To the "thread,"
I have heard some speculation from a well-placed industry source that SMU is working not only with Breed on ITTR, but that Johnson Controls is in the picture as well.
Johnson sells about 60% - 70% of its seat output in the domestic U.S. market, and if the speculation is on target, my guess is that between Breed and Johnson we will get a reasonable market share, though because of the vagaries of crash testing, that might only be in rear seats for the foreseeable future.
It should be noted that crash testing is done differently in Europe, as authorities there *assume* that drivers and passengers have the good sense to buckle up. U.S. crash testing is totally passive, and our own authorities assume that the American public is too stupid to be trusted to buckle up.
Obviously, the connection is that despite ITTR's incredible competitive advantage over "straight" seatbelts (in frontal crash testing, dummies have had head movement of 5 inches as opposed to 23 inches for the same speed accident utilizing a standard three point belt), if the testing assumes no seat belt use, ITTR would have no benefit because it is housed inside the belt.
We will see in due course, but I believe we have finally turned the corner at Simula. It may be a year late (because of the 16G difficulties) but with no further stumbles, it is clear that earnings will be moving dramatically higher over the next several years.
Have a good evening. |
