Three Decades of History
Automotive Sensor Supply

The establishment of PVI in the early nineties set new standards for the accuracy and durability of engine management sensors. PVI is an innovator and proactive problem solver providing contact and non-contact sensing products to the automobile industry, directly and via other tier 1 suppliers. PVI strives to create a unique formula, based on cutting edge development and industry expertise, to facilitate cost reductions, improved reliability, competitive differentiation and future growth for our clients.

Today, PVI products continue to play a key role in billions of miles driven across the world. PVI’s unique Integrated Manufacturing concept delivers value for money for our customers with:

  • Patented long-life resistive ink technology for contacting sensors
  • Non-contacting sensor technologies, reducing wear, improving reliability and longevity
  • Advanced prototyping facilities to support rapid realisation of new designs
  • Design, development and management of dedicated production tooling
  • As standard, our high quality sensors have 5% track correlation and 0.04% micro linearity
  • In-house mechanical and environmental test facilities for reliable product validation

About Us

PVI designs and manufactures automotive position sensors and throttle pedals for some of the world’s most iconic marques. Since 1990, in partnership with Bosch, we have developed and supplied sensors for every major European car manufacturer.

In 2000 we developed a fully integrated pedal, and supplied more than one million pieces annually to major auto manufacturers in the USA. In addition, PVI supplied Asian automakers with pedals and we delivered two model ranges for a leading Australian car producer. In Europe, PVI have worked closely with prestigious sports car manufacturers to develop innovative solutions to meet their exacting requirements.

Our
History

Key Events

1996 saw PVI supply the first ‘Drive by Wire’ sensor to Bosch Automotive for Electronic Throttle Control for use in 12-cylinder engines. Since, over 12 million of these sensors have been supplied and this remains in current production, with the ‘E Gas’ system now being employed in large trucks.

From 1998, until the present day, PVI has supplied over 20 million units of fourteen variants of Accelerator Pedal Module (APM) sensors to Bosch Automotive. These APM units have been supplied to almost every major European OEM.

2002: PVI was awarded a million piece per annum programme for Ford North America.

In 2003 PVI was awarded the pedal program for an Australian OEM’s vehicle platforms delivering more than 100,000 pieces annually.

2004: PVI developed and supplied the first non-contact pedal system for a prestige UK sports car platform.

In 2006 as a result of technology transfer from UK to Shanghai, PVI was awarded the APM platform for China.

2009: PVI was awarded its first, floor mounted, non-contact APM by a British high end sports car builder. This comprised custom designed and manufactured brake pedal and pedal box.

In 2014 PVI developed and manufactured a non-contact sensing APM system for a third UK sports car producer.

Currently, PVI is developing ETC and brake pedal systems for an Electrical Vehicle platform to be launched in 2020.

Our
Approach

We start by developing a thorough understanding of our customers, their requirements and specifications. Building on this, we follow a process of design, development and validation through to PPAP approval and production.

PVI has a unique place in our sector with a depth of in-house expertise throughout design, development, validation and manufacturing.

We have proven technologies developed with, and approved by, major automotive manufacturers and our partner suppliers around the world.

Our customers benefit from our long-term relationships with our supply chain. These well-established supplier partnerships enable us to reliably source the highest quality materials and sub-components with very competitive pricing.

Our
Customers

We are mainly a Tier 1 supplier and, through innovations and improvements in our sensors, PVI products offer cost savings and add value downstream with enhanced functionality, improved reliability and custom designs.

We have also operated as a Tier 2 supplier providing long-life resistive ink sensors to major pedal and control systems manufacturers around the world.

PVI follows ISO9001 and ISO14001 guidelines throughout our design and manufacturing processes. Quality is paramount to our operation and our stringent processes enable us to supply ‘zero defect’ products to our customers.

Our
Quality

PVI follows ISO9001 and ISO14001 guidelines in the design and manufacture of all our products. Quality is paramount to PVI and our focus is central to our ‘zero defect’ approach.  Demanding supplier audits and rigorous QC of inbound and in-house made components, all contribute to the highest levels of product quality.

All PVI operations are process driven and our low employee turnover retains years of industry expertise within the business. PVI trains its employees thoroughly and provides an environment where they can use their knowledge and experience to develop new technologies which ultimately benefit our customers and drivers across the globe.

Our products are safety critical elements and so our processes are robust across the whole organisation .  While we undertake rigorous end of line testing, our proactive ‘Poka-Yoke’ approach to quality, identifies and eliminates issues as early as possible during development and manufacturing processes, guaranteeing that products shipped to our customers are always to specification.

Our
Innovations

PVI’s dedicated R&D team strive to improve our existing products as well as developing new innovations in collaboration with other industry partners and funding bodies.

We work closely with our partner organisations to review and update our designs. PVI aim to improve our products and technologies to benefit our customers; providing the reduced costs, improved functionality and enhanced reliability demanded by the highly competitive automobile sector.

PVI also invests in new technology development projects joint funded by both the EEA and the UK government.  These have significant benefits for our customers and drive innovation in sensor design and implementation across multiple sectors.