Door control units
Seat control units
Tailgate control units

Door control units

Comfort. Safety. Lifestyle. KOSTAL is a leading supplier of comfort electronics and global market leader for door control units. With over 30 years' experience, KOSTAL develops and produces more than 30 million control units per year for the global market, serving a wide range of major vehicle platforms. Modern vehicle doors offer a wide range of functions to satisfy consumer demands for safety, comfort and lifestyle. They are implemented using a variety of actuators, sensors and switches. The door control unit provides both control and the interface to the vehicle.

Anti-pinch protection

Electric adjustment systems can pose a risk to passengers if body parts become trapped when e. g. the window is in operation. To minimise this risk, particularly for children, anti-pinch protection has become established in adjustment systems. It detects when something is likely to become trapped and reverses the drive, limiting the force to a defined level to prevent harm or damage.

As the inventor of anti-pinch protection, KOSTAL has over 30 years' experience with this type of system, making it one of the world's leading providers in this segment.

Facts – Door control units

Innovation & trends
  • Automatic door opening and closing including surrounding monitoring
  • Ethernet connection for audio and video streaming
  • Display control
  • NFC, BLE and UWB access control 
  • RGB LED lighting systems
Available functionality
  • Anti-pinch protection for passenger safety
  • Cost-optimised hardware solutions 
  • Scalable platform concepts
  • Third party integration skills
  • Solutions for future zonal vehicle architectures

Seat control units

KOSTAL seat control units coordinate the numerous motors in the seat, centrally and reliably. The combination of different axes of movement allows drivers of different heights and sizes to select and store their ideal seat position. Each driver of a vehicle can simply select a previously defined individual position. When this option is combined with the central locking system and user-specific keys, the seat can be adjusted automatically when the user opens the door.

Sensorless motor control (SMC)

Adjustment systems need accurate information about the position and speed of the actuators. This allows them to move a seat into a predefined position or, by analysing changes in speed, to detect an object which could be trapped.

SMC technology uses the motor current to determine the drive's speed and position in contrast to position and speed detection via Hall sensors.

By using SMC technology, KOSTAL has significantly lowered the system costs for window and seat control units. KOSTAL has over 15 years' experience with SMC and has manufactured more than 50 million control units with this technology.

Facts – Seat control units

Innovation & trends
  • Long, fast and rotating adjustment paths 
  • Relaxation and well-being
  • Ethernet connection for audio and video streaming
  • Display control
  • HMI integration
  • Sensors and monitoring of surroundings
Available functionality
  • Anti-pinch protection for passenger safety
  • Optimised positioning with sensorless motor control (SMC)
  • Scalable platform concepts
  • Third party integration skills
  • Solutions for future zonal vehicle architectures

Tailgate control units

The tailgate control unit is becoming the standard for comfort, safety and lifestyle in mid-range and high-end vehicles, with growing customer demand for electrical control of the tailgate. Other adjustment functions, as well as various switches and lighting features in the rear of the vehicle, are increasing the complexity of the tailgate control unit.

Pulse width modulation (PWM)

Pulse width modulation can be used to control the output of electric motors like power windows, tailgates, roofs and seats. PWM has three advantages:

The motor speed can be reduced in certain situations, making it easier to detect certain obstacles with anti-pinch protection algorithms.

The load on mechanical systems can be reduced by limiting the maximum speed and torque of the motor.

The value is increased because there is no clicking sound from the relays and the stable speed of motion results in even actuator noise.

Facts – Tailgate control units

Innovation & trends
  • Smart actuators / ECU integration
  • Activation by kick sensors
Available functionality
  • Anti-pinch protection for user safety
  • Synchronisation of motors running in parallel
  • Scalable platform concepts
  • Solutions for future zonal vehicle architectures