05/04/2007 ABS, ESC and hybrid drives are not well known to women

Hanover, May 2007 – In Germany, one in two motorists would like to see driver assist systems like anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and electronic control systems (ESC) becoming a legal requirement. This was one of the results of Continental’s latest Safety Study as confirmed by 46.9 percent of the women and 58.4 percent of the men interviewed during the representative survey conducted by the market research group tns infratest. However, the study performed on behalf of the international auto industry supplier also showed that 58.5 percent of the women (30.8 percent of the men) had never heard of the term “driver assistance systems”. And, before being enlightened by the interviewer, 56.4 percent of the female interviewees (23.1 percent of the males) were unable to explain what ESC does.

• Here you can find the media service as a Word-document.

• Here you can download the media service as a pdf-file.

• Here you can download the press photo as JPEG.

“Electronic Stability Control is a crucial safety enhancement”, says Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, president Continental Automotive Systems and member of the Executive Board of Continental AG. “ESC not only can save thousands of lives, but it has blazed a path for other active safety technologies.” Incidentally, neither men nor women would be prepared to lower their sights and accept restricted safety features in order to pay less when buying a car. Nor would the majority of them have anything against the car’s electronics taking over against the will of the driver if this were to avoid an accident.

As far as hybrid drives are concerned, male interviewees were better informed than the women: Whereas 87.5 percent of the men had already heard or read about hybrid technology in cars, it was a mere 43.3 percent of the women. 55.9 percent of the women (12.3 percent of the men) knew nothing at all about hybrid drives.

One of the most astonishing results of the study was that although women have comparably little information about the technical side of vehicle safety features, more than half of them either make the decision on their own or have a major influence on the decision process when shopping for a new car.

Racing driver Kati Droste (Nürburgring 24 Hour Race, Dubai 24 Hour Race): “In an emergency it may be a matter of life or death to be fully aware of driver assistance systems and their capabilities. And every initiative to further improve safety on our roads helps increase that awareness. That information should not be restricted, however, to a male audience.”