Delphi Mechatronic Systems Earns French Honor For Automotive Electronics Innovation

PARIS, July 8 -- Delphi Mechatronic Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delphi Corporation , has earned a prestigious industry award for automotive electronics innovation.

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During the traditional annual reception which brings together members of EPCOS and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SIA), representatives of the Delphi Mechatronic Systems team from the development center in Illkirch, France, were presented with the EPCOS/SIA automotive electronics innovation award in the 'life on board, comfort and cockpit' category. A jury comprised of leading journalists and representatives of French manufacturers awarded this prestigious prize.

The winning system is a door handle equipped with an anticipation capacitance detector, which is fitted on Peugeot's brand new 307 CC cabriolet. The 307 CC cabriolet has a retractable hard top, doors without frames, and side windows which seat directly into the roof seal to form a perfect fit.

When the door is unlocked from the outside, the window must be lowered a very small amount to release it from the seal. The user is unaware of this lowering. In less than 40 milliseconds, the capacitance detector anticipates the user's action before the handle is actually moved to open the door. The window is automatically lowered a small amount in order to release it from the seal and the door opens freely, preventing any seal wear due to friction.

A European patent application has been submitted for this world first by the Delphi Mechatronic Systems team who developed it in collaboration with Bourbon Fabi, the company responsible for integration of the technology into the door handle body.

For more information about Delphi, visit Delphi's Virtual Press Room at www.delphi.com .

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