Coroner pleads for ESC on all cars in Australia

VICTORIA’S chief coroner has called on all car manufacturers and importers in Australia to fit electronic stability control (ESC) as standard, stating it is “technology we must have”.

As Toyota this week confirmed GoAuto’s August 10 report that it would now fit ESC across the Camry range, chief coroner Graeme Johnstone said between 50 and 100 lives could be saved every year in Victoria alone if all vehicles were fitted with ESC.

“It was invented back in 1995 – think about it, that would mean 1600 to 1200 lives, 600 to 1200 families, countless families involved in incidents that would have never happened,” he said.

“If we sit here in 12 years’ time and say, ‘What if we had committed to bringing in ESC into all cars sold in this country, what a difference we would have made?’ And we hadn’t actually done it now? I think we should quite rightly be ashamed of ourselves.”

Speaking at the Smart Demo technology conference in Melbourne last week, Mr Johnstone revealed his frustration that only 25 per cent of new cars sold in Australia feature the life-saving technology.

While many Asian countries have low ESC take-up rates, a much higher proportion of new cars sold in the United States and Europe come standard with the feature. For example, 95 per cent of new vehicles sold in Sweden are fitted with ESC standard.

“We see the Swedes taking it on …why should we be so far behind?” Mr Johnstone asked. “It is time we all pulled the proverbial finger out and did something about it.”

Mr Johnstone first called for manufacturers to fit their cars with ESC as standard when he delivered his findings into a 2004 crash near Campbell’s Creek on the Midland Highway. Five occupants of an HSV ClubSport died when its 17-year-old learner driver lost control and collided with an oncoming truck.

“The evidence I got was that ESC probably would have corrected the car, corrected the oversteer and possibly saved the five lives,” Mr Johnstone said.

“When you look into the eyes of the single surviving family member and you know her life, she is only a young kid of 21 or 22, you know that her life has changed forever, she doesn’t have a family any more, you know this is what we have got to do.”

Mr Johnstone said mandating the fitment of ESC was not necessarily the way to get the best result, arguing that regulation would not be required if manufacturers heeded his call to fit the technology as standard.

The Swedish government has not mandated for ESC but, according to safety experts, has promoted it heavily which has led to community support and the inclusion of the feature by car-makers.

ESC is fitted as standard to most Australian-made cars including the Holden Commodore, Ford Territory, most Falcons and the Toyota Aurion (and now Camry). The Mitsubishi 380 is not available with ESC.

Left: Toyota Camry and Victorian chief coroner Graeme Johnstone.

GM Holden vehicle regulation and certification manager Mike Goonan, who represented the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) at the Smart Demo conference, said Australian manufacturers were working to have ESC fitted to as many vehicles as possible, but emphasised that only 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia are made locally.

That meant local car-makers had less control over the content of imported vehicles, he said.

“I would just like to make the point that the local industry is certainly trying to do its bit and we have to work on our suppliers,” he said.

Bosch-supplied figures reveal the ESC take-up rate in the US stands at 46 per cent and 45 per cent in Europe. In Japan, only 25 per cent of new cars come with ESC, while 26 per cent of cars sold in South Korea have the safety feature. China might have a booming car industry, but ESC is fitted to just five per cent of new budget-focused cars.

Mr Goonan said a large percentage of Australia’s imported vehicles came from Japan and South Korea, which meant they were less likely to come with ESC.

“The statistics show they are the lowest area when it comes to uptake of ESC. Our source countries, where the majority of the cars are coming from, are very low, which is what is dragging down our (ESC inclusion) figure,” he said.

Mr Goonan predicted ESC would be included in more imported vehicles in time as more vehicles adopted technology that would more easily enable ESC inclusion, such as four-channel ABS brakes and electronic throttle control.

He said if any regulation was introduced in Australia, it had to be done in conjunction with a global program which would include a standard rigorous test to ensure the ESC system actually operated to an acceptable level.

“There is no real point in just mandating and saying you must have ESC. Really, what does that mean? You could put a badge on the back saying it has got it,” Mr Goonan said. “It has to be some performance-related test.”

An ESC regulation framework is currently being studied by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which may follow the lead of the US, which has approved a phased plan to mandate ESC in all passenger vehicles by September 2011. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed an ESC test which includes testing the vehicle’s dynamic ability.

Mr Goonan said the FCAI would back global ESC regulation which used a dynamic test, but cautioned that it would not be introduced overnight. “We would support that, but that is obviously going to take a bit of time,” he said.

The importance of fitting ESC as standard to all vehicles in Australia will be highlighted further when the internationally acclaimed Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) publishes a report next month on the effectiveness of ESC on Australian roads.

“It will show that we can’t ignore this technology,” said author and MUARC senior research fellow Stuart Newstead.

He said that while all motorists would be helped with ESC, drivers of vehicles with a higher centre of gravity such as SUVs benefit the most from the technology.

“It is the most important class to target first as they are the vehicles with the biggest stability issues. We know that in an SUV, ESC is up to 70 per cent effective,” he said. “It is a no-brainer for them to have it.”

Mr Newstead said the rate of ESC take-up in Sweden showed governments that make ESC a high priority and promote it accordingly could make a difference.

However, he said that in Australia, government regulation mandating ESC for all vehicles, starting off with SUVs, could be the only way to get car-makers to include the safety feature in the short term. “Regulation is almost inevitable if you want it to be taken up quickly,” he said.

Mr Newstead said to the end of 2005, less than two per cent of vehicles on Australian roads were fitted with ESC.

“You need to get to 100 per cent fitment for a considerable time to get that number to come up significantly,” he said. “Going half-arsed at it now is really going to put us behind the eight-ball.”

Mr Newstead attacked car-makers which did not fit ESC as standard and singled out the all-new Toyota Corolla, which could soon become the best-selling car in Australia.

The Corolla sold in Australia will not be available with ESC until late in 2008.

“It should be on the cars now, as standard,” said Mr Newstead. “The Corolla in many countries has ESC as standard, so why is it not available here, not even as an option? I think it is extremely disappointing and is a case of marketing triumphing over commonsense.”

Toyota Australia said it did not consider including ESC when locking in the specification of the new Corolla two years ago and had since requested it, but added that it would take more than 12 months for it to be tuned and tested for local conditions.

Mr Newstead was also disappointed by the fact that ESC was no longer available on the base 2.7 Hyundai Santa Fe, as reported by GoAuto on August 8.

“ESC is particularly important for these soft-roaders because down the track they will be used by young people as an affordable first car and we know the benefits of ESC when it comes to SUVs.”

Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) chairman Lauchlan McIntosh said there was now a compelling body of evidence showing the substantial benefits of ESC.

“It’s time for a national cooperative partnership of governments, manufacturers and consumers to agree urgently a timetable and a methodology for an accelerated uptake across Australia’s entire car and truck vehicle fleet,” Mr McIntosh said. “A program similar to the ‘Choose ESC’ campaign promoted by the European Commission should be implemented by the Federal and State Governments now.”

Previously, the range-topping Grande was the sole Camry fitted with ESC standard. Its inclusion on the base Altise adds $490 to the RRP of both manual and automatic variants, while the mid-range Ateva and Sportivo variants rise by $750.

“Our research quite clearly shows that one of the major purchase triggers in the medium four-cylinder market is safety,” said Toyota Australia’s senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner.

“Buyers are risk averse, and are expecting technology such as VSC (vehicle stability control) and TRC (traction control) to be included as standard equipment on an increasing number of models.”