President Chang Myung-chul of Hyundai Mobis.

President Chang Myung-chul of Hyundai Wia has been named to head Hyundai Mobis as the CEO, replacing former President Chun Ho-seok who was named as an advisor in a recent personnel move in Hyundai Motor Group taken place on Dec. 18, the group said.

 Chang served as the CEO of Hyundai Wia for about a year before being transferred to Hyundai Mobis. A graduate of Korea University, Chang served as President of Kia Motors subsidiary in Slovakia, and President of Hyundai Powertech. Vice President Yoon Jun-mo of Hyundai Dymos has been named as President of Hyundai Wia.

Hyundai Mobis began producing the chassis for the Trajet in 1999 and the driver seat module and front seat in 2002 and 2003 to upgrade itself as a global module maker. By 2008 the company produced 30 million modules, then hit the 100 million-module mark five years later. Hyundai Mobis has also turned out more than 50 million airbags since it started producing the auto safety product in 2002 at its plants in Korea, the company said recently. 

The modules include 43.59 million chassis modules, or 44 percent of all modules, 38.46 million modules for the driver seat, or 38 percent, and 17.95 million modules for the front seat, or 18 percent. The company operates five domestic plants and 11 overseas plants to produce modules mainly for domestic automakers Hyundai and Kia. The company set up module plants in the U.S. in Ohio and Michigan in 2006 and 2010 to supply modules to Chrysler. What led the company to produce such a large number of modules in such a short time was the “just in sequence” system, which produces the modules in time with the progress of a complete car schedule, which is a step ahead of Toyota’s JIT (Just in Time) system, the company said.

The Hyundai Motor affiliate car airbags output amounted to 10 million in 2007 thanks to the rising demand for the safety product due to the increasing tight auto safety regulations and customers’ concern for safety, which led to increased demand for airbags. Production doubled in 2009 to 20 million and further increased by 10 million airbags annually since 2011, the company said.

The company was able to outpace the frontrunners in the production of airbags for cars despite being a late starter in the business, but the company continuously carried out R&D activities on auto safety equipment including airbags and related equipment and localized its core production technology of the product through heavy investments.

Hyundai Mobis now produces all airbags and parts that go with the safety equipment with its own technologies, which the company developed and refined to make a contribution to boosting the quality and price competitiveness of completely Korean-made cars.

In order to cope with the increased demand for airbags, the company moved its airbag plant in Cheonan to Kimcheon in November 2009 to expand the annual output of the product to 10 million airbags. The new automated plant produces such diverse airbags as the driver seat and the front seat knee airbags and has tested them with high-tech equipment. They are supplied to Hyundai and Kia Motors and exported.

This year marks the 40th year since the first airbag was installed in a car. In 1973, an airbag was installed in GM’s Oldsmobile Toronado and right now, various kinds of airbags are attached to the driver’s seat, the front seat, side, curtain, and knee airbags even for those in mini cars. 

Various airbags are being developed including pedestrian airbags, those installed inside of seat belts, and center airbags to protect against collision among passengers through high-tech smart airbag production technologies. From now airbags will not only protect car passengers, but also pedestrians, the company said.

The various kinds of airbags in use include the driver airbag to protect the drivers, the passenger airbag to protect the front seat passengers, and the side airbag to protect the heads and waists of passengers from a side collision. The curtain airbag is to protect the heads of the passengers when a car is overturned while the knee airbag is to protect the passengers in the front seat in the case of a frontal collision. The advanced airbag is for women and children passengers in case their airbags don’t work due to their light weight. The windshield airbag is for the protection of pedestrians when a car hits them. The airbag between the windshield and the hood of the car is blown open to protect the pedestrians.