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Good morning Mr . Chairman and members of the Subcom mittee . My name is Roger F . Hagie . I am appearing before you today as Government Relations Manager of Kawasaki Motors Corp . , U . S . A . ( " Kawasaki " ) .

Kawasaki is one of four major manufacturers who supply

all - terrain vehicles ( " ATVs " ) to the United States market .

Kawasaki began production of such vehicles in 1980 , a number of years after the first of these vehicles were introduced into the market . Kawasaki manufactures all of its 3 - wheel ATVs at its plant in Lincoln , Nebraska .

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Kawasaki is pleased to have the opportunity to testify

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before you today to address questions which have recently been raised regarding ATV design and safety . Kawasaki shares the Subcommittee ' s concern regarding injuries to ATV users and is strongly committed to promoting the safe use of ATVs . We believe that the industry is developing , in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission ( " CPSC " ) , an effective program to

achieve this goal .

The Design and Development of the Kawasaki ATVs

I would like to begin by briefly highlighting some of what Kawasaki sees as the essential characteristics of the ATV .

The All Terrain Vehicle is a vehicle designed for and

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capable of traversing a wide variety of terrains , many of which

are inaccessible by automobile , motorcycle or , in some cases , any

other conventional vehicle .

In Kawasaki ' s view , the ATV should

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