NRMA Motoring Blog

A study by MUARC has found that having Electronic Stability Control (ESC) fitted to your car reduces the risk of driver injury in a crash by up to 32 per cent. Research also showed the risk of driver injury in a 4WD in a single vehicle crash was reduced by 68 per cent.

What is Electronic Stability Control?

ESC is an advanced vehicle safety technology that compares the position of the steering wheel to the vehicle’s direction of travel. When a difference is detected, it automatically applies brake pressure to individual wheels. By correcting understeer or oversteer, ESC helps keep the driver in control of their vehicle. Some versions of ESC also reduce engine power.

It is different to ABS and traction control as it acts independently of the driver but it does act in conjunction with these functions.

Does my car have ESC?

ESC is also known as Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) – depending on the vehicle manufacturer. If your vehicle is fitted with one of these or a similar variant, then yes, it does have ESC.

Prior to 2007, few cars came standard with ESC. After its development, it was often available as an option, if at all, and mainly on luxury car models. However, today many manufacturers are making ESC standard in new models, sometimes even across the entire range.

MUARC’s ESC study

The study used crash data from “Australia and New Zealand to evaluate the effectiveness of ESC in reducing crash risk and to establish whether benefits estimated in overseas studies have translated to the Australian and New Zealand environments.”

MUARC looked at crashes involving 7,699 vehicles comprised of 90 different models, making it the broadest study of ESC-fitted vehicles carried out to date.

It found that:

• Vehicles with ESC had a 32 per cent reduction in the risk of single vehicle crashes in which drivers were injured;
• ESC was more effective in preventing single vehicle crashes for 4WDs (68 per cent reduction) than for passenger cars (28 per cent reduction);
• ESC was more effective in preventing crashes resulting in driver injury than less serious crashes.

The study did not show if ESC was effective in preventing or reducing the severity of multiple vehicle crashes. But it did predict that ESC would prevent “nearly 500 serious injury crashes in Australia over the period to 2015.”

Have you felt ESC activate while behind the wheel? Did it help? If your car isn’t fitted with ESC, would you make sure your next car was?

So you’ve done all your calculations and decided to convert your car to LPG like over 70,000 other Australians. It sounds good in theory and the government rebate of $2000 is a great help. The fuel figures show your savings in dollars will have your conversion paid off within a year or two depending on your vehicle and the mileage done. But have you got all the facts?

Environmental impact

The environment is another winner in the change you have made by lowering greenhouse emissions. The Australian Greenhouse Office website states that the mass of CO2 gas released of the exhaust pipe by the burning of one litre of fuel is:

• 2.3 kg for Petrol
• 1.5 kg for LPG.

LPG = Less kilometres per litre

You can expect a 20-30 per cent increase in gas consumption over petrol per kilometre because the lower energy content of gas requires more to be burned in the engine compared with petrol. For example, a six cylinder Commodore achieves 10.9 litres per 100 km on petrol compared to 16 litres per 100km when run on LPG.

Excise

There is no government excise until July 2011. But then the price of LPG will gradually rise over 5 years.

The excise will increase as follows:

• 1 July 2011 increase of 2.5%
• 1 July 2012 increase of 5.0%
• 1 July 2013 increase of 7.5%
• 1 July 2014 increase of 10.00%
• 1 July 2015 increase of 12.5%

In knowing all this, is or was a change to LPG worth it?

Do all the figures add up and, despite the cost savings, has your vehicle’s power and torque suffered? Is it less efficient when towing or carrying heavy loads, especially on long trips and going up hills?

When we’re in the market for a new vehicle it’s customary to take into account its looks, level of comfort and fuel economy, as well as other factors like safety and handling, before we even contemplate signing the dotted line.

But if you intend to use it to tow a caravan, boat, trailer etc., you must do your research. Otherwise you might find out on the wrong part of your holiday that your SUV can’t tow 3000 kilograms of caravan after all.

Before purchasing the vehicle you need to understand a few things:

• the legal requirements for towing;
• the manufacturer’s recommended towing specifications;
• the vehicle’s towbar specifications.

Did the dealer explain the towing capacity when the trailer is braked or unbraked?

While they may assure you the car is up to the task, you can’t take their word for granted. If you’re not provided with enough information, you might feel like they just want a sale – and you could be right.

We’d like to hear your towing experiences on the road and in the showroom.

For more information on towing, check out our Learning how to tow story.