ChooseESC! presented at ESC demonstration in Ireland

On 29 April 2008, at an event at Mondello Park in Cork, Ford Ireland chief Eddie Murphy has called on legislators to make Electronic Stability Control (ESC) mandatory on cars across Europe. The call came to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology on the new Ford Focus. Infact Ford is the first manufacturer to standardise ESC in the compact family class in Ireland.

Saying that ESC could prevent as many as 4,000 road fatalities in Europe, Murphy said he looked forward to the technology being viewed as a must-have item on the customer’s shopping list.

Jacob Bangsgaard, Secretary General of eSafetyAware said in his opening speech: “It is unacceptable that so many people get killed on the roads and so many serious accidents take place when we have a proven technology available on the market that can save many of these lives and can avoid hundred thousands of accidents each year." He further added: “We need to inform consumers that they should always choose a car which is ESC equipped. Hopefully one day all cars will be equipped with this technology as standard, for this we need full cooperation from car manufacturers and authorities."

Fewer than half of the cars sold in Europe are equipped with ESC. The figure for Ireland is far lower and it has been the preserve of high-end luxury marques in Ireland. While the US has mandated that all new cars must have ESC by 2012, such a mandate is still under discussion within the EU.

Ford has in Ireland made ESC standard on the Ford Focus, C-MAX, Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models.

Articles about the event:

Irish Times 30/04/08: pdf (588 KB)

Irish Independent 30/04/08: pdf (200 KB)

Selection of articles: 16/05/08: pdf (14161 KB)