This paper demonstrates the implementation of a model-based vehicle estimator, which can be used for lateral tire force estimation without using any highly nonlinear tire-road friction models. The lateral tire force estimation scheme has been designed, and it consists of the following three steps: the yaw moment estimation based on a disturbance observer, the sum of the lateral tire force of two front tires and two rear tires estimation based on a least-square method, and individual lateral tire force estimation based on a heuristic method. The proposed estimator is evaluated under two typical driving conditions and the estimation values are compared with simulator data from CarSim and experimental data provided by GM. Results to date indicate that this is an effective approach, which is considered to be of potential benefit to the automotive industry.