Toyota Upgrades Features and Increases Gentex Auto-Dimming Mirror Availability on New Avalon

ZEELAND, Mich., Feb. 7, 2005 -- Gentex Corporation, the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, announced today that the new Toyota Avalon offers the Company's interior and exterior auto-dimming mirrors with incremental electronic features, and that the Company's mirrors also are more widely available on the new Avalon than on its predecessor model.

There are three trim levels on the new Avalon, including the XLS Limited, XLS and XL. An interior auto-dimming mirror with compass and a fully integrated Johnson Controls HomeLink Wireless Control System is standard equipment on the new XLS Limited and XLS trim levels, and a base interior auto-dimming mirror is available as an accessory on the XL. In addition, driver- and passenger-side exterior auto-dimming mirrors with turn signal are standard equipment on the XLS Limited, and a base auto-dimming exterior mirror is standard on the driver's side of the XLS trim level.

The predecessor Avalon model had only the XLS and XL trim levels, and offered a base interior auto-dimming mirror and a base driver-side exterior auto-dimming mirror on the XLS.

The turn signal in the auto-dimming exterior mirrors offered on the new Avalon is a chevron-shaped array of LEDs that is aimed at a driver in the vehicle's blind spot, and serves as a warning that the driver intends to either turn or change lanes. The HomeLink feature consists of three buttons conveniently located on the face of the interior auto-dimming mirror that may be programmed to operate garage door openers, estate gates, security systems, home lighting, and other radio frequency-controlled devices.

"Over the past few years, Toyota has grown significantly to become the Company's second-largest customer," said Gentex Executive Vice President Garth Deur. "The Avalon is the first Toyota brand vehicle to offer a three-mirror auto-dimming system as standard equipment on the upper trim levels. We estimate that the XLS Limited and XLS trim levels account for about 75 percent of the new Avalon's production."

Founded in 1974, Gentex Corporation is an international company that provides high-quality products to the worldwide automotive industry and North American fire protection market. Based in Zeeland, Michigan, the Company develops, manufactures and markets interior and exterior automatic-dimming automotive rearview mirrors that utilize proprietary electrochromic technology to dim in proportion to the amount of headlight glare from trailing vehicle headlamps. Many of the mirrors are sold with advanced electronic features, and more than 95 percent of the Company's revenues are derived from the sales of auto-dimming mirrors to nearly every major automaker in the world.