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Future Trends in Automotive Interiors the Focus Of the A&TI Expo June 8-10

4 June 1999

Future Trends in Automotive Interiors the Focus Of the A&TI Expo June 8-10 at Cobo Center 
    DETROIT, June 3 -- Imagine changing your car's interior color
scheme by simply swapping removable panels.  Imagine pushing a button to take
all the seats out to create a perfectly flat load floor for cargo.  Imagine
giving your car instructions to open the door via satellite the next time you
lock the keys inside.  Or imagine the enjoyment of a voice-activated hands-
free entertainment system as you drive along.
    These possibilities and many others will be discussed by the automotive
industry's top engineers and designers at the Automotive & Transportation
Interiors Expo, Cobo Center June 8-10.  It is the industry's premier interiors
show and includes eight conference seminars, 250 manufacturer exhibits, and 40
technical presentations that will cover everything from safety and comfort, to
integrating new electronic conveniences and design innovations of the future.
    Automakers are putting increased emphasis on interiors and recognizing the
importance of niche markets in their new designs.  Some are creating new
interiors specifically for Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Echo Boomers and even for
select regional tastes and conveniences such as integrated electronic aids --
from phones and fax to navigation systems and television.
    Featured conferences at the Automotive & Transportation Interiors Expo
include "The Inside Story on the Future of Automotive Interior Design," an
Automotive Press Association luncheon roundtable, with panelists from
DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Mazda, Lear, JCI and Magna.  It will be held at
11:30 Tuesday, June 8.
    An interiors recycling project will conclude at noon Tuesday, June 8.
Called the "Seating Solutions Competition," it challenges undergraduate
students to design an entire seating system using only polyurethane materials
(single material families are much easier to recycle than diverse materials).
    For those uncertain about the impact of mergers, acquisitions and
consolidations, there is a presentation by CSM Worldwide Research titled
"Fewer Customers, More Opportunities."  It's at 2:30 and at 4 Tuesday, June 8.
    John Herlitz, DaimlerChrysler's Vice President of Product Design, will be
the keynote speaker at the A&TI Scholarship Awards Banquet to be held at the
Atheneum Suite Hotel Tuesday evening.
    The Air Bag Technology '99 Conference will be held both Wednesday and
Thursday, June 9-10.  Industry experts will discuss the latest developments in
airbag technology and design, addressing system problems that have recently
come to light.
    And we're all familiar with that annoying fog that appears on the inside
of our car's windshield.  The fog is created when interior plastics cure and
it's the topic of a workshop titled "Fog Testing for Automotive Interior
Materials."  The workshop runs Tuesday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
    On Thursday, June 10 there will be a discussion of the DaimlerChrysler
Process Sign-Off (PSO) procedure.  If you're a supplier, you can't do business
with DaimlerChrysler until you complete this quality procedure.  It runs from
12:30 to 5 p.m.
    In addition to the featured conference events, there are 40 technical
sessions at the Automotive & Transportation Interiors Expo that parallel auto
industry concerns including safety, comfort, interior design and market
appeal, new electronics innovations, noise-vibration-harshness, materials and
manufacturing.
    For additional information on the Automotive & Transportation Interiors
Expo, see the A&TI Web site, http://www.autointeriorexpo.com.