> I want to bring this to the attention of those who might be shopping
> for fuel-efficient cars.
> ESC is considered to be the greatest advance in safety since the
> seatbelt. It will be required on all 2012 cars in the US, but it's
> still optional or not available on some 2010 and 2011 models:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_stability_control#Effectiveness
> Fuel-efficient cars tend to be the ones that don't ESC as a standard
> feature.
> With a little care, you can get a fuel-efficient car with near-
> optimal
> safety.
> This is good site to use:
> www.informedforlife.org
> But be aware that informedforlife uses average values when NHTSA or
> IIHS did not test a particular safety parameter. This can bias the
> safety measure for some models. You can see which values are missing
> and replaced with the average if you look carefully at the data
> displays.
> This site identifies which cars have ESC standard, optional, or not
> available:
> http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/esc.html
> When ESC is optional on a model you have to research the trims (aka
> sub-models) of the model. For instance, for the Honda Fit, google the
> words "Hond fit safety review" or "Honda fit stability control"
> without parenthesis. You will find that only Sport trim of the 2010
> Honda Fit has ESC.
> I noticed that 2 people in my vanpool were looking into buying a Fit
> and were probably going to end up exposing themselves and their
> families to a car without ESC for the next decade.
> The EU has a good ESC awareness site :www.chooseesc.eu
> There is probably only one consumer product that you ever buy that
> has
> a 1 in 500 chance of killing you, and it's a motor vehicle.
