Solutia Expands Vydyne(R) Usage in Automotive Exterior Mirror Brackets

TROY, Mich., Feb. 8, 2005 -- The Vydyne Automotive team has worked with Lear Corporation and Bing Assembly Systems, L.L.C. in the development and production launch of the exterior mirror brackets for the Ford Freestyle and Ford 500 vehicles that debuted in late 2004. In this capacity, The Vydyne Automotive team contributed to improving time-to-market by providing quick response engineering support.

"The mirror bracket is one of the most critical components of the overall mirror design. The bracket must possess the optimal balance of stiffness, strength, and vibration damping in order to keep the mirror steady with the vehicle," says John Jurecko, automotive marketing manager for Vydyne nylon, Solutia Inc. "Solutia has developed a nylon compound with properties that have delivered excellent mirror bracket performance while usually being the most cost-effective choice when compared to other materials such as polyesters or magnesium."

"Solutia has been working in exterior mirror bracket applications for many years," added Jurecko. "We pay close attention to the latest trends in styling such as larger mirrors for SUVs and heavy trucks located farther from the vehicle and also understand the demands and challenges they pose such as managing increased drag. This places more demands on mirror brackets than ever. Mirror bracket designers need materials that have good strength-to-weight ratios, high stiffness, and frequency characteristics that address NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) requirements. Minimizing exterior mirror vibration is important to designers so they can improve the driver's view of his or her surroundings."

To keep pace with industry demand, the Vydyne Automotive team has also begun working on the development of several new exterior mirror brackets for vehicles scheduled for 2005 and 2006 production.

Further information about Vydyne Automotive may be found at http://www.vydyneautomotive.com/ or by contacting John Jurecko at Solutia at 800-865-5508 or vydyneautomotive@solutia.com .

Corporate Profile

Solutia Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: SOLUQ) uses world-class skills in applied chemistry to create value-added solutions for customers, whose products improve the lives of consumers every day. Solutia is a world leader in performance films for laminated safety glass and after-market applications; process development and scale-up services for pharmaceutical fine chemicals; specialties such as water treatment chemicals, heat transfer fluids and aviation hydraulic fluid and an integrated family of nylon products including high-performance polymers and fibers like Vydyne Nylon 6,6 and Ascend(TM) Nylon 6,6 Fiber Polymer. For more information visit: http://www.solutia.com/ .

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