From the start of this month (November) all new car and light commercial vehicle models in the EU must be equipped with the anti-skid system ESP. This applies to all vehicles with type approvals issued after this date. ESP will subsequently become compulsory in all new existing EU vehicle models from 31st October 2014.
Making ESP compulsory is part of a comprehensive European Commission strategy to improve road safety. It can prevent up to 80 per cent of all skidding accidents and is the most important vehicle safety system after the seat belt.
The system was co-developed by Mercedes-Benz and Robert Bosch. It uses intelligent sensors to check 25 times per second whether the driver's steering input matches the vehicle's actual direction of travel. If the system detects some discrepancy and identifies that the vehicle is likely to become unstable, ESP kicks in by reducing the engine torque in order to restore stability. If that isn't sufficient, then it additionally brakes individual wheels. ESP also incorporates the functions of the antilock braking system (ABS) and traction control.
