Motor Vehicle Lighting Council Names New Officers; Continues Effort with NHTSA to Update Automotive Lighting Standards

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 1, 2005 -- Daniel R. Robusto, president and chief operating officer of Ill.-based North American Lighting, Inc., was recently elected chairman of the Motor Vehicle Lighting Council (MVLC). He succeeds Joseph V. Borruso, president and CEO of Hella North America, who served as the MVLC's first chairman.

In this position, Robusto will direct the council's efforts to study and assess automotive lighting issues, work with industry and government organizations to support automotive lighting research and inform the motoring public of the benefits of advanced lighting technologies. Robusto will also continue to drive the MVLC's work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to update lighting-related safety standards.

In addition, the MVLC appointed Richard M. Zygadlo to vice chairman and Thomas J. Kelly to secretary. Zygadlo also serves as director and executive vice president of II Stanley Co., Inc. in Battle Creek, Mich., while Kelly serves as vice president of sales and marketing for Valeo Sylvania in Dearborn, Mich.

The council is collaborating with other industry organizations including the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Transportation Safety Equipment Institute to support NHTSA in the rewrite of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 108, a standard that specifies requirements for original and replacement headlamps, reflective devices and associated equipment. With the rewrite, the MVLC anticipates the standard will help lighting manufacturers to ensure all headlamps comply with the same requirements and will accommodate new automotive lighting technologies as they become available.

"As chairman, I look forward to continuing the council's efforts of focusing on specific automotive lighting issues and educating the motoring public about new lighting technologies and their potential impact on safety," said Robusto. "Our contribution to the standard rewrite demonstrates how the MVLC is proactively working to increase the performance and safety benefits of automotive lighting technologies."

Through cooperative efforts with NHTSA, the MVLC plans to address headlamp lens marking, leveling technologies and the continual establishment of laws and standards based on superior product performance.

The Motor Vehicle Lighting Council (MVLC) is a coalition of the leading global automotive lighting and component manufacturers and related education and research institutions committed to bringing new lighting advancements to market in order to increase vehicle performance and vehicle and pedestrian safety.

MVLC's members represent a market segment valued at approximately $2.2 billion and produce nearly 100 percent of the headlamps used for vehicles manufactured and sold in North America.

MVLC affiliate members include top auto and lighting research organizations: the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO), Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Transportation Lighting Alliance (TLA) and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). Other affiliate members include DENSO Corp., GE Lighting, OSRAM Sylvania and Philips Automotive Lighting. Primary members are Automotive Lighting Corp., Decoma International Corp., Guide Corp., Hella Lighting Corp., II Stanley Co., Inc., North American Lighting, Inc., Valeo Sylvania and Visteon Corp.

The Council -- a product line group of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) -- supports ongoing research initiatives to improve the understanding of headlight glare and to inform the motoring public on lighting issues and emerging technologies. For more information, visit http://www.mvlc.info/ .