The Auto Channel
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
Official Website of the New Car Buyer

Solutia Inc. offers sunscreen for your car's interior

    DETROIT, June 18 Summer is just around the corner.  And
your car is about to get burned.  A blazing summer sun can cause irreversible
damage and discoloration to plastics, cloth and leather inside your vehicle,
due to ultraviolet (UV) rays that penetrate ordinary side, rear and roof auto
glass.  Solutia Inc. offers a new product that helps act as a
sunscreen to protect your vehicle's interior.  Enhanced Protective Glass
(EPG), a new category of automotive glass for side and rear windows, and
sunroofs, helps provide that critical UV protection by sandwiching a layer of
polyvinyl butyral (PVB) -- essentially a layer of plastic -- between two
sheets of glass.

    "It's well known that the sun can be harmful to your skin," says Vicki
Holt, vice president of Solutia's Performance Films Division.  "But think
about your car -- one of your biggest investments.  Imagine yourself on a trip
to the beach -- ready for all that fun in the sun.  You take care to protect
yourself and your family.  You bring an umbrella for shade -- you coat the
kids' skin with sunscreen, and for the next several hours you have a great
time.

    "Your car doesn't have the luxury of all that protection.  There it sits
in the parking lot, the sun beating down unmercifully, just soaking up the UV
rays, fading and deteriorating the interior.  But like a good sunscreen, EPG
with Saflex can help block out those rays."

    Tests measuring UVB and UVA transmissions, conducted by the Australian
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPNSA), rated EPG with a
Ultraviolet Protection Factor that is 7 times more effective than ordinary
auto glass at blocking UV rays.  ARPNSA is the agency that creates standards
against which most European sunscreens are rated.

    EPG is available on 18 vehicle platforms around the world, with up to nine
more slated to offer the glass within the next year.  EPG can be standard, as
on the Audi A8, or can be ordered as optional equipment.  Manufacturers that
currently offer EPG include: Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Lexus and Volvo.