TRW Displays Advanced Safety Systems, Technologies and Products
6 December 2000
TRW Displays Advanced Safety Systems, Technologies and Products at Airbag 2000+
Business Editors, Automotive WritersKARLSRUHE, Germany--Dec. 5, 2000--As one of the first companies to engineer, produce and integrate all the main elements of the vehicle safety system, TRW this week displayed advanced occupant safety systems and technologies during the Airbag 2000+ Symposium here in Karlsruhe.
"TRW technologies in air bags, propellants, modules, seat belts, pretensioning devices, steering wheels, sensors and diagnostics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and adaptable to a wider variety of crash situations," said Hubert Kuhlenkamp, TRW director of engineering for inflatable restraint and steering wheel systems in Europe.
"Airbag 2000+ allows TRW to show how our advanced products are integrated as one high-performance system to help meet the needs of vehicle makers and their safety-conscious customers," Kuhlenkamp said.
The Airbag 2000+ event is one month before TRW begins celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2001. The company's European operations will produce their 50 millionth air bag and 100 millionth steering wheel next year. The first passenger air bag was for the Mercedes S Class in 1988. TRW has produced more than 260 million seat belts in Europe during its 40 years in safety systems.
"TRW has a rich history of safety systems accomplishments," said Doug Campbell, TRW vice president of engineering for Occupant Safety Systems. "But we are most proud of the new technologies and products that will help save lives and reduce injuries through vehicle-specific systems that tailor restraints to crash conditions and occupant size and position."
Among the technologies TRW is displaying are multi-stage driver and passenger air bags with modules that are smaller sized, lower cost and easier to assemble. Passenger air bags include augment inflators, which have solid propellant and compressed gas; heated gas inflators, with stored hydrogen gas and no propellant; and an organic propellant in both single and multi-stage inflators. TRW will provide multi-stage inflators for 40 different vehicle platforms in the next two years.
The expanding side impact air bag business includes advanced door and side bag seat systems, as well as curtain bags for head and rollover protection. Active head restraint and knee bag lower-leg protection capabilities also are being displayed.
Seat belt, steering wheel and electronics capabilities also are being highlighted through hardware, video screen presentations and as part of integrated safety systems. In electronics, TRW is showing advanced occupant, weight and rollover sensing technologies, as well as a distributed system interface (DSI) architecture addressing the advanced complexity of occupant safety systems.
Many of TRW's safety systems products and systems are tested, and future technologies developed, at the new ACTS (Advanced Car Technology Systems) facility in Sailauf, Germany. ACTS, which opened in 1999, is a joint venture of TRW and Magna.
During the conference, TRW will make two presentations on: "Selection of rollover curtain system features to meet occupant performance criteria" and "Bio-adapted side bags and advanced door bags." Kuhlenkamp is the chair for one of the Airbag 2000+ sessions on "Sensor concepts and data processing."