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It’s a safety feature that could save more lives each year than air bags, experts say, and the most significant automobile safety advancement since the invention of the seat belt.

“Electronic stability control is the most important safety feature most people have never heard of,” said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit scientific testing and education group. “It ranks with seat belts and airbags for its life-saving potential. Unlike seat belts and airbags, which protect you when you’re in a crash, ESC holds the promise of preventing many crashes to begin with.”

First introduced by Mercedes-Benz on its vehicles nearly a decade ago, ESC is now available on about 40 percent of new vehicles sold in the United States. Currently, about one out of 10 vehicles, predominantly sports utility vehicles and luxury cars, are equipped with it. In June 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a new safety standard that will require automakers to offer the feature on all new cars by 2012.

An extension of anti-lock brake technology, ESC uses sensors to continuously monitor how well a vehicle is responding to a driver’s steering input, particularly at high speeds or on slippery surfaces. When the sensors detect that the vehicle is straying from the driver’s intended line of travel, the system brakes individual wheels and slows the engine to keep the vehicle under control. The system is marketed under several brand names, among them Active Handling, Electronic Stability Program and StabiliTrack.

Given the potential for reducing the number of serious accidents and claims expenses, some auto insurers are encouraging their policyholders to embrace the technology now by offering discounts.

On Feb. 1, Farmers Group Inc. began offering a 5 percent discount on collision coverage to its Iowa and Wisconsin policyholders who have vehicles equipped with ESC, in the first phase of a 41-state rollout of the discount. The Los Angeles-based insurer, which covers about 48,000 vehicles in Iowa, says it may be the first major property and casualty company in the nation to offer a discount for the feature. About 10 percent of its policyholders currently qualify for the discount.

“From our standpoint, we know that vehicles that are equipped with electronic stability control are more easily controlled in extreme driving conditions, so we anticipate the number of claims from having to interact with those driving conditions should decrease,” said Brent Vollmer, product development manager for Farmers Group. “That being the case, we feel we can pass that savings along to our customers.”

Some Iowa-based property and casualty insurers, including Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. and Allied Insurance, say they don’t break out the savings as a discount, but rather provide better rates on newer models that are equipped with more safety features overall.

“People can assume that if they buy a car with all the safety features, their premium will be less,” said Liz Christopher, a spokeswoman for Allied/Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio. “But it just depends on each car.” Like most companies, Allied uses a national database maintained by the Insurance Services Office Inc. to determine premiums based on the frequency of accidents and their severity for specific vehicles, down to the level of option packages offered, she said.

According to the NHTSA, in 2005 an ESC added an average of $111 onto the cost of an ABS system, for a total cost of about $450. However, many automakers bundle ESC with other features so that the cost of a package that includes ESC could be several thousand dollars. Some studies suggest the system could pay for itself in lower insurance costs.

According to a report released in July 2007 by the NHTSA, electronic stability control was found to reduce fatal single-car crashes by 36 percent. For sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, the reduction in fatal crashes was 63 percent. More than 10,000 motorists are killed annually in the United States in rollover accidents, which account for more than one-third of highway fatalities.

In the final NHTSA rule published, officials wrote: “Based upon current estimates regarding the effectiveness of ESC systems, we believe that an ESC standard could save thousands of lives each year, providing potentially the greatest safety benefits produced by any safety device since the introduction of seat belts.” The agency estimates that ESC overall will save between 5,300 and 9,600 lives annually and prevent between 156,000 and 238,000 injuries in all types of crashes once all light vehicles are equipped with the feature. A large portion of the reduction in deaths and injuries will come from reducing the number of rollover crashes.

“From the insurance industry standpoint, we think it’s a significant improvement in the engineering of automobiles,” said Noel McKibbin, property/casualty claims vice president for Farm Bureau Insurance. “In Iowa, we have a significant number of rollover accidents. From my experience in handling claims, between 20 and 30 percent of our severe injury claims are a result of rollovers.”

The IIHS last year revised its standards for its top vehicle safety rating to require vehicles earning it to be equipped with ESC. In 2007 just 13 vehicles earned that top rating of “Good.” So far this year, 34 vehicles have earned the designation.

“It’s just a wonderful feature,” said DeeNee Amadeo, a sales consultant with Betts Cadillac. It comes standard on all Cadillac models as StabiliTrak.

Though she hasn’t heard any accounts of people avoiding a serious crash, “what I do have people say is just how well the car handled,” she said.

“Let’s say a deer runs out in front of you. It really compensates for understeer and oversteer. It kind of takes over where the driver isn’t fast enough to do it on their own.”