General Motors was an early pioneer of this crucial technology found in millions of cars in America.
StabiliTrak is a name that goes back to the year 1996 and has endured ever since, found on most General Motors products you can buy today, particularly trucks and SUVs like the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Yukon. But what is StabiliTrak, where did it come from, and what are the pros and cons of this system?
Simply put, StabiliTrak is the trademarked name of the electronic stability control system used in most GM vehicles. Even if it doesn’t use that name, it’s still the same technology applied to them all. While such electronic stability control systems have been mandated in all cars sold in the US since 2012, StabiliTrak was an innovation when it arrived in 1996. Co-developed by GM and Delphi Automotive, StabiliTrak was just the third stability control system in existence, following the Mercedes/Bosch-developed Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and Toyota’s Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), both of which were launched in 1995.
When promoting the 2011 GMC Terrain, GM described it as “control freak tech,” but hailed it as “the most significant safety feature since the development of the safety belt.” The company also cited IIHS statistics claiming that the technology reduced the risk of fatal accidents by 33%.
The History Of StabiliTrak
Cadillac was the first brand to utilize StabiliTrak under the GM umbrella, with the 1997 Cadillac DeVille being the first car to feature the system.
Prior to this, Cadillacs had been equipped with Integrated Chassis Control System (ICCS) for nearly two years, with Stabilitrak then integrated into the ICCS umbrella thereafter. Whereas early ICCS systems relied on a mixture of traction control, shock absorber damping rates, ABS, and road surface sensors, StabiliTrak introduced yaw control sensors to the mix.
This was a major development in vehicle safety. Whereas previous systems relied on a loss of traction before the car tried to regain control, by detecting yaw anomalies, Stabilitrak could detect a loss of control prior to a loss of grip. This meant it could also interpret evasive maneuvers such as sudden direction changes to better understand what the car was doing and give it a helping hand to keep occupants safe.
By 2007, every GM SUV and van sold in the US and Canada was equipped with StabiliTrak, and after the government mandated stability control in all vehicles from 2012, it became a staple of the GM lineup.
