TRW Automotive To Supply Electric Steering for a Range of Light Commercial Vans
LIVONIA, Mich., Jan. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (NYSE: TRW) today announced a major contract win to supply a range of vehicle manufacturers with Electrically Powered Hydraulic Steering (EPHS) for light commercial vehicle (LCV) van platforms that will launch in 2013. TRW's EPHS offers comparable fuel economy and CO2 reduction benefits to full electric steering, but EPHS also accommodates higher rack load applications. The Company's latest generation EPHS system, Gen-C, is a market leader in terms of output power derived from 12 volt systems.
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The European Commission has recently announced plans for even tighter emissions targets for LCVs of 175g/km by 2017 and 147g/km by 2020.
Charlie Cregeur, global steering product planning director for TRW, said: "This mature technology supports light commercial or panel vans, as they're called. These panel vans often drive more than 100,000 km per year per vehicle. With fuel efficiency of up to 0.3lg per 100km and related CO2 reduction of approximately 7g/km, fleet operators and individual businesses can really quantify the benefit. With more than 20 million systems in the field, EPHS is a proven solution and fleet operators can be confident of its reliability and performance."
Frank Lubischer, vice president, steering engineering, adds: "Looking at LCVs we see tremendous growth potential whenever tighter CO2 regulations are introduced and full electric steering cannot support the rack loads. Our Gen-C motor pump unit delivers up to 1kW power and supports rack loads of up to 18 kN for vehicles of up to 7 tons in weight."
The fuel efficiency and comfort features offered by EPHS are attractive to commercial drivers and fleet owners. TRW's EPHS system also benefits from its advanced speed proportional steering technology. This flexible tuning capability allows TRW's EPHS system to adapt to different driving conditions, providing a comfortable setting for parking and city driving, while delivering a safe and robust feel at higher speeds. There is also the option for EPHS to vary assist levels depending on the vehicle loading information provided by other vehicle subsystems.
Lubischer concluded: "As vehicle manufacturers compete to be faster to market with new products and powertrain options, EPHS is attractive due to its ease of application; packaging flexibility of the motor pump unit; short development time; low engineering cost; and proven track record in the field. It is currently fit on the full range of vehicles from the B segment through to SUVs and LCVs. Initially the expectation had been that full EPS would replace EPHS, but we're seeing continued demand for this technology alongside our market leading EPS solutions."
About TRW
With 2009 sales of $11.6 billion, TRW Automotive ranks among the world's leading automotive suppliers. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, USA, the Company, through its subsidiaries, operates in 26 countries and employs over 60,000 people worldwide. TRW Automotive products include integrated vehicle control and driver assist systems, braking systems, steering systems, suspension systems, occupant safety systems (seat belts and airbags), electronics, engine components, fastening systems and aftermarket replacement parts and services. All references to "TRW Automotive", "TRW" or the "Company" in this press release refer to TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. and its subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated. TRW Automotive news is available on the internet at www.trw.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains statements that are not statements of historical fact, but instead are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties which can cause our actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements, including those set forth in our Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 (our "Form 10-K") and our Form 10-Q for each of the quarters ended April 2, July 2, and October 1, 2010, such as: any shortage of supplies adversely affecting us; commodity inflationary pressures adversely affecting our profitability or supply base; disruptions in the financial markets adversely impacting the availability and cost of credit negatively affecting our business; any further material contraction in automotive sales and production adversely affecting our results, liquidity or the viability of our supply base; pricing pressures from our customers adversely affecting our profitability; the loss of any of our largest customers materially adversely affecting us; costs of product liability, warranty and recall claims and efforts by customers to adversely alter contract terms and conditions concerning warranty and recall participation; costs or liabilities relating to environmental, health and safety regulations; strengthening of the U.S. dollar and other foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations impacting our results; any increase in the expense of our pension and other postretirement benefits or the funding requirements of our pension plans; risks associated with non-U.S. operations, including foreign exchange risks and economic and political uncertainty in some regions; work stoppages or other labor issues at our facilities or at the facilities of our customers or suppliers; assertions by or against us relating to intellectual property rights; the possibility that our largest stockholder's interests will conflict with our or our other stockholders' interests; and other risks and uncertainties set forth in our Form 10-K and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any update or revision to any of the forward-looking statements.
SOURCE TRW Automotive Holdings Corp.
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