The Right Ingredients For a Safe Car: It's Always What's In It That Counts

HANOVER – September 18, 2008: Take four tires and a car body and the car’s finished. That sounds nice but unfortunately the ingredients for making a road-safe car are not so plain. On the contrary, the demands for driving and traffic safety are even growing. Yet, safety technology means more and not less driving enjoyment. Intelligent brake systems, driver assistance systems, and information functions give drivers more control, confidence, and make driving more relaxed. Driving becomes a real opportunity to experience technology. The international automotive supplier Continental has made this its task and is developing state-of-the-art safety systems to reduce the number of accidents worldwide. Dr. Ralf Cramer, Head of Chassis & Safety Division: “Continental would like everyone to be driving safe vehicles. For us safety for all means that we are working hard to make these new technologies possible for use in all vehicles and for all markets.”

In order that car buyers acquire the right “taste,” it is important to get the “recipe” for production right – just like for gourmet menus. And in the future, the right ingredients will not only appeal to men but also more and more to women. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG: “Women are becoming a growing market power that we have to address. This development is vital for us.”

The range of “ingredients” for cars is diverse, particularly when it comes to safety. When buying a car, 70 to 90 percent of women pay particular attention to this criterion. At the same time, however, almost 60 percent of potential women car buyers have never heard of assistance systems such as LDW (keeps the vehicle in its lane), BSD (warns the driver when another vehicle is in their blind spot) or ACC (this intelligent cruise control keeps distance and speed constant).

The reason why women do not (yet) know as much about vehicle technology is that women-targeted media seldom, if at all, address the topic of cars. Therefore, at the ADAC driver training center in Linthe near Berlin, Continental gave a presentation with the motto “Just Drive and Enjoy Safety” on the latest developments in driving safety and intelligent automotive mobility - for the first time to the international women’s and general interest media as well as the daily and weekly newspapers.

Sandra Stella Triebl, editor of “Ladies Drive,” the first women’s magazine for business, cars, and lifestyle, attended the event and was confident about this growing market: “According to statistics, women are the decisive factor making up 70 percent of new car buyers. When car manufacturers realize this, they will also take the special needs of women into consideration when “mixing the ingredients” for their cars.