Delphi's New Energy Absorbing Steering Column Technology Further Enhances Driver Safety

Recent NHTSA Report* Shows Traditional Energy-Absorbing Steering Columns Saved 53,000 lives; Second Only to Seat Belts

TROY, Mich., March 7 -- A recent report from NHTSA cites that energy absorbing steering columns are second, only to safety belts, as an effective safety device for vehicle drivers. Now Delphi Corp.'s newest steering column technology will further enhance Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury driver safety.

Delphi next-generation active energy absorbing steering columns, featured on the 2005 Lincoln Town Car, Crown Victoria, and Mercury Grand Marquis, have the ability to automatically adjust within milliseconds of a crash to the driver weight and size, seat belt usage, vehicle speed and crash severity. The adaptable actuation of the new Delphi steering column helps automotive manufacturers meet the belted and unbelted crash dummy test requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 208 intended to evaluate occupant crash protection for both smaller 5th percentile female drivers and larger 50th percentile male drivers during frontal collisions.

"Delphi has realized the importance of driver occupant crash energy management since we designed and produced the industry's first energy absorbing steering column in the 1960s," stated Dan Crishon, business line executive, steering columns. "Since then we have led the industry with technical innovations such as our most recent active energy absorbing steering column technology. The recent NHTSA study further validates our safety research and encourages us to continue to look ahead at other ways to enhance driver safety with energy absorption including complete head-to-toe driver protection."

*NHTSA's Findings on Energy-Absorbing Steering Columns

The new NHTSA report, "Lives Saved by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and other vehicle safety technologies 1960-2002," credits energy- absorbing steering columns with having saved 53,000 lives since the technology first appeared in vehicles in 1968.

In terms of saving lives, NHTSA ranked the energy-absorbing steering columns among the top three safety devices -- second only to seatbelts and ranked ahead of airbags.

Energy-absorbing steering columns were installed in passenger cars in response to the FMVSS 203 regulation in 1968. Prior to that time the steering column was the most common source of serious injury for drivers involved in frontal crashes according to NHTSA's "Evaluation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for Passenger Car Steering Assemblies." Energy absorbing steering columns are designed to compress at a controlled rate, helping to cushion the impact on the driver's chest in frontal crashes. The NHTSA report cites that over the past many years, enhancements to FMVSS 203, FMVSS 204, and FMVSS 208 have been effective in further improving driver safety for a wider range of individual weight and size.

Consumers also recognize the importance of energy absorbing steering columns. A recent survey completed by a third party on behalf of Delphi indicates that more than 70% of consumers understand the important role that an energy absorbing steering column plays in driver safety during frontal impacts.

"Our rich heritage and expertise in occupant protection and electrical subsystem integration enables our engineers to continue to exceed the needs of our customers," stated Richard Nash, Chief Engineer, Steering Columns. "We provide more than six million energy absorbing steering columns per year to major OEMs worldwide to help improve driver safety. We look forward to bringing future innovations to market such as complete head-to-toe protection systems."

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