The requirements will be phased in, beginning with the 2009 model year

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 roadway deaths a year.

"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 in proposing the change.

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. About half of the deaths in rollover crashes could be prevented with full deployment.

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

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.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said earlier this year that 10,000 deaths could be avoided annually if passenger vehicles had the technology. They said it cut the risk of single-vehicle rollovers involving sport utility vehicles by 80 percent.

Armed with the evidence, automakers have updated their models with the technology, particularly on vehicles more prone to rollovers.

General Motors Corp. said nearly two years ago that 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 Co. said earlier this week that it would put stability control on its entire lineup by the end of 2009. Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday stability control would be a standard feature across all its models by 2009.

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

NHTSA estimated nearly 29 percent of all 2006 models, including 57 percent of SUVs, have the technology.

The requirements will be phased in, beginning with the 2009 model year, and will cover all vehicles on the market by September 2011.

Auto industry groups and manufacturers said they were supportive of the technology and would work with the agency to develop the final rule. Congress had required NHTSA to implement a rule by 2009, and Nason said she hopes to complete it by early next year.

Auto industry officials cautioned that seat belts, which save about 15,000 lives a year, remain the most effective form of protection in a vehicle. But they said stability control represented a significant tool in making vehicles safer.

"It's not going to be bulletproof and keep everyone perfectly safe or defy any laws of physics but it will enhance a driver's abilities," said Dan Milot, a chief engineer with TRW Automotive, which supplies stability control.

NHTSA said the proposal would cost about $111 per vehicle on those that already include antilock brakes, or a total of $479 per vehicle for the entire system.

Automakers will need to comply with a 50 mph test involving a double-lane change. Nason said all 2006 model years that currently have the technology would pass.

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By KEN THOMAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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