Ride and Drive Opportunity: Experience Continental's Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Technology Firsthand
Safety Belt Safe Joins Continental for Safety Demonstration at Hollywood Park
Who: Phil Headley, Chief Engineer of Advanced Technology at
Continental Teves, one of the world's leading automotive
suppliers of safety technologies.
Stephanie Tombrello, LCSW, Executive Director, SafetyBeltSafe
U.S.A,. a national consumer organization dedicated to child
passenger safety in automobiles.
What: Headley will discuss electronic stability control (ESC) and
provide media a brief overview and a "hands-on" experience of
this life-saving technology, during a ride and drive featuring
vehicles equipped with ESC. Tombrello will discuss key issues
in buckling up children properly and how built-in safety
features contribute to safety. Both will be available for
interviews.
Tours of Continental's Safely There mobile exhibit,
highlighting Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and other crash
avoidance technologies currently available on new vehicles. It
features interactive, multimedia displays and media
representatives can "test drive" a vehicle with/without
electronic stability control in a sophisticated, 3-D driving
simulator.
When: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 -- 9:45 a.m. - noon
Where: Hollywood Park, 1050 S. Prairie Avenue, Inglewood,
Parking Lot 7
Use Gate 2 entrance, off Prairie Avenue at Arborvitae Avenue.
Why: Safety on the highway is increasingly topical. Nearly every
morning it seems the traffic update contains a report of a
serious crash, or even a rollover.
NHTSA announced new rollover tests and ratings for light
vehicles recently, highlighting a promising technology,
electronic stability control (ESC). Recent studies show ESC
helps reduce single vehicle crashes, including rollovers. Some
automakers also have recently announced adding electronic
stability control as standard equipment.
More than 700 rollovers occur every day in the United States,
with nearly 1,000 occurring in California every year.
Traffic deaths in 2002 reached the highest level since 1990,
and fatalities in rollover crashes accounted for 82 percent of
the increase in 2002, according to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA). There has been a steady
drumbeat of warnings about the dangers of rollovers, especially
in SUVs.
* Available safety equipment that is widely used in Europe and
elsewhere that helps prevent 5,000 to 6,000 deaths every
year is still unknown to most Americans. The Continental
"Safely There" exhibit demonstrates this currently available
technology to the public.
* The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended
recently that NHTSA expand and expedite its current
evaluation of electronic stability control with an eye to
requiring it on all vehicles.
* Continental, a major automotive supplier of electronic
stability control and other safety equipment, is on a
national educational road tour to promote consumer awareness
about preventing rollover crashes, injuries and fatalities.
More information is available at www.conti-online.com or
www.contitevesna.com
B-roll: B-roll of rollover crashes and electronic stability control
effectiveness is available.
Contacts: Emily Neumann or Lesley Roberts, 310-479-9929
Jim Gill, 248-882-6309
Michelle Culver, 248-362-4200
PRNewswire -- Nov. 13