Employing a concept that sets a new benchmark in its category, the Vito meets the highest standards of active and passive safety. Standard specification includes a powerful braking system and the Electronic Stability Program (ADAPTIVE ESP®) with the safety systems ABS, ASR, BAS and electronic brake force distribution (EBV).

You can further add to this comprehensive range of safety features with the optional extras of Start-off Assist (AAS) for vehicles with manual transmission, the tyre pressure control system and a seat belt warning system which increases the passive safety level.

Your daily work makes no allowances for the weather. Capable of negotiating wet leaves, freezing road conditions or sudden breaking on loose surfaces, the standard-fitted Electronic Stability Program ADAPTIVE ESP® makes sure that your Vito is unlikely to lose its footing.

The ADAPTIVE ESP® Electronic Stability Program automatically monitors the van's current load. Using this information, it can react with the optimum force to suit the current driving situation. If, for example, a wheel starts to spin or is in danger of losing ground contact, sensors will recognise this in a fraction of a second. ADAPTIVE ESP® will then automatically determine and initiate the required intervention.

The optional ESP® trailer stabilisation increases driving safety for trailer towing by applying targeted braking to the front wheels of the towing vehicle and reducing the engine torque if the trailer begins swinging back and forth. This helps the driver to stabilise the car/trailer combination. If the system must engage several times in a row, the brake actuation continually becomes stronger, which then significantly reduces the vehicle speed.

Wherever you may be travelling and no matter what your load, in a critical driving situation fractions of a second - and every move - are often crucial.

The anti-lock braking system (ABS) prevents the wheels from locking during braking. Speed sensors continuously monitor the speed of each wheel. Before a wheel reaches the point of locking up, the brake pressure at that wheel is immediately reduced. As soon as the danger of locking has been averted, the pressure is reapplied. In this way ABS helps the driver to retain control of the steering even during emergency braking. When ABS is in operation, the driver feels a slight pulsing in the brake pedal.

If you're on an urgent business run, need a quick start or want to accelerate on a wet or loose surface, the Vito's acceleration skid control (ASR) prevents lateral vehicle skidding and stops one or more wheels spinning. Brakes are automatically applied to individual wheels and the engine output is reduced – significantly improving both tractive power and stability.

In tests carried out in the driving simulator, our research engineers established that drivers do not apply the brakes vigorously enough during emergency braking. This finding led them to develop the Brake Assist system. From the speed at which the brake pedal is depressed, Brake Assist is able to detect a situation where emergency braking is required. In such a situation the system automatically increases braking power, aided by the anti-lock braking system (ABS) which prevents the wheels from locking up.