ESC in Car Sales A new mystery-shopping survey led by EuroTest (the European consumer protection test programme) funded by the FIA Foundation reveals Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is poorly promoted at car dealerships across Europe: less than one in two sales people recommended ESC to new car-buyers. (read full press release)

How we tested The differences are striking: Whilst in the Netherlands a mere 39 percent of new cars sold in the first six months of 2007 had ESC under their bonnets, Germany recorded almost double this number, i.e. 77%. These two examples from a united Europe highlight the lack of homogeneity when it comes to electronic stability control. This will have to change if accident figures are to be reduced significantly. And the EU intends to do just that. With its "Choose ESC" campaign, the European Commission, together with consortium partners EuroNCAP (vehicle crashes) and eSafetyAware (promotion of electronic safety systems in vehicles), is determined to have ESC as a standard feature in all new vehicles by 2012. Car dealers are important in this context. It is up to them to trigger and respond to the interest of customers in the safety features of their cars. (continue here)

Comparing the countries: Even the best result was only "acceptable" There was not a single rating of "very good" or "good"; the highest rating was "acceptable". This was a first in the history of EuroTest. Only four of the ten countries tested actually received a rating of "acceptable", the other six were given a rating of "poor". At least there was no rating of "very poor". (continue here)

Comparing manufacturers: As much information as necessary, but as little as possible The German Volkswagen Group is just ahead of Renault, the French "Créateur d' Automobiles", followed by Toyota for whom it is said "nothing is impossible". These three manufacturers are on the rostrum of the biggest EuroTest survey on ESC advertising. That's all very well, but there is one catch: VW, the winner, received a meagre rating of "acceptable". Second-place Renault and third-place Toyota failed to receive even more than half the possible number of marks, slipping below the magic 50-percent line into the negative side of the scale. A rating of "poor" was all that was left for these two manufacturers and the other seven. Citroën gave the poorest demonstration and came last in this test with a rating of "poor". No rating of "very poor" had to be given. (continue here)

Comparing the test categories: Comfort and features of a car more important than safety The minds behind the most recent EuroTest survey on the quality of information and advice offered by Europe's dealerships on the topic of ESC could never have conceived just how bad the results would be. "Poor" is the overall result. This shows just how unimportant this life-saving safety feature is in retail. The information and advice provided to consumers in relation to ESC must therefore be urgently improved; this holds true for all the categories that were examined in the test. (continue here)