Anti-rollover feature to be required on cars

WASHINGTON — New cars, SUVs and other vehicles will need to have anti-rollover technology by the 2012 model year, the government says, predicting the change will prevent thousands of deaths a year.

While seat belts and air bags protect in a crash, the technology can help drivers avoid an accident in the first place. It senses when a driver may lose control of the vehicle and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to help make it stable.

Rollover crashes are extremely dangerous, leading to more than 10,000 deaths a year, even though they only account for about 3 percent of all crashes. More than 43,000 people are killed on U.S. roads annually.

"No other safety technology since the seat belt holds as much promise to save as many lives and prevent as many injuries as electronic stability control," Nicole Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Thursday.

Electronic stability control could save between 5,300 and 10,300 lives each year and prevent up to 252,000 injuries annually, the agency said.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has said 10,000 deaths could be avoided annually with the technology.

They said it cut the risk of single-vehicle rollovers involving sport-utility vehicles by 80 percent.

General Motors said nearly two years ago it would make the technology standard in all vehicles by 2010, including all SUVs and some full-size pickups in the 2007 model year.

Ford Motor said this week it would put stability control on its entire lineup by the end of 2009. Toyota Motor said Thursday stability control would be standard on its models by 2009.

All 2007 SUVs, pickups and minivans produced by Honda Motor carry the technology while Hyundai Motor Co. said it was standard equipment on 70 percent of its 2007 vehicles.