| Indianapolis and Westfield, IN—April 27, 2006. Today, at the annual Fire Department Instructor’s Conference, IMMI LifeGuard Technologies announced that their RollTek Rollover Protection System is now available on Spartan fire trucks.
The RollTek Rollover Protection System is designed to save lives and reduce injuries during fire apparatus rollovers. RollTek protects firefighters by sensing a rollover, tightening the seat belts around the occupants to prevent movement, lowering suspension seats to increase survivable space, and deploying side airbags to protect the head and neck. The entire sequence of events, from activation to full deployment, takes less than ¼ of a second.
“IMMI is very excited that the advanced safety provided by RollTek will now be available to Spartan customers,” said Tom Humphrey, General Manager of IMMI LifeGuard Technologies. “RollTek is meeting a real need in the industry and is dramatically improving the safety of our firefighters.”
According to the US Fire Administration, motor vehicle accidents are the second leading cause of death for on-duty firefighters. Rollovers account for a significant number of these fatalities.
Engineers from Spartan and IMMI conducted an extensive crash-test program at IMMI’s state-of-the-art testing facility, which houses the world’s first 90-degree rollover machine for commercial vehicles.
“Spartan is committed to providing the safest fire trucks available today, and conducted several roll tests to ensure that firefighters get the best rollover protection available,” said Rich Schalter, President of Spartan Chassis. “Spartan offers RollTek on every model of fire truck and provides protection in every seating position in the cab.”
Since its debut in the fire truck industry in 2003, RollTek has been installed in 17% of all new custom fire trucks and is currently protecting thousands of firefighters in 400 communities, 40 states, and 5 countries around the world. RollTek is also available on Pierce, KME, and Ferrara fire trucks.
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About IMMI:
For over forty years, IMMI has been bringing safety to people through designing, testing and manufacturing safety restraint systems. IMMI provides hundreds of products for various sectors including the heavy truck, power sports, child seating, and school bus industries. IMMI's testing facility, the Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE), conducts dynamic crash tests, environmental tests, and analysis services. Headquartered in Westfield, Indiana, IMMI is a privately held, international company that tests to U.S., European and Australian standards and is ISO 9001-2000 certified.
About Spartan Chassis:
Spartan Chassis, Inc. (www.spartanchassis.com) operates under Spartan Motors, Inc. and is a leading developer and manufacturer of custom chassis for recreational vehicles and fire trucks. The company has a reputation for high quality, value, service and being the first to market with innovative products. Spartan Motors is publicly traded in the NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol SPAR.
AboutFDIC:
Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) provides serious training for serious firefighters in several locations worldwide, including "HOT" (Hands-on-Training) sessions. The conference provides a forum where the best instructors can train firefighters, learn from each other, and discover new products and services that help save lives. FDIC is located in Indianapolis, Indiana; was founded in 1929; and hosts 25,000 attendees.
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