Motorists need to be more aware of active safety systems

The awareness of active safety systems has improved in the past few years, according to research released by Robert Bosch, the world’s largest supplier of components and systems to the global motor industry.

However, in the UK, only nine per cent of motorists quizzed were aware of ESP (Electronic Stability Program – known generically as ESC, or Electronic Stability Control) – although for ABS (Antilock Braking System) the situation was better, with 46 per cent of motorists being aware of the technology. The launch of the ‘ChooseESC!’ campaign in the UK today (25th July) will, it is hoped, help to raise the awareness of this important and potentially life-saving technology.

Bosch has also released research that confirms the UK still sits well down in the European league when it comes to the fitment of ESC to new cars. Last year, only 43 per cent of cars registered in the UK were fitted with ESC. This compares with 77 per cent in Germany and 91 per cent in Sweden.

Bosch is an active member of the ‘ChooseESC!’ campaign across Europe and will continue to offer active safety demonstrations and support to vehicle manufacturers, dealers and vehicle fleets as part of the company’s ESPerience training programme. Over the past 12 months, Bosch has not only demonstrated the ESC technology, which Bosch developed and launched more than 10 years ago, to car fleet operators across the UK, but also to van fleet managers, highlighting the recently launched ESC technology with a load adaptive facility.

With the demonstrations provided by Bosch at the Rockingham launch, the company has tied up with Lenovo, a leading global supplier of PCs and Laptops. To indicate how ESC works, the latest Levono ThinkPad laptop computers are positioned inside the vehicle to monitor the braking force on each wheel. In an emergency lane change manoeuvre, a bar chart on the computer screen indicates to which wheel the braking force is being applied. It is a very clear and effective method of showing how ESC works.