Yazaki North America Determined to Win the Hearts and Minds of K-12 School Children

CANTON, Mich., April 3 -- Yazaki North America, Inc. (Yazaki), a leading supplier of vehicle power and data solutions to the automotive industry, has made science education a priority with its participation in several programs geared toward K-12 school children.

Yazaki engineers are fanning out all over the metropolitan Detroit area offering their brainpower, experience, and love of science to school children in grades K-12. Howard LeBeau, chief engineer, Electrical Distribution Systems (EDS) leads Yazaki's involvement in SAE's World in Motion program, which Yazaki has supported since 2003.

"In World in Motion, we provide kits and lessons designed to teach modern science to students in concrete and fun ways," said LeBeau. "For instance, we provide a toy car with a balloon for a motor and ask them to calculate how much the balloon has to be inflated for the car to travel a certain distance. The students run the test, collect data and calculate what they need to get a desired effect to learn the basics of scientific method."

Yazaki's support of SAE's educational programming also extends to its Micro-Electric Vehicle challenge, which it hosts at its Canton headquarters each year. Engineers from Yazaki also volunteer their time to coach a team in the FIRST (For Inspiration Science and Technology) program where school kids build progressively advanced robots and pit them against each other in a technological competition.

In addition to these and other programs developed outside Yazaki, the company has established its own science and technology outreach program for school children in partnership with the Detroit Public Schools' Detroit Children's Museum.

The Yazaki Youth Connections (YYC) program was designed to plant the seeds of interest in science and technology within the children of Detroit via hands-on, minds-on learning experiences for students in grades 3-5. The program also includes a Yazaki & You Teacher's Forum professional development program for elementary and science teachers designed to expose them to creative ways of infusing science and technology into their classrooms and a Gadgets Competition involving engineering design concepts. Over 200 students from Detroit public schools have completed the sessions since the program's kick-off in December 2005.

"The guiding principle of YYC is to instill an interest in science and technology in young people, cultivate that interest and then encourage them to remain in this region," says Brandon Dent, senior manager of Yazaki's Corporate Affairs & Communications department. "To that end, we're creating opportunities for young people from our public schools to be exposed to a fun, interesting view of science that they may never have had before."

Yazaki Corporation is a global leader in the research, development and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions, as well as advanced electronic technologies for vehicle applications. Yazaki produces electrical distribution systems, fiber optics, instrumentation, solid-state power centers, connection systems and electronics. Worldwide, the company employs over 160,000 people in 38 countries, 1,500 of whom are based in the company's North American

headquarters and research center campus in Canton, Michigan. For more information on Yazaki, log onto http://www.yazaki-na.com/ .