DETROIT - ITT Automotive is racking up customers for its new 'smart-steering' technology.
The Auburn Hills, Mich., systems supplier said last week that it had won a contract to put its Electronic Stability Program into an upcoming Toyota vehicle assembled in North America.
ITT Automotive earlier announced contracts to place the system in the new BMW 3 series, the upcoming Lincoln LS6 sedan, and the soon-to-debut Mercedes-Benz ML430 sport-utility.
Officials at ITT Automotive and Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America Inc. in Erlanger, Ky., declined to name the upcoming Toyota product. But the supplier called it a 'future generation Toyota vehicle beginning in the 2001 model year.'
So far during the 1998 model year, ITT Automotive has announced deals for new contracts worth more than $500 million in brake and chassis systems.
ITT Automotive's Electronic Stability Program combines four-wheel antilock braking and traction-control technologies with advanced motion sensors and controls. Combined, they help guide braking, accelerating and steering for the driver.
An ITT Automotive spokesman said the Toyota system will be produced at ITT's Morganton, N.C., plant.
