Autoliv Contributes to Record Safety Rating.Business Editors STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2001 In the European crash test program Euro NCAP NCAP New Car Assessment Program NCAP Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides NCAP Network Capable Application Processor (from IEEE standard 1451. that was started in 1996, Renault's new Laguna, to which Autoliv is the exclusive supplier of safety systems, recently became the first vehicle ever to receive the highest possible rating - five stars. As part of this Euro New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), 86 vehicles in six categories have been crash tested. The Euro NCAP tests have set a new common European standard for crashworthiness Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of vehicles. Depending on the nature of the impact and the vehicle involved, different criteria are used to determine the . The program is backed by five European countries and the European Commission European Commission, branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community , as well as by motoring and consumer organizations in every European country. The Euro NCAP tests measure how well a vehicle protects the front and back seats occupants in a frontal crash and a side impact collision. When the new test requirements were announced, some manufacturers said that they were so stringent that it would be impossible to reach a full five star rating. But now Renault has achieved this with the Laguna model that was launched early this year. The safety restraint systems of the new Laguna has been upgraded in several ways with, for instance, such new safety systems as Autoliv's patented Inflatable Curtain for protecting the head in side impacts and Autoliv's latest generation of safety electronics. The new Laguna also has Autoliv's new frontal airbags system for which Autoliv last year received the Annual Award of the British Automobile Association Automobile Association may refer to:
Additionally, the new Laguna has been equipped with double pretensioners for the driver, which makes the Laguna the first vehicle in the world with this safety enhancement. The seat belt can thereby not only be tightened at the onset of a crash as with a regular pretensioning system, but the tightening can be adjusted to the severity of the crash. Regular pretensioners are installed in the seat belt systems for the front seat occupant and the outer-rear seat positions. All seat belts are equipped with load limiters that release some webbing before the load on the occupant's chest becomes too high. Other safety systems in the Laguna are side-impact airbags for chest protection in the seats. These bags are standard in the front seats and offered as an option in the back seat. In line with the global trend in the auto industry and Renault's policy to purchase products as systems, Autoliv is also the supplier of the steering wheel to the Laguna. "We are delighted and proud to have been selected by Renault to be the supplier and development partner for the new Laguna and are very pleased with the results of this cooperation," said Mr. Lars Westerberg Lars Westerberg (born 1948) was the CEO and President of the Swedish automotive safety company Autoliv. He is now the chairman of the board. His family, which also includes his brother and politician Per Westerberg, has run a family company for generations and the family controls , Autoliv's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The basis for this productive cooperation is, of course, Renault's own ambitions and efforts in automotive safety and Renault's OPTIMA policy which gives certain selected supplier more flexibility and possibilities to look for ways to optimize the efficiency and performance of a vehicle during the very early stages of new car development. Our responsibility in this partnership is also to suggest and develop ever more sophisticated and innovative safety technologies," concluded Lars Westerberg. For additional information: www.euroncap.com and www.renault.com Autoliv Inc. develops and manufactures automotive safety systems for all major automotive manufacturers in the world. Together with its joint ventures Autoliv has close to 80 facilities with almost 30,000 employees in more than 30 vehicle-producing countries. In addition, the company has eight technical centers around the world, including 19 test tracks, more than any other automotive safety supplier. Sales in 2000 amounted to US $4.1 billion and net income to US $170 million. The company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : ALV ALV Arvonlisävero (Finnish: value added tax) ALV Avian Leukosis Virus ALV Andorra La Vella (capital of Andorra) ALV Autonomous Land Vehicle ALV Asta La Vista ALV Alvin, Texas ALV Air Launched Vehicle ) and its Swedish Depositary Receipts depositary receipt A negotiable certificate that represents a company's publicly traded debt or equity. Depositary receipts are created when a company's shares or bonds are delivered to a depositary's custodian bank, which instructs the depositary to issue on the OM Stockholm Stock Exchange The Stockholm Stock Exchange (Swedish: Stockholmsbörsen) is a stock exchange located in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863 [1] it is the primary securities exchange of the Nordic Countries. (SSE (1) An earlier full-screen editor in OS/2. (2) (Streaming SIMD Extensions) A series of additional instructions built into Pentium CPU chips for improved multimedia performance by performing mathematical operations on multiple sets of data at the : ALIV ALIV A Life in Vain (band) ). ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/29/20010329BIT00500/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/29/20010329BIT00500/bit0002.pdf |
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