Kariya, Japan—DENSO Corporation and ASMO Co., Ltd., a DENSO group company, are getting the lead out. They are completely eliminating lead in brushes of all automotive electric motors including starters, alternators, fuel pumps and electric fan motors.

“DENSO began switching to lead-free brushes last November by using a newly developed alternative agent for lead,” said Koichi Fukaya, senior managing director of DENSO Corporation. “We soon will complete the company-wide switch in cooperation with ASMO for all production motors with an output of around 15 million units per month worldwide.”

Previously, lead was added to motor brushes of large-current starters to improve brush durability for the life of the motor. So DENSO and a brush manufacturer jointly developed a new additive agent that could be used in place of lead. As an added bonus, motor brushes with this new agent were found to have longer life and generate more power than brushes using lead.