Continental Lauds NHTSA Proposal Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Will Prevent Thousands of Crashes, Injuries and Deaths

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Sept. 14 -- The following is a statement by WILLIAM KOZYRA, President and CEO, Continental Automotive Systems:

Today marks one of the most important milestones in automotive safety.

The proposal by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on new passenger vehicles recognizes that we have the ability through available technology to help prevent many rollover and other loss-of-control crashes that cause many thousands of injuries and fatalities, and staggering economic losses.

With benefits of ESC predicted to be among the highest of any motor vehicle safety equipment ever required, we welcome NHTSA's proposal and hope that this lifesaving protection will be phased into the new vehicle fleet at the earliest possible date.

In the interim, ESC already is available increasingly on many makes and models, and we urge vehicle purchasers to make sure that the next new vehicle they buy is equipped with it.

For the past several years, rollover crashes have received extensive national attention. Like all serious crashes, rollovers occur in a split second when speed too fast for conditions, slick roads, or an attempt by a driver to avoid another vehicle or object triggers an imbalance that causes the vehicle to roll. ESC can help change the outcome.

While safety belts offer the best protection to occupants once a crash occurs, we now can stop many of these events from occurring. In the years ahead as ESC becomes widely available as standard equipment, many motorists will arrive safely at their destinations without even being aware that they dodged tragedy because their vehicle is equipped with ESC. Because ESC is Active Safety Protection, it works automatically when an out-of-control situation is sensed.

Continental is a major supplier of ESC and other crash protection technology. ESC is one of the building blocks for additional safety enhancements that are entering the marketplace rapidly to give consumers the combination of an ability to prevent many crashes and superior protection in situations where a crash could not be avoided.

With systems, components, and engineering services for intelligent automotive safety, comfort, chassis, powertrain performance as well as embedded telematics and hands-free communication systems, Continental Automotive Systems has secured itself a top position as a reliable partner of all major car manufacturers worldwide. Automotive Systems is a division of the Continental Corporation, a leading automotive supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics, tires, as well as technical elastomers. In 2005 the corporation realized sales of euro 13.8 billion. At present it has a worldwide workforce of around 85,000.