TRW issues statement regarding the City of Mesa's actions against TRW.

MESA, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 1995--TRW Inc. (NYSE:TRW) Tuesday issued the following statement in response to the City of Mesa's actions regarding its passenger-side air bag operations.

It may be attributed to Thomas W. Cresante, vice president of operations, TRW Inflatable Restraint Systems.

-- Senior officials of TRW were encouraged after a meeting this afternoon with City of Mesa Fire Chief John Oliver and senior members of his staff regarding a cease and desist order issued today against TRW's passenger-side air bag propellant operations.

-- The order requires TRW to shut down "the grinding, blending, pressing, drying and packaging of sodium azide/ferric oxide air bag gas generant compound at Site 2," which is TRW's 11202 E. Germann Rd. facility. The order will be in effect until TRW can conduct a complete review of their operations and ensure a safe environment.

-- Based on today's meeting between TRW and fire department officials, the two sides were hopeful that issues can be resolved within the next few days. TRW is committed to the continuous safety process improvements necessary to run safe effective operations.

Company officials outlined several process improvement initiatives to the city today that were met favorably as part of TRW's aggressive response to strengthen its safety processes and procedures.

-- Cresante, vice president of operations for TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, said the company is complying with the city's order. He emphasized that "safety is the highest priority of TRW and we are committed to making any safety improvements necessary for the safety of our air bag operations."

-- TRW currently has a sufficient amount of inventory to meet customer demands if the issues can be resolved within the next several days.

-- The company has begun to make a safe, orderly shutdown of its propellant operations. The shutdown will affect about 1,300 employees in the passenger-side operations at Germann Road.

-- The 1,750 employees in TRW's driver-side air bag operations, located primarily on Higley Road in Mesa, are not affected.

-- The city's decision to close down propellant operations comes after two incidents at the Germann Road facility in the past several days and a number of them in the past several months.

There have been no serious injuries, minor damage and little downtime at Germann Road because of the remotely controlled, robotically operated bays utilizing the company's sophisticated high-speed sensing and deluge system.

-- TRW noted that the Germann Road facility has an excellent record of compliance with local, state and federal safety requirements. The operation has been inspected on numerous occasions by a variety of safety authorities and TRW has had no serious safety citations to date.

-- Impacted Germann Road employees are to report to their regularly scheduled shift on Tuesday, at which time they will learn about a special employee meeting on Wednesday.

CONTACT: TRW Inc.

Gary Klasen, 602/987-4417