Staggered ESC timetable

Electronic stability control (ESC) will be mandatory on used imported passenger cars from January 2018 with used SUVs having to comply two years before that. Public consultation on the government’s proposals is expected to start as soon as next month, with Michael Woodhouse saying the timetable will help “to ensure maximum safety benefits from the technology without choking supply from the mostly Japanese market”. “SUVs have a greater roll-over risk than other vehicles due to their centre of gravity and will receive the biggest safety gains from ESC,” says the Associate Minister for Transport. “ESC offers a potential 60 per cent reduction in crashes caused from losing control, so it will be the first used-car category for mandating ESC.”

COUNTDOWN TO MANDATORY ESC

Because the vast majority of new stock has ESC fitted as standard, Woodhouse is proposing the date for compulsory fitment to be July 1, 2015 – and that’s for all new light passenger and goods vehicles. Used vehicles in class MC – four-wheel-drive SUVs and off-roaders – will have to cross the border with ESC fitted from January 1, 2016. The compulsory date for MA class vehicles – passenger cars with an engine capacity of more than two litres – will be January 1, 2018. The deadline for all other used light passenger and goods vehicles will be January 1, 2020. The ESC requirement will not apply to some specialist vehicles crossing the border, while the rule will not extend to the owners of current vehicles. Woodhouse adds: “I’m grateful for the input into the proposals from the used and new motor vehicle industries. I look forward to further feedback when public consultation opens on the draft rule in March.”

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