http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/09/14/nhtsa_esc/index.html

:worship:

Can't believe it costs only $111 on top of ABS!!! That's freaking cheap...

as long as there's a 'shutoff' switch available for said ESC, i'm all for it.

I can't wait until the Feds mandate good drivers...........

^LOL good one. Hope this will help keep them suvs from rolling over

Bad news for those who drift and can't turn it off.

Theres got to be some way to turn that shit off!

Why is this good news? It's just going to make already bad drivers more confident and it won't make a damn bit of difference safety wise.

Why is this good news? It's just going to make already bad drivers more confident and it won't make a damn bit of difference safety wise.

You have a point. Nothing can stop or save idiots. It is just unfortunate that we all have to share the same roads.

Stability control might help sane people in some unexpected situations. I think it is a great thing to have.

Awesome. The feds are mandating something which the car companies are making just about standard anyway. Yet another regulation which looks good on the surface, but which does nothing and presents yet another hurdle for niche carmakers like Tesla. Why do we pile on a gazillion layers of mandated safety features and certifications for a vehicle with 4 wheels, but then the vehicle with 3 or 2 wheels gets off more or less scott free? Within my lifetime, I fully expect cars to be more complicated than the space shuttle and the term "big three" will refer to all the carmakers in the entire world.

Stability comtrol can provide a great safety benefit. One possible problem though I see is the possibility that the regulators who will "force us to be safe" will devise
"rules" for operation of these devices deciding just how much of a "nanny" these elctronic things will have to provide, rather than letting manufacturers decide.

Now there is at least, according tp car testers, vastely varing limits, depending on the car's design, for when stability control activates. Another bad possible outcome of regulation is not allowing people to disable the feature. I'm guessing that (switch)will be eliminated in our governments quest to save us all from our own ineptness. It's already the norm in some brands I've noticed.

I guess they need to keep more citizens alive in order to pay taxes so they can spend more and more money.

I'm not a drifer or hardcore racer, but I can see where if they force the system to be on 100% of the time do you think people are going to want to spend tons of money on a car if they know they want to use it for race applications? I.e. would you buy an RX8, vette, viper, whatever if you knew you couldnt do a burnout if the mood strikes, or you couldnt have the option to turn the system off to do an autoX event?

Even IF that day came where it was forced to be on 100% of the time, there would be workarounds, cracks to the ECU, etc.

My general thought on the safety thing though - its good if you have the option of turning it off. I Like how our 8's are, its 100% on when you start the car, and can disable the first level of DSC wtih one push, and then both systems with a 7 second push. Too much government control on telling me what I "HAVE" to buy when it interferes with what I enjoy is wrong. Sad thing is as time goes on the noose is only going to get tighter on the shit we are forced to do.

The statistical data clearly shows DSC reduces accidents, more so that ABS brakes or the third brake light so this was going to become mandatory. But I think the main reason this happened was it saves the insurance companies money. It will reduce single car accidents claims and the less money insurance companies pay out, the more they get to keep. It’s a nice thing when you can get the government to pass a law that increases your profits with no added expense to the company. But it’s impossible to get people to improve their driving skills so in the end safer cars on the road is a benefit to all.

It was originally believed that ABS would reduce accidents. Unfortunately this expectation never materialized when ABS was deployed on production vehicles and the statistics for several years were finally analyzed.

Hence, the safety expectations for Stability Control had always been pretty low and the industry was surprised when statistics demonstrably showed a reduction in accidents. Apparently it really does help people drive safer in "street" conditions. This finding also matches the "gut" reaction of many people on this forum who have come to appreciate how stable it makes the 8 (which can easily operate beyond the limits of the driver) as a daily drive.

I agree that stability control should be standard on all cars as long as there is a disable switch for applications when the extra "control" is not desired.