is a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

-based automotive company. Among KYB's main products company are

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...

air suspension Air suspension is a type of vehicle suspension powered by an electric or engine-driven air pump or compressor. This compressor pumps the air into a flexible bellows, usually made from textile-reinforced rubber. Unlike hydropneumatic suspensio ...

s, power steering systems,

hydraulic pump A hydraulic pump is a mechanical source of power that converts mechanical power into hydraulic energy ( hydrostatic energy i.e. flow, pressure). Hydraulic pumps are used in hydraulic drive systems and can be hydrostatic or hydrodynamic. They gen ...

s, motors, cylinders, and valves. It is one of the world's largest shock absorber manufacturers and it also has the largest market share of concrete mixer trucks in Japan, with 85% of the market. The company has 34 manufacturing plants and 62 offices in 21 countries. KYB's American aftermarket distribution of automotive shocks and struts is headquartered in

Greenwood, Indiana Greenwood is a city in Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 63,830 at the 2020 Census. Greenwood is located southeast of central Indianapolis between Interstate 65 and Interstate 69. It is the most populous suburban mu ...

, with additional KYB manufacturing and distribution facilities in metro

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, and metro

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. KYB Americas employs more than 100 people in all facilities. Shocks and struts for vehicles are the most popular KYB products distributed in North America.

Business segments and products

Automotive and motorcycle products

Automotive components

* Shock absorbers * Semi-active air suspensions * Adjustable shock absorbers * Power steering systems * Electric power steering units (EPS) * Four-wheel steering (4WS) electric actuator * Solenoid * Sensors * Noise resistant pressure sensors

Motorcycle components

* Suspensions * Shock absorbers for ATVs * Shock absorbers for snowmobiles

Hydraulic components

* used in construction machinery, industrial vehicles, agricultural machinery, railroad equipment, industrial machinery, building equipment, civil engineering equipment and stage equipment

Testers

* High precision leak tester * Portable fatigue testers * Gate type fatigue testers * Torsional fatigue testers * Internal pressure fatigue testers * Shock absorbers testers * Noise check systems * Road simulators for automobiles * Road simulators for motorcycles * Simulators for research and training

Aeronautical, special-purpose vehicles and marine products

* Aircraft components * Special-purpose vehicles * Marine components

Environment, welfare and disaster prevention products

* Self-propelled waste checker conveyors * Earthquake simulator trucks * Biomixers * Chipping vehicle for pruned branches * Vehicle for shredding sensitive documents * Shock absorbers for chair skis * Solar projectors * Mobile keeper (remote monitor camera with server function) Source
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Aircraft manufacturing

Aircraft manufacturing during and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

The company between 1939 and 1941 developed several gliders,

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

s and research aircraft for the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

. These are: * Kimura HK-1 *

Kayaba Ku-2 The Kayaba Ku-2 (''萱場 2型無尾翼滑空機'') was a glider built in Japan in 1940 to investigate the possibilities of Tailless aircraft, tailless aircraft. It was developed as part of an Imperial Japanese Army contract that had been offere ...

* Kayaba Ku-3 *

Kayaba Ku-4 The Kayaba Ku-4 was a research aircraft built in Japan in 1940 to investigate the possibilities of tailless aircraft designs. It followed designer Hidemasa Kimura's successful Ku-2 and Ku-3 designs for the Imperial Japanese Army The Imperi ...

* Kayaba Ka-Go *

Kayaba Ka-1 The Kayaba Ka-1 and Ka-2 were Japanese autogyros, seeing service during World War II for artillery spotting. Design and development The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) developed the Ka-1 autogyro for reconnaissance, artillery-spotting, and anti- ...

* Kayaba Ka-2 After the war, in 1954, the company built a

gyrodyne A gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a helicopter rotor-like system that needs to be driven by its engine only for takeoff and landing, and includes one or more conventional propeller or jet engines to provide thrust during cruising flig ...

, named Kayaba Heliplane. The development of this aircraft started in 1952 when Shiro Kayaba, the founder of the company, obtained the fuselage of a Cessna 170B and, over the course of two years, turned it into a

convertiplane A convertiplane is defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI or World Air Sports Federation) as an aircraft which uses rotor power for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and converts to fixed-wing lift in normal flight. In the ...

Scandal

*In October, 2018, Kayaba Industry said it had falsified data on the quality of some of its shock absorbers which were used in over 70 government and municipal office buildings including

Tokyo Sky Tree , also written as Tokyo Sky Tree, is a broadcasting and observation tower, located in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It has been the tallest tower in Japan since opening in 2012,

Tokyo Station Tōkyō Station (, ) is a major railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far ...

and facilities for

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

since at least 2003 in Japan. In addition, all the faulty Japanese quake absorbers were only exported to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

References

External links

Official global website
{{Authority control Truck manufacturers of Japan Auto parts suppliers of Japan Construction equipment manufacturers of Japan Defense companies of Japan Engineering companies of Japan Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese companies established in 1919 Japanese brands Fuyo Group Motorcycle parts manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1919