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Gentex Announces New Rear Camera Display Mirror Program on Toyota Avalon

^{Published on 2010-06-03 05:20:29 - Market Wire}
 

ZEELAND, MI--(Marketwire - June 3, 2010) - Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: [ GNTX ]), the leading supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors and camera-based active safety systems to the worldwide automotive industry, has announced that it is shipping a three-mirror auto-dimming system with advanced features including its Rear Camera Display (RCD) for the 2011 Toyota Avalon. The full-size sedan is sold throughout North America and certain Middle Eastern Gulf Coast countries.

An interior auto-dimming mirror with universal garage door opener, compass, hands-free microphone, and the Gentex RCD Mirror is standard equipment on the both the Avalon and the Avalon Limited models without a navigation system. Vehicles with a navigation system offer an auto-dimming mirror with compass, universal garage door opener, and microphone as standard equipment. The auto-dimming RCD Mirror contains a liquid crystal display (LCD) that works with an automaker-specified video camera mounted at the rear of the vehicle to provide a view directly behind the vehicle while backing up. When the vehicle is shifted into "reverse," a display appears automatically through the auto-dimming mirror's reflective surface. The display disappears when the vehicle is shifted into any other gear, a capability that is made possible utilizing Gentex's "transflective" coating and lighting techniques, resulting in a bright, high-resolution color image. The compass feature uses Gentex's proprietary Z-Nav® compass transducer, a highly accurate compass sensor that determines the vehicle's directional heading. The Limited trim level features standard exterior auto-dimming mirrors.

"Gentex auto-dimming mirrors have been offered on the Avalon for many years, but the 2011 model offers additional safety features, including RCD," said Gentex Senior Vice President Enoch Jen. "The Avalon is the first car in its segment to offer a backup camera as a standard feature, and we are pleased that Toyota continues to offer our technology on an increasing number of its vehicle models."

Founded in 1974, Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: [ GNTX ]) is an international company that provides high-quality products to the worldwide automotive industry and North American fire protection market. Based in Zeeland, Michigan, the Company develops, manufactures and markets interior and exterior automatic-dimming automotive rearview mirrors that utilize proprietary electrochromic technology to dim in proportion to the amount of headlight glare from trailing vehicle headlamps. More than half of the Company's interior mirrors are sold with advanced electronic features, and more than 97 percent of the Company's revenues are derived from the sale of auto-dimming mirrors to nearly every major automaker in the world.