TRW says it is maintaining its affordable safety approach to vehicle systems as it looks to capitalise on its market position in the field.
Talking to just-auto on the sidelines of its Ride and Drive event at Germany’s Hockenheimring, TRW global marketing director, Stefan Schmitt, outlined some of the supplier’s safety systems philosophy.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“We are [pleased] with our positioning of, let’s say, pretty much the global leader when it comes to active and passive safety,” said Schmitt.
“It is our goal to make sure safety technologies are available to all around the globe. We are sticking to ‘affordable safety,’ absolutely.”
Schmitt also emphasised the dramatic role technology was having in cutting road fatalities in developed markets, with deaths falling by as much as 50% in some cases.
“The curve of road fatalities in the last ten, 15, 20 years, especially in more developed markets, whether Europe [or] North America [is] down by 50% or more,” said Schmitt.
“Definitely, really significant reduction. It is now pretty much delivered by passive safety such as smarter airbags. Now it is the decade of adaptive safety technologies to avoid the accident, starting with electronic stability control.
“Everybody is interested to have as much as possible – of course at the right price. We were able to bring down pricing and cost for all these devices so they are reasonable and affordable.”
The component producer, which was showcasing a raft of its safety features at Hockenheim including cameras, radars, emergency steering assist, sensors and integrated brake systems, among many others, also expressed confidence in the economic recovery gradually taking place in several markets.
“We are clearly well positioned,” said Schmitt. “The outlook for most markets is really good. We see Europe – [the] last couple of quarters we saw for the first time vehicle growth went up.
“The US is very good and it looks like it is going in the right direction. China is of course, still the market for growth.”
TRW also noted Euro NCAP had introduced automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane depature warning into its rating scheme, while in North America, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had made fitment of forward collision warning or AEB a requirement to receive its ‘Top Safety Pick.’
From 2016, Euro NCAP will also introduce pedestrian AEB into its assessment programme and is considering additional tests for other vulnerable road users such as cyclists in future updates.
