A mere 41 years after the first anti-lock braking system was introduced on the 1971 Chrysler Imperial, the NHTSA will finally require the technology on all model year 2012 and later vehicles. The requirement is actually a side-effect of a new mandate that all 2012 and later vehicles be built with anti-roll technology. Such technology employs ESC (electronic stability control), which in turn uses ABS — hence, anti-locks will have to be on every vehicle.

The anti-roll measure was created because although rollovers occur in a small number of accidents (only 2%), they account for 40% of all accident-related deaths. Requiring ESC and ABS on all vehicles is expected to reduce rollovers by up to 84%, saving 10,300 lives and preventing 238,000 injuries per year.

For a technology that’s arguably the most significant safety invention since seat belts and safety glass, the government certainly took their time with this one. At least ABS doesn’t have potentially negative side effects like certain other things the NHTSA has mandated — airbags have injured quite a lot of people, yet they’ve been required on vehicles since 1998 — and it’s really cheap: $111 per vehicle, by industry estimates. A small price to pay for saving so many lives and preventing a lot of accidents. Automakers were headed there anyway, but there are still a significant number of models under $25k where ABS is only an option (which rental companies don’t always opt for on their fleet vehicles, as we have learned firsthand).