Theissen adamant KERS will be safe
BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen is adamant that Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) will be totally safe when they are used in Formula One next year - even though his team are still seeking answers to their recent electric shock incident
The safety of KERS has become a hot topic in F1 after a BMW Sauber mechanic suffered an electric shock when he touched a car fitted with one of the devices last week.
That accident came just a few weeks after part of Red Bull Racing's factory had to be evacuated following a fire scare caused during battery testing for KERS.
And although BMW Sauber are still seeking answers as to the cause of their accident, Theissen says his positive feelings on KERS have not been changed by recent events.
"We have always been aware of the energy level that comes along with KERS, which is way below what a full fuel tank carries in terms of energy," he said when asked by autosport.com about his feeling on KERS safety.
"We know there are many road cars handling it successfully with even more electric energy on board, so there is no reason why we should not get on top of that."
BMW Sauber will not resume track testing of their KERS until they have uncovered the cause of the electric shock - and have promised to make available to teams and the FIA the full report into what happened.
"We are still investigating the whole case and we have broadened the case. We are extending our FMEA (Failure, Mode and Effects Analysis), and we are following several alleys that are potential areas.
"But we won't publicise the results until we have really covered everything. We have offered to the FIA to document everything and to publicise it, not just through the FIA but also the TWG to the other teams."
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