Bosch Provides ESC Training To GM Dealers

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., March 31 -- Robert Bosch Corporation is supporting General Motors' 2007 Full-Size SUV Training Tour by providing GM dealers with StabiliTrak(R) Electronic Stability Control (ESC) training. The training tour began in January of 2006 and will visit 29 cities over a period of three months. Bosch's ESC technology is standard equipment on the 2007 Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon.

The purpose of the training program, known as ESCential, is to educate dealership sales consultants on the active safety benefits of ESC. The program includes training for the instructors and professional drivers who support new vehicle launches, and is designed to help teach individual dealership personnel how to communicate the benefits of ESC to vehicle consumers.

"Bosch ESC is an important technical advancement that delivers the outstanding level of safety that today's consumers expect from their vehicles," said Rich Golitko, marketing director, electronic stability control promotion, Robert Bosch Corporation. "But it is not enough to supply the technology. We need to provide dealers with the tools to translate ESC's benefits to the consumers who purchase it."

To assist with dealer training, Bosch equipped a Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon, supplied by General Motors, with roll-bars, outriggers and lights installed on each corner of the roof. The lights are connected directly to the brake lines at each wheel corner and indicate which wheel or wheels are braking to keep the vehicle stable and in control. During test rides with a professional driver, participants for the first time, have a visual representation of how ESC works.

Bosch also participated in a pilot training program for GM in 2004, educating 6,500 Buick dealership personnel during the LaCrosse vehicle launch on the technology's safety benefits and terminology. Results from the LaCrosse program found that 90 percent of sales consultants were aware of ESC prior to instruction, but only 30 to 40 percent were comfortable explaining the technology. After the training, 90 percent of event attendees were comfortable explaining the technology and related safety benefits.

Introduced in 1995, Bosch's ESC functions instantaneously to keep the vehicle on the course intended by the driver. Electronic Stability Control helps a driver maintain vehicle control driving in certain difficult conditions such as ice, snow, gravel, wet pavement and uneven road surfaces as well as in emergency lane changes or avoidance maneuvers.

The Bosch Group is a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology. In fiscal 2004, approximately 242,000 associates generated sales of 40 billion euros. Set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as "Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering," the Bosch Group today comprises a manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service network of approximately 260 subsidiaries and more than 10,000 service centers in over 130 countries.

In North America, the Bosch Group manufactures and markets automotive original equipment and aftermarket products, industrial automation and mobile products, power tools and accessories, security technology, packaging equipment and household appliances. Bosch employs approximately 23,000 associates in more than 80 primary facilities throughout North America and reported sales of $8.4 billion in 2005. For more information, visit http://www.bosch.us/ .