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| RETURN TO FEBRUARY 2004 NEWSLETTER Consulting Services for Developing Select Means of Enhancing Safety in Travel Having been the overseer for developing the first production ABS GAI, also developed the Patented:
Is availing its consulting services for developing select means of enhancing Safety in Travel Colorado Springs, Colorado, February 10, 2004. GA International, Inc. (GAI), the company whose predecessor managed, for Kelsey-Hayes, the development of the first ABS in Production Vehicles, is in the process of making its consulting services available to select companies. The first ABS system was designed around a Hydro Aire aircraft ABS, which the manufacturer simplified and converted to function with a land vehicle. The adaptation at Kelsey-Hayes included productizing, and making the system function within safety boundaries, which GAI help establish, but that in nearly every road condition was an improvement over normal braking. The system developed at Kelsey-Hayes was the first ABS to reach actual production. GAI experiences include road racing under the auspices of the SCCA. Its experience including the modification of a SCCA A-Production vehicle, work which was done in conjunction with the late Mark Donohue who was Chief Engineer at Griffith Motors, at the time. Modifications included brakes, suspension components, and the cooling system, allowing the Griffith 200, a vehicle with a very short wheelbase, to become competitive. GAI also developed for various other clients patented: Airbag devices for General Aviation, biomechanical splints to help rehabilitate stiff body joints, audible backup warning system for land vehicles, and other state-of-the-art devices. GAI also consulted to the FAA in the area of radar systems, it wrote all Agency technical manuals for its long-range radar and beacons in the early to mid Eighties. The company is now reentering the consulting business, which will include Government [technical] interfaces when it is so desired. The court recognized Dan Goor, the GAI Principal Technologist, an expert witness with particular emphases on “fail-safe” mechanisms. Dan Goor, a Gold Member of the ARC network, is available to do expert witness work in various areas of safety in travel. Having arranged for over 200 sled tests, as well as a number of crash tests into barriers, GAI accumulated a significant body of data dealing with biomechanics, and the boundaries for survivability. In addition to testing to Government standards such as Federal Motor Vehicle Standard (FMVSS) numbers 208, and 213, GAI conducted tests with parameters it developed to satisfy its own requirements. On October 22, 2003, a GAI patented concept the Airbag Compatible Infant Seat that was assigned to XSCi, was tested at the CAPE test facility in Indianapolis. The XSCi seat was tested to FMVSS-213, and to FMVSS-208: S19 (Option 1, and Option 2), and S20. It passed all tests with good margins. The FMVSS-208: S19 Option 2, is a test where the [dummy] infant interacts with a deploying airbag, the XSCi seat, Pioneered II passed with flying colors, no other seat on the market can even approach such performance. The seat also met the biomechanical parameters for FMVSS-208: S20 when interacting with a solid barrier (such as the European test barrier R-44), no other seat can do that. In addition to crash survivability, GAI has a keen interest in crash avoidance. To that end, GAI studied and made presentations to the likes of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) regarding driver distractions, and how they relate to crashes. Of particular interest, and with strong emphases, on distraction by children from the backseat. Since this area is generally neglected, or rather overshadowed by such things as in vehicle technologies, GAI elected to expose these dangers, which are imposed by well intended, but often ill-advised government edicts. GAI has background in both the social and physical sciences, and has experience in the area of expert witnessing. GAI assigned over twenty patents to seven different High Tech companies; a number of devices are now in production. Contact through the
ARC Network members,
or: email buppahxsci@aol.com |
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