MEDIA RELEASE
22 July 2008
AAA Supports Life-Saving ESC Technology
Australia’s peak motoring body, the Australian Automobile Association, has
welcomed today’s Federal Government announcement it will be moving to have the
life-saving vehicle safety feature, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), fitted on all new
Australian vehicles.
AAA’s Executive Director, Mike Harris, said the announcement the Government has
joined an international push to have ESC fitted as standard on new cars was good
news for all motorists and their families.
ESC assists a car’s driving and braking systems to gain control of the car if the
vehicle loses traction, with international research showing the technology to be the
greatest vehicle safety feature since the seat belt.
Research conducted by Australia’s Monash University Accident Research Centre last
year shows ESC greatly reduces single vehicle accidents – a 27% reduction in single
car crashes and 68% reduction in single-vehicle 4WD crashes.
Mr Harris said the Government’s announcement it has adopted a Global Technical
Regulation on ESC systems – along with other members of the World Forum for
Harmonisation of Vehicle Standards – could make vehicles in Australia safer.
“It is now up to the Government to determine if they want to introduce ESC through
legislation or allow the Australian automotive industry to bring it in voluntarily,” Mr
Harris said.
“Under today’s announcement, the Government will be releasing a Regulatory
Impact Statement (RIS), which will weigh up the benefits of a mandatory regime for
ensuring ESC is fitted to all vehicles.
“AAA has been insisting that ESC is fitted to new cars for many years. This year, the
Australasian New Car Assessment Program, of which the AAA motoring clubs are
members, required that new cars have ESC fitted in order to gain a 5-star safety
rating.
With some 50 per cent of the Australian new car fleet already being produced with
ESC, and forecasts that that figure will be at 80 per cent by 2011, it is apparent that
manufacturers are responding to consumer demand for safety.
“The bottom line is that ESC is a safety feature that has proven to reduce crashes
and save lives, so the sooner it is standard in all vehicles the better for all motorists
and road users.”
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Contact:
Mike Harris
Allan Yates
Executive Director
Communications Manager
0408 952 648
0421 150 229
Constituent Members