After years of using a dry, mathematical formula to predict rollover risk, the government is adding a wheel-squealing road test in early October that is intended to give consumers more information about a vehicle's handling capabilities, according to an Associated Press (AP) report. Automakers said the road test will reward the best-handling vehicles in each class by highlighting performance measures the formula cannot assess, AP said. One example is stability control, a system that applies brakes to specific tires and decelerates if it senses a driver is veering off course. The government's auto-safety agency is considering two road tests and will announce its decision Oct. 7, according to AP. In the future, the government's five-star rating system for rollover risk, as well as the mathematical formula approach, will factor in road-tests results, AP said. In one of the road tests, a vehicle is driven in a straight line at 60 mph and then abruptly turned. In the second, a vehicle is driven in a straight line at 50 mph, turned left, then sharply turned right, according to AP. The mathematical formula uses the vehicle's width and center of gravity to produce a rating. One star means a vehicle has a rollover risk of more than 40 percent; five stars mean a risk of less than 10 percent. Sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks are more top-heavy and tend to get lower marks under the mathematical approach, AP noted.