Chrysler Group to Equip All SUVs with Anti-Rollover System

Chrysler News Follows Similar Announcements by Ford and GM

Following a lead set by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. that stated they would make electronic stability control systems standard on over 1.8 million SUVs next year, DaimlerChrysler AGs Chrysler Group will incorporate a standard anti-rollover system to its Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler branded SUVs, starting next year and completed by 2006.

Chrysler Group already offers Continental Teves Electronic Stability Program (ESP), now called Electronic Stability Control (ESC), on some of its cars and SUVs, the 2005 Chrysler 300-Series and Crossfire, Dodge Magnum and Jeep Grand Cherokee include it as standard equipment for example, but the announcement made Thursday, November 18, 2004, will make certain the safety technology is expanded to encompass every sport utility vehicle the automaker produces. Incidentally, Robert Bosch Corp. builds the stability control in the Dodge Durango, but word has it Continental will supply ESC for all of Chrysler Groups upcoming SUV models.

The good, albeit expensive news came on the same day the domestic automaker was celebrating the success of the Chrysler 300C having been chosen as Motor Trend Magazines Car of the Year award at its Auburn Hills headquarters.

According to Chrysler spokesman Cole Quinnell, the automaker already had plans to increase its use of stability control and was going to announce it in coming months, but announcements by Ford and GM caused the need to make the information public sooner than later.

"We knew we had it, we just didnt want to talk about it," Quinnell commented.

How bad is the SUV rollover problem? Exactly 2,639 motorists were killed in sport utilities in 2003 according federal government statistics, while rollover accidents in all vehicles inclusive totaled more than 10,000 deaths.

These statistics run contrary to popular belief, that SUVs are more prone to rollover than cars. According to a Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, if all automakers were to install anti-rollover systems to every vehicle available up to 7,000 lives per year could be saved. The IIHS believes that fatal single-vehicle crashes could be reduced by 56 percent.

A similar study done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in September of this year takes this claim even further, declaring that including stability control systems on all cars would reduce single-vehicle SUV crashes by 67 percent and single-car accidents by 30 percent.

Exactly how do stability programs work? While there are various ways to produce the results depending on which automaker

or auto supplier produces the system, when a skid or slide is detected by sensors placed throughout the vehicle, various drivers aids such as the antilock brakes and/or engine operated traction control system take over and point the vehicle back on course. Not all stability control systems are created equal, but all are better than having nothing to fall back on when the car, truck or SUV goes out of control.

Choices made by Chrysler Group, Ford and GM to include stability control on future sport utility vehicles will without doubt improve the safety of SUVs, and should dramatically affect the rates of accidents caused by rollovers and therefore traffic fatalities in coming years.