Abstract: The invention relates to a safety system for a motor vehicle having an internal-combustion engine. Independent quantities are used for engine control and for monitoring the engine control. Control of the internal-combustion engine is performed, for example, by way of an operating parameter characterizing the engine load, while monitoring of the engine control is performed by means of the output torque. Preferably, monitoring of the engine control is integrated into a traction control system, in which case desired and actual values for a quantity characterizing the vehicle propulsion, such as the output torque, are transmitted by the engine control to the monitoring system and are compared there for recognizing a fault. If a fault is recognized in the traction control system, a signal is transmitted back to the engine control unit, to influence the engine control.