Dr. Peter E. Rieth wins U.S. Government Award for Safety Engineering Excellence

Head of Advanced Engineering, Automotive Systems division recognized for significant contributions to traffic safety

FRANKFURT, Germany and WASHINGTON, June 6 -- In recognition and appreciation of his extraordinary contributions in the field of vehicle safety technology, Dr. Ing. Peter E. Rieth, head of Advanced Engineering for the Automotive Systems division of Continental AG, was honored with the U.S. Government's Award for Safety Engineering Excellence in Washington, D.C. on June 6, 2005. This distinguished award from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the highest federal authority for the prevention and control of traffic accidents in the U.S., is traditionally presented every two years at the International Technical Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV).

For more than 22 years, Rieth has been active in the field of automotive engineering and traffic safety, and he holds more than 100 patents worldwide. Rieth has presented and been recognized at numerous symposiums, conferences, trade shows, and universities and is the author of numerous publications on topics related to safety engineering and vehicle dynamics. Traffic accident probability has been significantly decreased as a result of his work. "Continental's leading active safety technologies such as brake assist, Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and ESC II have made substantial contributions to this field", said Rieth. "I am honored to receive this distinction and give special appreciation goes to the team at Continental Automotive Systems, without which the development of these technologies would not have been possible."

Rieth was born in Eltville am Rhein, Germany in 1951. He studied mechanical engineering and earned his doctorate after five years as a scientific researcher at the Institute for Materials Technology at the Technical University Darmstadt. His professional career began in 1983 at the former Alfred Teves GmbH in Frankfurt as the strength department manager, and later as head of chassis systems development. From 1994 to 1998, Rieth was responsible for advanced engineering and technology at ITT Automotive. With the merger of the company into the Continental Group in 1998, Rieth joined the management of Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG and assumed responsibility for the Technology and Automotive Systems department. Since 2003, he has been head of Advanced Engineering for the Automotive Systems division of Continental AG and is a member of the division's Board of Management.

Rieth's professional career has always focused on the development of systems designed for vehicle safety and crash prevention. In particular, Rieth devoted his early years to working on optimal braking distance and the development of powerful brake systems which were first introduced to the market in 1984.

In the early 1990s, under the management of Dr. Rieth, an active safety system was developed that is able to recognize unstable driving situations from their onset and automatically initiate corrective actions. The product, ESC, intelligently combines ABS, electronic brake force distribution, engine torque, and yaw control entered series production at Continental Teves in 1998.

Another important contribution to vehicle safety was the development by Rieth of the brake assistant, which recognizes a given emergency situation by analyzing brake pedal pressure and then providing the driver with a maximum of brake boosting. This allows the driver to initiate maximum vehicle deceleration with light pedal pressure, and to consequently achieve a considerable reduction of the stopping distance in comparison to a system without this electronic guardian angel.

As progress was made in linking electronic braking and stability systems with additional electronic chassis control systems like electronic steering or chassis control, Rieth was able to further improve braking performance and vehicle stability. He also succeeded in optimizing the partial contradiction of driving comfort and driving pleasure. His latest development, ESC II, in addition to the usual intervention in engine power and brake, also uses active intervention in steering and chassis control. This further contributes to improving driving stability in situations with a varying grip of the individual wheels.

A natural next step for Dr. Rieth was the integration of active and passive safety systems using field sensor technology. This technology enabled the realization of Continental's APIA (Active Passive Integration Approach), the way to a car preventing crashes and avoiding occupant injury crashes. The probability of a crash is assessed by a 'risk calculator' for the current driving situation, and graduated measures for the protection of the occupants and other road users are automatically initiated. Working together with the automotive manufacturers, this project is now being prepared for series production.

The Continental Corporation is a leading supplier of brake systems, chassis components, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers. In 2004 the corporation realized sales of 12.6 billion euro. At present it has a worldwide workforce of more than 80,000.

As a worldwide leading technology partner to the automotive industry, the Automotive Systems division of Continental AG integrates extensive know-how in the fields of driving safety, powertrains and comfort. In 2004 the division achieved sales of approx. 5 billion euro with a workforce of more than 22,500. Automotive Systems incorporates Continental Teves and Continental Temic. Continental Teves develops and produces electronic and hydraulic brake, stability and chassis control systems, as well as electronic air spring systems and sensors. Continental Temic is a specialist in chassis electronics, engine management and transmission control units, as well as electric drives and comfort electronics.