocates have hailed the rules as a major step that could prevent highway deaths. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an insurance trade group, estimates that as many as 10,000 accidents could be avoided if all cars came equipped with
stability controls.

The systems could reduce the risk of rollovers by about 80 percent and reduce fatalities by more than 56 percent, according to a recent Insurance Institute study.

A sister organization, the Highway Loss Data Institute, found that collision insurance policy losses are about 15 percent less for vehicles equipped with stability control systems compared with those that don't have a system.

But there's some skepticism on whether the rules will go far enough to ensure that each manufacturer's system performs to an acceptable standard.

"While we know the capacity of this system to save lives is amazing, the devil is in the details," said Laura MacCleery, director of CongressWatch, an arm of consumer advocate group Public Citizen that monitors government safety regulations.

"There hasn't been any kind of comprehensive data available on which system works better than others," she said.

Nissan has offered stability control on all of its Infiniti models since 1997. It also offers it as standard equipment on all of its SUVs. The system is optional on most other Nissan models, except for the Altima, Sentra and Versa sedans. Plans are in the works to add it to all models in 2010 or 2011, said John Gibbons, Nissan's regional product manager.

GM offered its stability system on 40 models this year and plans to expand it to all models by 2010, Carlin said.

The rollout takes time because of the complexity of the system, Gibbons said.

"Every time you change a type of tire or diameter of tire, or you offer three or four different grades of suspension or wheels and tires, you have to test and validate each one of those settings," he said. "That's the complexity with stability control. It's all of the tuning."

Cost is another matter. The system can add between $300 and $800 to the cost of a car, but stability control systems are often part of more expensive option packages, MacCleery said.

"Typically, one of the things that a manufacturer will do is put side-impact bags with leather seats, so you have to buy $2,000 worth of add-ons if you want the safety upgrades," she said. "We think that's immoral."

Jim Hall, a Chattanooga safety consultant and former director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said he's glad that companies such as GM and Nissan are making the systems standard.

"The long and short of it is, the American people spend billions of dollars on their vehicles and their highways and they have deserved better safety for years," Hall said. "Now, finally, we're seeing some results." •