IMMI engineers receive Henry Ford II award

[IMAGE]2010.jpg[/IMAGE]Six engineers from IMMI received the 2009 SAE International Henry Ford II Distinguished Award for Excellence in Automotive Engineering Award during the SAE 2010 World Congress.

The honor recognizes the company's accomplishments in increasing safety on motorcoaches and school buses with the development of the Premier seat, which incorporates SafeGuard SmartFrame technology to protect both belted and unbelted occupants. The Premier seat was originally developed for Greyhound, a division of FirstGroup America, for use on its motorcoaches.

The engineers honored were Douglas Bittner, Christopher W. Foye, Jeffrey A. King, David Merrick, Thomas C. Rumler and Jon Szalai.

SmartFrame is a technology that was originally developed for the school transportation industry and has been available on school buses since 2002.

In the summer of 2010, IMMI will launch a model of this seat for the school transportation market. The new SafeGuard Premier activity seat, with lap-shoulder belts and SmartFrame technology, provides compartmentalization protection for unbelted occupants per FMVSS 222. When a district uses school buses for activity or sports team transportation, students can have school bus safety with motorcoach comfort.