Grammer AG-Automotive, a leading global supplier of automotive interior components and systems, recently exhibited more than 30 new products at General Motors’ TechWorld Fair held at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.
Grammer product offerings showcased for GM included headrests with built- in video displays and center consoles, an Opel Vectra sliding armrest with storage compartment and a number of product prototypes, such as a rear, integrated child-booster seat.
Grammer also exhibited new active head-restraint systems that meet new federal whiplash-prevention regulations. Offered as a drop-in replacement, Grammer’s generation II (Gen. II) unit is linked by a wire to a vehicle’s existing crash sensors.
Triggering 25 milliseconds or more before a crash pulse reaches the vehicle’s cabin, Grammer’s Gen. II head restraint aligns to the occupant’s head and spine and prevents whiplash injuries.
Grammer is interested in growing its business with GM and sent two of its top executives — Uwe Woehner, a member of the company’s board of directors, and Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Christian Brauer — to meet with GM engineers, product planners and purchasing executives.
“It was an honor to be one of six suppliers to participate in GM’s TechWorld exhibit,” Woehner said. “We had a chance to meet one-on-one with a number of key GM executives and engineers and provide them with a unique look at our technologies.”
Grammer’s child-booster seat and sliding armrest also drew interest at the GM program. The integrated booster chairs are designed to give added height to children or other passengers who are between 42 – 57 inches tall. These occupants do not sit up high enough for seatbelt shoulder straps to effectively restrain them, but they are too big for conventional child safety seats.
Designed to collapse into either a captain’s chair or a bench seat, Grammer reports that the booster seat will appear on two North American vehicles in 2008.
GM’s TechWorld is an event at which suppliers are assigned separate rooms at GM’s Tech Center to showcase applications and systems to teams of GM vehicle line executives, purchasing managers and engineers. Up to 2,000 GM staffers came and many voted on whether to contract with the suppliers for vehicle programs starting as soon as 2010.
“GM TechWorld is a very important supplier event drawing high-level GM executives such as Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, GM Vice President of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Bo Anderson and GM Vice President of Global Engineering James Queen plus members of the media,” Woehner added.
Headquartered in Amberg, Germany, Grammer AG is a specialist in the development and production of components and systems for automobile interiors, as well as driver and passenger seats for offroad vehicles, trucks, buses and trains. Grammer’s key division, Automotive, supplies headrests, armrests and center consoles as well as integrated children’s seats to well-known automakers and vehicle systems suppliers.
The company’s second division, Seating Systems, includes two business units — Driver Seats and Passenger Seats. Driver Seats is an OEM and aftermarket supplier for prominent truck and offroad automakers. Passenger Seats supplies original equipment manufacturers as well as bus and train operators.
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