The Personal Security Vehicle (PSV), a new concept in automotive security, has been introduced by Hess & Eisenhardt, the world's largest manufacturer of armored vehicles. Hess & Eisenhardt, an O'Gara company, has developed a package of security features which can be installed on a sedan, or an O'Gara limousine, for a fraction of the cost of conventional armored cars.

The PSV is not an armored car, stresses Jim Salscheider, O'Gara's director of marketing and strategic planning but rather a product designed for those who want protection from thefts, vandalism, accidents, and similar risks. The innovative vehicle was designed in response to a growing worldwide security concern spurring an estimated 25 percent annual growth in security-related products, according to USA Today.

The key to the PSV is OmniGard, an exclusive anti-penetration glass developed for Hess & Eisenhardt by Sierracin/TransTech, a leader in transparent barrier technology. Sieerracin also markets products such as Boeing 747 windshields, F-16 fighter plane canopies, glass for automated teller machines, and materials for other specialized applications. The OmniGard process involves bonding a thin layer of durable polycarbonate to a vehicle's original glass with an interlayer of adhesive. The result is a clear, light-weight glass panel which can withstand most attempts at entry and also provides low-level ballistic resistance to common handguns and shotguns.

The glass can be installed in standard automobile window wells. The glass in conventional armored vehicles typically adds $20,000 to the cost of a car, is more than an inch thick, and can weight more than 600 pounds, It took Sierracin a year and a half to develop OmniGard and pass tests required by the department of Transportation tests for optical quality.

The standard PSV package also includes a PosiLok door access system to that doors can only be opened by the driver, or passengers instructed by the driver. A remote controlled security system emits an alarm, disables the starter, and locks all doors if the PSV is tampered with. An additional feature is a panic button which can be used as far as 40 feet from the car to activate air horns in the event of an emergency.

The PSV package also includes a dual battery system, an emergency release handle inside the trunk to ensure that no one will never be trapped inside, a locking gas cap and fuel line protector, and an emergency kit. The entire package adds only 87 pounds to a vehicle, most of which is the additional battery. The cost for the package is $12,000 for a sedan, and $13,000 when installed on a limousine.

Several additional features are offered in the PSV Plus package. These include an outside/inside intercom enabling communication with strangers outside the vehicle without lowering the windows, an auxiliary radiator cooling fan, a fire-proof lining around the fuel tank, an automatic fire suppressant which senses and extinguishes any open flame in the engine compartment, and a tailpipe protection device which prevents attempted disabling.

Who will buy the PSV? We know that there is a need for a security automobile which does not look and act like a conventional armored car," said Salscheider.

"First we looked at the security products market," Salscheider continues, "and found that it's growing as fast as any other segment of the American economy. We got that information from USA Today. Then we did our own market research by contacting the security directors of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies and asking about corporate security measures. Every major company has security concerns, big security departments, and fairly elaborate precautions such as kidnapping insurance for their executives and directors, but nobody wants to talk about it.

"Most of these people don't want a $100.000 armored car that looks and acts like one. But we feel there is a market for a $12,000 product that doesn't look like an armored vehicle."

PSV packages will be installed on sedans at Hess & Eisenhardt's Cincinnati facility, and O'Gara limousines will be fitted with the equipment at the company's plants in Bound Brook, NJ, and Simi Valley CA. "The package is ideally suited for luxury cars such as Cadillacs, Rolls Royces, and Mercedes-Benz," says Salscheider, "but we also expect to do some less ostentatious cars like Chevy Caprices and Olds Cutlasses. Customers will probably order a car from their dealer and have it drop-shipped from Detroit to Cincinnati, the package will be installed, and then it will be delivered to the dealer. When a customer orders a PSV sedan from their dealer, the production time in Detroit is about six to 10 weeks and, by the time the car arrives in Cincinnati, the glass will have been delivered from Sierracin. Installation of the PSV package then takes about two weeks."