Georgia SUV & Pickup Truck Rollovers -The Importance of Electronic Stability Control

Severe personal injuries – often including spinal paralysis, closed head injury brain damage, and even death – frequently result from vehicle damage that is sustained in rollover car accidents in Georgia and other states. According to April 19, 2007 Status Report published by the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety, nine vehicles, all SUV’s and pickups, have more than 75 deaths per million vehicles in single vehicle rollover crashes, compared with an average of 24 in all 2001-04 vehicles during 2002-05. This higher rate is largely because of their relatively high centers of gravity. The vehicle with the very highest death rate in rollovers is the 2-door, 2 wheel-drive Chevrolet Blazer. Its 134 deaths per million in rollover compare with an average 38 in all midsize, 2 wheel-drive SUV’s and 28 in 4 wheel-drive versions. According to this publication, not all midsize SUV’s have high death rates in single vehicle rollovers. For instance, at the time of the report, no driver deaths were reported in the 2 wheel-drive Lexus RX 330. This vehicle and increasing numbers of other passenger vehicles, especially SUV’s, are becoming equipped with standard or optional electronic stability control (ESC). This feature has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes including rollovers. More evidence that this ESC effectiveness is that all but 3 of 15 vehicles with the lowest overall death rates have this feature, usually standard (the Chevrolet Astro, Honda Odyssey, and Honda Pilot don’t). In contrast, ESC isn’t standard on any of the 16 vehicles with the highest death rates, and its optional on only 1 (the Nissan 350ZX). Accordingly, it is apparent that the ESC feature is an important feature in saving lives and reducing serious personal injury cases on Georgia highways.