Robert Bosch has launched a campaign to increase consumer awareness of its Electronic Stability Programme (ESP).
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The marketing drive to raise the installation rate for ESP is aimed directly at car shoppers.
The take-up rate is still low relative to the safety benefits, says Bosch spokesman Stephan Kraus. The technology dramatically reduces the risk of side impact crashes.
Bosch commissioned the Mannheim-based Spiegel Institute to survey 1,000 German car drivers. The survey showed that 77% of drivers said ESP would be a factor in their next vehicle purchase but only 33% had ESP fitted to their current vehicles.
Kraus says Bosch believes the results are valid across Europe and adds the surveys shows that drivers do not mind safety systems that take control of the vehicle. But “people really did not know what valuable systems there already are on the market,” he says.
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By GlobalData“We concluded that if people knew more about the advantages and value of all the active safety systems, then the acceptance and actual purchasing behaviour of the people would be different”.
The supplier will “substantially increase” its spending on marketing in this area, says Kraus.
Bosch is considering putting simulators in trade shows and other public events, and issuing videos detailing the benefits.
The German supplier is also talking to carmakers about joint activities. The ideas include driver schools, distribution of informational material and possibly using test tracks to promote ESP.
Bosch opened up the ESP market in mid-1990s and still has over 50% of sales. It produced over 3.5 million units in 2003.
But carmakers aren’t choosing ESP as quickly as they once gravitated to anti-lock brakes.
Studies by Mercedes-Benz and Toyota have shown that ESP can make a huge contribution to saving lives. ESP reduces the number of serious accidents by up to half — comparable to the impact of airbags, according to Bosch executives.
Bosch cites a German insurance industry survey showing that 25% of all injury accidents and 60% of all fatal accidents involve side impacts after skidding.
ESP systems detect skidding when it starts and counteracts it by reducing the engine output and braking individual wheels.
“It can’t always stop it”, says Kraus, “but it means that when you come off the road at least you are driving forwards. You have a crash zone, a front airbag, and a much higher chance of survival than if you hit a tree going sideways”.
Bosch regularly targets ‘opinion leaders’ to raise the profile of its technologies.
In 2002 and 2003 it campaigned across the United States to raise the profile of diesels as a contribution to addressing greenhouse issues. However, this is the first time that Bosch has focused its market education campaign on end consumers.
So far rivals Continental Teves and TRW are not participating in the campaign, but Bosch does not exclude the possibility.
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