Bosch says ESP can save up to 10,000 lives on Indian roads each year

Bosch, the global supplier of technology and services, presented its portfolio of advanced safety and driving assistance technologies in Bangalore today.

The company also revealed the preliminary results from its latest accident research study which focuses on the effectiveness of the Electronic Stability Program (ESP). The preliminary research highlights the installation of the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) which can help avoid around 70 percent of all skidding accidents involving passenger cars on highways in India.

As per a recent study released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), an accident takes place every minute and every four minutes a death resulting from the-se accidents is reported. “With 16 people dying every hour in road accidents, India is the single largest contributor to road deaths across the world. Last year, the country accounted for nearly three percent more fatalities than 2013 of which around a-third of the victims were in the age-bracket of 15-25 years. Such a high rate of causality occurring due to road accidents draws attention to the need for advanced safety and driver assistance systems in India,” said Klaus Maeder, executive vice-president, Chassis Systems Control, Robert Bosch GmbH.

Elaborating further, he stated, “To address this situation, it is important for all stakeholders across the spectrum to come together and offer solutions that best address this rising concern. Few Indian OEMS already offer such features and customer’s preference for such models has been encouraging and is a sign for need of more safety features.”

Increased automation can address India’s vehicular safety issues

Since its introduction globally, ESP has prevented 190,000 accidents and saved more than 6,000 lives. In India, of the approximate 140,000 fatalities, accidents arising due to loss of control estimate for nearly 12 percent.

Bosch estimates ESP can prevent up to 70 percent of this number. In Europe, research suggests that if installed in 100 percent of all vehicles, predictive emergency braking systems can prevent up to 72 percent of all rear-end collisions that result in personal injury.

“As a company that is leading the electronics wave in the mobility industry, it is observed that today’s customer insists on mitigation of injury and risk, vehicle damage and assigns paramount importance to personal safety. Advanced driver assistance systems coupled with accident avoidance technologies, such as Automated Emergency Braking, and Driver Monitoring systems can best address such requirements of the customer.” said Dr. Hans-Peter Hübner, executive vice-president, Chassis Systems Control, Robert Bosch GmbH.

Bosch vehicular safety systems gaining momentum in India

India’s automobile industry is estimated to become one of the top three markets for the industry in the next five years, besides United States and China. Currently, for every 1,000 persons only 15 buy a car in India, thus both local and global automakers see huge potential in this country.

As per apex industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), India’s auto sector is expected to grow to almost 10 million units by 2020 that is almost the double of what was achieved in 2014. Indicators such as an optimistic GDP forecast, improved consumer sentiment- where the middle class is keen to invest more and one of the first few purchases they are likely to make is an automobile- these signs augur well for the industry.

“Over the past few years, the installation rate of ABS has risen steadily in the Indian market. Acceptance of technologies like ABS and airbags is rapidly growing for OEMs as well as end customers. Bosch’s accident research analysis of India specific data now clearly underscores the significant benefits that advanced vehicle safety systems such as Electronic Stability Program can achieve. We think, ESP which has seen widespread adoption in the developed markets will soon become very relevant for the Indian market,” said Kartikeya Joshi, senior general manager, Sales and Marketing, Bosch Chassis Systems India.

Since the set-up of its manufacturing plant in Pune in November 2009, Bosch has made heavy investment including the inauguration of a second line in 2013. Leveraging from its wide international network that possesses broad and in-depth technical know-how, Bosch strives to provide its best to its local and global customers based in India. Over the past five years the vehicular safety business unit in India has registered strong double-digit growth which is in line with its vision to grow faster than the market.

Local for local growth strategy

Bosch says, that in line with the ‘Make in India’ campaign, it is very keen on driving its local-for-local approach. “We are confident of the growth of the active safety market in India and Bosch is committed to upgrade its investments and competencies to match market demands. To that end, over the past five years Bosch has already localised the value chain of vehicular safety systems such as the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chakan, Maharashtra, vehicle application engineering and local software development capabilities. Such measures go a long way in reducing cost and increasing local content. A key milestone that the company achieved was the production of over one million active safety systems in India in 2014,” concluded Kartikeya Joshi.

Also read: Prime minister Narendra Modi bats for road safety in India