Jason - Here's some potentially good news. I guess this is the 'pending announcement' Cav heard rumors of. Nothing solid, but at least it is something.
Regards, Dave
Major OEM Customers Request That AimRite Holdings Present the COAST Suspension System
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1999--AimRite Holdings Corporation (Nasdaq/BB:AIMH - news) is pleased to announce that it will be providing formal presentations of its revolutionary production COAST(tm) computer suspension control system to major OEM customers. Those scheduled for January include Monroe Auto Equipment, Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F - news] and the National Automotive Center (which represents the military). These organizations are signing Confidentiality Agreements so that an extensive technical presentation can be provided that completely reveals the simplicity and impressive potential of the COAST technology. The COAST(tm) (Computer Optimized Adaptive Suspension Technology) suspension control system uses Variable Constant Force(tm) to achieve unparalleled ride luxury and performance for virtually all automotive applications. The potential of the COAST system can best be appreciated by viewing the first 3 of the over 30 slides that will be presented to industry. These can be found by going to the What's New section of our website at www.aimrite.com.
According to Dr. Ken Coleman, president of AimRite, ''These presentations could not have been made until this month because the current COAST system has been drastically improved over the production design that was announced by AimRite last summer. When the production financing was delayed last year, we made a strategic decision to go ahead and implement significant improvements that had been under development.''
The production COAST system that was available last summer provided the desired performance, but it was relatively complex and expensive to manufacture. The new production COAST system has fewer and easier to manufacture components, has a significantly lower production cost and is much more robust and reliable. Although details of the improvements cannot be disclosed until appropriate patent protection is secured, the following improvements were achieved: 1) The old proprietary pressure regulating valves were replaced with a new proprietary design that has fewer parts, is much smaller and is significantly cheaper to manufacture. 2)The large single central controller was replaced by a distributed architecture, with an independent computer integrated into each COAST suspension unit that optimally adjusts each wheel 400 times per second. In order to achieve near ideal performance, the wheel computers communicate with each other and a central computer using the new automotive SAE Controller Area Network (CAN). 3)The performance of the existing algorithms were further improved using extensive computer simulations and modeling. 4)Finally, each computer incorporates Flash RAM for quick program modifications. This will allow for easy software maintenance and future upgrades on customer vehicles via a laptop PC and software supplied by AimRite.
These improvements are being included in new patent applications that will join existing worldwide patents already covering the COAST technology. Because of the performance, safety and reliability that the COAST system offers, AimRite expects that it will eventually become universally available on all vehicles.
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