Released: October 31, 2006

Safety first when buying a car

Source: Herb Weisbaum, MSNBC

Buying a new vehicle means making a lot of decisions: color, style and options. From my point of view, safety is the most important factor you should consider. How did this vehicle perform in crash tests? And does it have the latest safety equipment? That would include Electronic Stability Control and state-of-the-art side air bags.

Electronic Stability Control, or ESC, uses computer sensors to monitor the motion of your car. If it detects that your vehicle is about go out of control it will automatically reduce the speed and brake individual wheels as needed. That lets you concentrate on steering.

A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that ESC reduces your risk of dying in a single-vehicle crash by more than 50 percent and lowers the likelihood of a rollover accident by 80 percent.

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