MCHENRY, IL – While newly hired Ingham County Sherriff’s Department officers received training in high-pursuit driving, manufacturer Affinia tested vehicle products at the Michigan International Speedway.

Deputies tested vehicle dynamics, running several of the department’s Chevrolet Impala police cruisers through an variety of demanding situations. In addition, Affinia product managers and R&D engineers tested the latest line of Raybestos brand D3EA PPSV Police Friction by driving the cruisers around the track.

“The opportunity for the Raybestos product managers and R&D engineers to drive identical vehicles equipped with different pad compounds and rotors back-to-back provides critical feedback,” said Charles Darsey, test manager at Affinia’s Research and Development Center in Lexington, Kentucky. “We use that data to continually provide the absolute best law enforcement brake components available.”

For more than a decade, every police cruiser pulling out of Master Mechanic Stephen DeKett’s garage at the Ingham County Sherriff’s Department has been equipped with Raybestos brand Police Friction.

This was the 14th year Affinia sent a team of product engineers to Ingham County to witness training and record data. Over the years, the man hours invested into enhancing the Raybestos Police Friction has produced an always-evolving line of police and emergency vehicle friction unmatched in its field. In 2009, the Raybestos brand Police-specific friction system will include rotors, hi-temperature calipers, and D3EA PPSV certified pursuit-rated brake pads.

D3EA PPSV (Police and Public Service Vehicle) Certification uses independently administered, state-of-the-art dual-end brake dynamometer testing conducted at Greening Testing Laboratories, Inc. (GTL) in Detroit, Mich. As stated in Greening’s D3EA PPSV Test Guidelines, “PPSV certification captures the critical system level performance characteristics of police and other emergency service vehicles and has established performance requirements that may surpass those imposed by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s).”

Raybestos brand Police Friction also features Quite on Arrival (QOA) technology. Known as a radio call used by officers, QOA alerts any officer arriving on the scene that they need to remain quiet when arriving at a crime scene. Raybestos also feature Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH) Control Technology.