HELEN PETRAUSKAS: AIRBAG ADVOCATE, FORD EXECUTIVE, PASSES AWAY FOLLOWING LONG ILLNESS

Dearborn March 11, 2006; Former Ford Vice President Helen Petrauskas, instrumental in introducing airbags as standard equipment in cars, died Wednesday night in Michigan following a lengthy illness.

A chemist-turned-lawyer, Petrauskas served the company for 30 years before retiring as vice president of Environment and Safety Engineering. She started her career at Ford in 1971 as a staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel where she worked on emissions and safety issues.

Recognized throughout the automotive industry as a champion of safety and health issues, Petrauskas was best known for her unflagging efforts in the area of airbag implementation.

"She was definitely a leader, and I would credit her with the accomplishment of getting airbags into vehicles," said Diane Steed, who served as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1983 through 1989. "She worked tirelessly behind the scenes to do what had to be done to make the safety case for airbags and help us figure a way to make that happen."

"Helen was a great lady with an ability to work with people at all levels of the organization," said Harold "Red" Poling, former Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company. "She had great relations with officials in Washington which significantly helped the company in its dealings with regulatory agencies."

Petrauskas was one of the first women to move up through the ranks and become a vice president in 1983.

"Everybody was a real fan of Helen's because she was such a smart woman, and she really understood the challenges that she had and fought hard to do the right thing for the industry and for the people at Ford," said Sue Cischke, who succeeded Petrauskas as vice president, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company, in 2001. "She is going to be missed."

"She will be remembered as a pioneer," said David Cole, chairman, Center for Automotive Research. "But it wasn't because she was a woman; it was because she was good at what she did. She had the intellectual ability, the training and personal skills that are essential to being an effective senior executive."

Steed and Cischke both noted that Petrauskas had a rare quality for being able to find common ground between government and industry.

"Helen will be remembered as a wise counsel for the industry in terms of how to approach some of the regulations that we have today," said Cischke. "She was always looking for a win-win situation so that we could work with government to come up with the best solution for the industry and Ford."

In addition to her lifelong commitment to health and safety issues in the automotive industry, Petrauskas was also an advocate for environmental efforts, according to Andy Acho, director, Environmental Outreach and Strategy, Ford Motor Company.

"She had a global perspective and pushed the company to become more proactive," said Acho. "Under her leadership, Ford led the industry in having all of its plants meet international environmental standards."

Petrauskas was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1944. When she was three days old, her family fled the country to escape communism. They spent three years on a farm in Austria before getting sponsored to come to America. Despite a variety of obstacles in her life, Petrauskas remained focused.

"What I remember most about those years was the example my parents set," Petrauskas once said. "They never complained. They made the most of what life gave them and retained a remarkable enthusiasm for life."

Throughout her life, Petrauskas never forgot her roots. In addition to a host of other posts, she served as U.S. representative on the Board of Trustees of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary. She has also served as a senior staff member on the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

Petrauskas is survived by her husband Raymond, daughter, Laura, and her three-week-old granddaughter, Alexandra Helen Dietze, and her brother, Mark Slywynsky.