Specialized sensor chips could save thousands of lives a year by helping automobile drivers avoid rollover accidents, and Austin's Freescale Semiconductor Inc. aims to be a leading supplier.

Freescale is expected to announce today a new family of sensitive sensor chips that will help automakers meet federal standards for electronic stability control that go into effect in 2012.

The new sensors can detect dangerous skid conditions in cars and automatically activate braking systems.

The chip maker says it is shipping samples of the new chips to carmakers, and it has potential buyers in Europe, Asia and the United States. It expects to go into volume production in the spring.

The new chips, called MEMS (for micro-electro-mechanical systems), have mechanical elements that help them measure the lateral acceleration of a car that can lead to rollover accidents. Freescale already makes MEMS devices for automobile airbag systems and tire-pressure detection systems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is requiring all new cars, trucks and buses sold in this country to come equipped with electronic stability control systems by 2012, and analysts say that mandate should lead to rapid growth in sales of sensor chips. iSuppli Corp., an electronics research firm, estimates that electronic stability control will account for $715 million in chip sales in 2012, nearly double the level sold in 2006.

Federal regulators estimate that between 5,300 and 9,600 lives could be saved every year in this country once all light vehicles (those weighing less than 10,000 pounds) are equipped with the stability control systems. The devices are especially helpful on sport-utility devices, which tend to be more prone to rollover accidents, regulators say.

Analyst Richard Dixon with iSuppli says the impending federal mandate provides an opportunity for chipmakers that have the "developmental muscle" to deliver reliable, precise sensor chips called accelerometers.

"Freescale is in a strong position to excel in the automotive sensor market," Dixon said.

Demetre Kondylis, general manager of Freescale's sensor business, says his company expects to win in the growing market for auto electronic stability control because of its long-standing ties to the auto industry, its expertise in making MEMS and its ability to design and integrate other chips into a stability control system. The new chips, he said, deliver more accuracy and more design flexibility and cost-savings for automakers.

Its new sensor chips, he said, provide automakers with increased accuracy, along with the ability to have more flexible, lower-cost designs for stability control systems.

Freescale is the largest supplier of chips to the global automobile industry. Its auto-related chip sales totaled nearly $2 billion in 2007, according to Strategy Analytics Inc.

kladendorf@statesman.com; 445-3622