Growth Strategy (Mobility field): Safety Business Center

Seatbelts

Until the unfortunate occurrence of traffic accidents is reduced to zero, seatbelts remain an essential product worldwide. We conduct research and development to save as many lives as possible.
To promote the development of safer vehicles, the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) provides an international framework for evaluating the safety performance of new cars. While implemented with different standards across various regions such as Europe, Japan, the United States, and China, a significant portion of the score is based on occupant protection during collisions, which is heavily influenced by seatbelt performance. NCAP evaluation criteria continue to be updated in order to make increasingly advanced vehicles even safer.
Moving forward, changes will be made toward diversity. We are advancing efforts not only for seatbelts but for overall vehicle safety, ensuring sufficient protection even in circumstances that combine various factors. These include diverse vehicle occupants of varying physiques and ages, changes in seating positions due to autonomous driving, and a wide range of collision types from low to high speeds.
Viewing these changes as business opportunities, we are anticipating changes in NCAP regulation to proactively engage in product development and propose solutions to our customers. In addition, while using CAE to conduct development virtually, we are also advancing Simultaneous Engineering (SE)*, which involves designing component molds, assembly processes, and assembly equipment in parallel. This enables us to create high-quality, low-cost products in a short timeframe.
Furthermore, because the performance of airbags and seats also significantly impacts vehicle safety, we conduct joint development with manufacturers before proposing solutions to our customers.

* Simultaneous Engineering: A development methodology where all relevant departments collaborate in parallel from the initial development stage to optimize quality, cost, and delivery time.

Growth strategy in the Mid-Term Management Plan “TRV 2030”

• Develop new products with an eye on Europe’s advanced NCAP standards and incrementally expand globally
• Continuously strengthen competitiveness by improving productivity with automated assembly, process integration, and unmanned transport
• Increase profitability by achieving sales expansion with minimal investment
• Aim to expand sales and secure orders through local procurement and production at TOKAI RIKA MINDA INDIA Private Limited’s new factory. In addition, establish R&D in India.

Positioning of our growth strategy

Since our company started producing two-point seatbelts in 1962, we have contributed to greater occupant protection by developing high-performance, high-functionality seatbelts.
Because seatbelts are products whose performance directly impacts the lives of occupants, ensuring quality is essential to guarantee reliable performance even in the event of an emergency.
Furthermore, because seatbelts only function properly when worn, we are also working on products that are soft and cause minimal pressure, ensuring our customers will not feel discomfort.

Moving toward our goals

Responding to diverse occupant protection needs

Selectable force limiter

Instantly adjusts the protective load from low to high depending on the occupant’s physique and impact speed