Addison Township resident Tom Vos, Director of Safety Systems Technology for TRW Automotive, was recently named 2003 “Engineer of the Year” by the readers of Design News magazine.
Vos, who has lived in the area with his wife Sharon for eight years, holds 13 patents in restraint design and manufacturing innovation.
He has been active for 40 years overseeing the development of air bag technology, seat belt advancements and integrated safety systems.
He has also been involved in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s development of federal safety standards for motor vehicles.
“Being an engineer is something that’s always interested me,” said Vos. “I’ve always been interested in designing and creating things.”
Originally from Romeo and a graduate of Romeo High School, Vos graduated from Oakland University with a bachelor’s degree in engineering sciences. He has also taken numerous courses for management and technical training. After graduation, he decided to enter the automotive industry.
“I grew up in the Detroit area,” he explained. “There was the familiarity and the connections there so it was a natural gravitation.”
Vos got his start in business at the Ternstedt Division of GM as a hardware engineer designing ashtray cover springs. His first safety-related project came when he was asked to design a seat belt retractor frame. Later when GM put its air bag program into Fischer Body as a production development program, Vos signed on. In 1971, Vos left GM and joined the Hamill Division of Firestone. The company was later purchased by TRW in 1984.
During his extensive career, Vos feels that the biggest accomplishments made by the teams he has worked with are the launch of the first passenger side air bag system and the creation of a green-field plant complex for producing air bag propellant. Currently Vos is focusing on advanced bag-belt systems.
“These things have been accomplished through pooled talent,” he said. “These are not just my successes, they’re the team’s.”
The Design News “Engineer of the Year” is nominated by the magazine’s staff. Vos said he was nominated by the magazine’s editor, whom he assisted a couple years ago with an article.
After the nominations are made, eight to ten candidates are listed in the magazine with a picture and brief biography. The readers then have the opportunity to vote on who should be “Engineer of the Year.”
“There were people in there who have really accomplished great things,” said Vos. “I’m sort of humbled by the work they’ve done.”
Vos said he was first struck with disbelief and then was thrilled to learn he had been chosen for the award.
“You don’t want to be singled out, but at the same time I’m honored,” he said.
Vos was honored on March 4 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. His award included a $25,000 educational grant from the Timken/Torrington Company, Torrington, Conn., to his alma mater Oakland University.
“I’m just happy that magazines like Design News make the effort to make the awards more by encouraging education in the field,” said Vos. “I’m pleased with the ways the news media has recognized efforts in our field.”