Sterling Heights’ Key Safety Systems Acquires Korean Automotive Supplier

Sterling Heights-based Key Safety Systems, a supplier of safety components, has acquired ImageNext Co., a South Korea-based developer of vision systems for advanced safety applications in the automotive industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The investment in ImageNext illustrates Key Safety Systems’ continued commitment to expand our active safety technology portfolio and reach, adding incremental algorithm, electronic control, manufacturing, and vision expertise,” says Mark Wehner, president of the active safety division at Key Safety Systems.

Wehner says ImageNext will function within the active safety products division of Key Safety Systems, complementing its portfolio with a patented software technology that uses algorithms used in its surround view monitor and in the development of advanced driver assistance systems. He says the company’s active safety products division operates in three market segments: autonomous and intelligent technologies, event protection, and integrated safety and electronics.

“Not only can we accelerate the growth of our companies, but we will strategically integrate our products both inside and outside the vehicle with the ultimate ability to save lives,” says Wonin Baek, president of ImageNext.

Baek says ImageNext serves both automotive and after-market customers with products that can monitor the vehicle’s surrounding view, identify objects, and enable fully autonomous driving.

Key Safety Systems, a supplier of safety systems to both automotive and non-automotive industries, invested in Philadelphia-based ActiveProtective Technologies Inc., a wearable consumer device company that will introduce a smart belt designed to protect a wearer’s hips during a fall in January.

Key Safety Systems, founded in 1916, has more than 30 global sales, engineering, and manufacturing facilities. The company’s announced merger with Joyson, a China-based automotive supplier that develops climate control, electronics control, and sensor systems, is expected to close in the first half of this year.