When you buy a new passenger car in the US, it must have stability control by law. The feature is relatively recent, even though most regulators and safety bodies around the globe now consider it to be essential. If we look back to the early 1990s, we can see the origins of the electronic stability program (or ESP), a term that Mercedes-Benz coined. And while it may have initially been a luxury feature for the company’s best vehicles, such as the S500, this is how it became a lifesaving standard for all.
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