TRW Automotive

Traditionally, the second of the two Press Days at the Frankfurt Motor Show is when the supply side of the industry gives its press conferences and blows its trumpet. This year, that second day fell on September 12. Most press conferences were canceled, and those that did take place were solemn affairs that were necessarily cut short. When at presenting the Delphi Automotive Systems' reception, company president J.T. Battenberg, who was visibly moved by what had occurred in his homeland, called for a short silence before going ahead with a foreshortened review. Visteon Automotive Systems' president Pete Pestillo welcomed everybody, but gave no presentation at all, opting to point out that his executives on the stand were there for one-to-one talks.

While consumer electronics have long had a fast development cadence, these speeds are indicative of the pace that the auto industry must move in this space.

Sensors, controls, chassis adjustments, and other means and methods can help prevent a leading cause of fatalities on the roads today: rollovers. Here's a look.

As airbags become more plentiful, the drive is on to reduce weight and cut development time while creating a set of common components.

TRW's seat belt concept for the microMAX.

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Although image sensors are being more widely used in vehicles to aid in parking and lane change assist, they’re effectiveness is often challenged in hot weather environments.

In-vehicle wireless charging system; scalable ACUs; lithium-ion battery tech.

Reusing is eASEE It’s not uncommon to near the end of a software development cycle and lack the breadcrumbs to return to the original design, especially in the current environment of vehicle consolidation. Vector CANtech wants to make that process “eASEE.” Its new eASEE PLM software serves as a massive repository, but one that relationally links the data to map systems from legacy to contemporary software architectures. “It allows developers to share and reuse the data, but more importantly, to trace it once they’ve begun development,” says Mark Jensen, eASEE product line manager.

Accelerometers for AirbagsA family of high-g acceleration sensors able to detect rapid deceleration of vehicles during a crash has been developed by STMicroelectronics (www.st.com). These "AISI DS" peripheral-sensor accelerometers provide single-axis, in-plane motion sensing from ±20 to ±400 g.

Hella’s SENT Sensor Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. is unveiling a new line of digital sensors in late 2009 to replace analog versions, The sensors use the Single Edge Nibble Transmission (SENT) protocol: one “nibble” refers to 4 bits of data transmitted per pulse.

Designing, Engineering & Making The Drop-Top

You don’t want to get into an accident. But if you do, you probably want your vehicle equipped with the tech discussed here.

In preparing vehicle manufacturers to meet 2011 model year safety requirements from the U.S.

Clever deployment of sensors can help manufacturers reach single-digit PPMs.

ON ELECTRONICS

The exaggerated claims have been quieted. E-business has now become, for some companies, another tool to help achieve better efficiencies. Here's what some companies are doing with this tool.

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The ability to add value and be compensated for it is critical to being able to fund the next big thing (or the next in a series of incremental little things). And after all, if you are not making money on the value you add, why do it?

Engineers at TRW are working on systems that can repurpose information generated from in-vehicle navigation systems to improve occupant safety.