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                                                                    EXHIBIT 10.1

SERVICE CONTRACT
FOR MANAGING DIRECTOR

BETWEEN

                           DURA Holding Germany GmbH

                                                               - "THE COMPANY" -

                                      and

                                Jurgen von Heyden

                                                     - "THE MANAGING DIRECTOR" -

Mr. Jurgen von Heyden is employed by the Dura group since [date], during the
past years by Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.

Mr. Jurgen von Heyden is already appointed managing director of the Company. On
this basis the Parties agree on the following Service Contract:

1.    POSITION AND SCOPE OF DUTIES

1.1   As of January 1, 2006, Mr. von Heyden shall be employed by the Company as
      managing director (Geschaftsfuhrer), in the function of Divisional
      President and Vice President Dura Automotive Systems.

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1.2   The shareholders reserve the right to appoint additional managing
      directors (Geschaftsfuhrer) and/or assign different or additional
      responsibilities to Mr. Von Heyden and determine an allocation of
      responsibilities as well as the authority to represent the Company singly
      or jointly.

1.3   The Managing Director shall perform his duties as managing director by
      observing the diligence of a prudent businessman in accordance with the
      law, the provisions of this Service Contract, the Company's Articles of
      Association, the general directives and specific instructions given by the
      shareholders and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dura
      Automotive Systems, Inc., as well as the Standing Orders for the
      Management as amended from time to time.

1.4   The Managing Director shall report to the President and Chief Executive
      Officer of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. The Managing Director may consult
      the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.
      on any issue that is beyond the ordinary operation of the business. In
      case of doubt, he shall request directions in writing. The position of
      President and Chief Executive Officer of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. is
      currently held by Lawrence A. Denton.

1.5   The Managing Director shall work whatever hours are required.

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2.    OTHER ACTIVITIES

2.1   The Managing Director shall devote his full working time and ability to
      the Company's business. For the duration of this contract, any other
      activity, be it with or without remuneration, is subject to the explicit
      prior written consent of the shareholders or of the President and Chief
      Executive Officer of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.

      The Managing Director is permitted to continue his involvement in several
      agricultural farms, provided that it does not disturb his activities for
      the Company.

      In so far as the Managing Director has assumed functions as a member of
      supervisory boards or in similar positions in the interest of the Company
      he has to surrender these positions on request of the Company in case this
      Service Contract terminates.

2.2   Academic and journalistic activity is permitted, provided that the Company
      is informed previously and that such activity does not adversely affect
      the function and working capacity of the Managing Director, a disclosure
      of confidential information is not to be expected, and this does not in
      any other way interfere with the interests of the Company.

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3.    REMUNERATION

3.1   The Managing Director shall be entitled to an annual gross base salary in
      the amount of EUR 361,255.00, the net amount of which shall be paid in 12
      equal monthly installments, payable in arrears.

      In addition, the Company shall pay half of the mandatory social security
      contributions (Sozialversicherungsbeitrage) including contributions to
      state unemployment insurance, health insurance and nursing care insurance.
      In case the Managing Director opts for a private health insurance instead
      of the statutory health insurance, the Company will bear half of the
      contributions to the Managing Director's private health insurance up to a
      maximum of the amount which it would have to pay for the statutory health
      insurance.

      Upon payment of the above-mentioned salary, all activities the Managing
      Director has to perform under this Service Contract shall be compensated.
      This also applies to activities for the benefit of other companies of the
      group.

3.2   The Managing Director's annual base salary shall be considered for
      increase at the same time as other Leadership Team Executives. The
      decision whether to increase the Managing Director's salary shall remain
      at the sole discretion of the President and Chief Executive Officer of
      Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.

3.3   The Managing Director participates in the Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.
      Annual Bonus Plan at a Bonus Factor 1 of 60% (of

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      base salary according to Section 3.1). The conditions and the amount of
      bonus payment are determined by the Annual Bonus Plan as applicable from
      time to time. The currently applicable Annual Bonus Plan is enclosed as
      EXHIBIT 1.

3.4   The Managing Director is entitled to occupational pension benefits on the
      basis of the pension commitment dated July 15, 1997 and its amendment
      dated November 26, 1997. The currently applicable version of the pension
      commitment is enclosed as EXHIBIT 2.

      The Managing Director is entitled to receive the unreduced old age pension
      benefits already with the beginning of the first full calendar month after
      he has completed 60 years of age. Precondition for benefit payments based
      on the pension commitment in any event is that the Manaing Director is not
      further employed by the Company or one of its affiliated companies on this
      date.

4.    OTHER BENEFITS

4.1   Travel expenses and other necessary expenses reasonably incurred by the
      Managing Director in the furtherance of the Company's business shall be
      reimbursed according to the guidelines of the Company as force from time
      to time and within the framework of the tax regulations applicable

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      in Germany.

4.2   The Company shall provide the Managing Director in accordance with its
      rules with a company car type BMW 740i for business and private use. The
      Company reserves the right to substitute the car by another company car
      equal in value. The value of the private use per calendar month is
      considered additional compensation to the Managing Director, which will be
      subject to wage withholding tax.

      The costs of maintenance and use of the company car shall be borne by the
      Company.

4.4   The Company shall provide accident insurance cover in case of accidents on
      business and private accidents for benefit of the Managing Director in its
      currently existing form (insurance coverage in case of death or
      invalidity: EUR 511,000.00) and shall pay the insurance premium during the
      contract period. In case of death, the amount shall be paid to the
      inheritors of the Managing Director. The Company shall pay any taxes due
      for the insurance premiums.

      All claims by the Managing Director arising from the insurance shall be
      extinguished with his leaving service with the Company.

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5.    INABILITY TO PERFORM DUTIES

5.1   In case the Managing Director shall be unable to perform his duties under
      this Service Contract, be it for health or other reasons, he shall inform
      the Company immediately. This obligation to inform also applies to the
      estimated duration and the reasons for the inability to perform duties. In
      case of illness, the Managing Director shall provide the Company with a
      medical certificate regarding the inability to work and its estimated
      duration on the third calendar day of his inability to perform his duties
      at the latest.

5.2   If the Managing Director is prevented from carrying out his duties under
      this Service Contract due to illness he shall continue to be entitled to
      payment of his base salary according to Section 3.1 of this contract for a
      period of up to 6 months beginning on the first day of his inability to
      work, provided that this Service Contract does not end earlier. From the
      7th until and including the 9th month of inability to work, the difference
      between the net income and the sickness pay which would be payable as the
      maximum amount in the event of membership in the Company's health
      insurance scheme is paid. The obligation to continue payments ceases no
      later than the date of termination of this Service Contract.

5.3   In case of death of the Managing Director during the period of this
      contract of service his dependants who are entitled to support shall be
      entitlted to receive together the base salaray according to Section 3.1 of
      this Service Contract for the month in which death occurs and for a
      further six months.

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6.    VACATION

6.1   The Managing Director shall be entitled to an annual vacation of 30
      working days. Saturdays are not considered working days.

6.2   The time of vacation shall be taken during the relevant calendar year
      taking into consideration the business needs of the Company and the duties
      of the Managing Director.

6.3   Holiday entitlement accrues pro rata month by month through the calendar
      year. This also applies to the year in which the Managing Director enters
      the Company as well as to the year in which he leaves.

6.4   Incidentally, the Federal Holiday with Pay Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz) shall
      be applied mutatis mutandis

            7.    SECRECY

7.1   The Managing Director shall not disclose to any third party, or use for
      personal gain, any confidential technical or other business information
      which has been entrusted to him, or which has otherwise become known to
      the Managing Director and which relates to the Company or to any of its
      affiliated companies. In particular, no information may be disclosed
      concerning the organisation of the business, the relations with clients
      and customers and the Company's technical
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         know-how. This obligation shall not expire upon termination of this
         Service Contract but shall continue to remain in force thereafter.

7.2      Business records of any kind, including private notes concerning
         Company affairs and activities, shall be carefully kept and shall be
         used for business purposes only. No copies or extracts or duplicates of
         drawings, calculations, statistics and the like nor of any other
         business records or documents may be made for purposes other than for
         the Company's business.

7.3      The Managing Director shall return all items pertaining to the Company
         or any of its affiliates at the location of its business offices at any
         time upon request of the Company, and without solicitation in the event
         the Managing Director is removed and in case he is released from his
         duties, in particular:

         -     credit cards,

         -     office keys,

         -     all business documents and copies thereof, irrespective of the
               data carrier.

         The Managing Director shall have no right of retention to the
         above-mentioned items.

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8.       GRANTING OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

8.1      The Managing Director hereby irrevocably grants the Company the
         exclusive right, unrestricted as to time, territory and content, to use
         work products protected by copyright or ancillary rights ("WORK
         PRODUCTS"), which he creates in the course of performance of his
         contractual duties hereunder. This irrevocable and exclusive right
         shall take effect upon its creation. The Managing Director is not
         entitled to any other use of his Work Products. This grant includes the
         right of the Company to use any copyrights and ancillary rights in a
         tangible and intangible form, both within and outside Germany, and
         entitles the Company to assign and sublicense any such rights to any
         third person, irrespective of the scope of application of the
         sublicense as to time, territory and content.

         The granting of rights includes, but is not limited to:

8.1.1    the right to permanently, temporarily and repeatedly reproduce, publish
         and distribute any Work Products or parts hereof entirely or partly,
         irrespective of medium and form. This applies in particular to the
         print media, film, radio and/or digital media, public and private
         networks of every kind (Internet, Intranet, extranet, mobile data
         networks) as well as databases and electronic carrier media. This right
         also includes the right to digitize the

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         Work Product;

8.1.2    the right to translate and edit Work Products or parts hereof as well
         as to reproduce and distribute the results of the translation and
         editing in terms of the above 8.1.1;

8.1.3    the right to exhibit and publicly present Work Products, including the
         right to provide access to them to any third person via public and
         private networks, in particular via Internet or any other interactive
         call or pull systems, and including the right to introduce the Work
         Products into and store them in such systems;

8.1.4    the right to join Work Products or parts hereof with other works, parts
         of works or any other information and to exploit, use or edit the
         result in any form, in particular in the actions mentioned above in
         Sections 8.1.1 - 8.1.3.

8.2      The Managing Director's rights existing in accordance with Section 38
         para. 1 sentence 2 German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz) are
         explicitly excluded. Furthermore, the Managing Director waives any of
         his possible author's

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         personal rights existing with regard to the Work Products as far as
         they may affect the undisturbed use by the Company. In particular, the
         Managing Director waives his right to publish the Work Products and
         consents to modifications of his work within a scope customary in the
         industry. The Managing Director's right to prohibit distortions, other
         impairments or uses which are capable endangering the legitimate
         intellectual and personal interests intrinsic to the work remain
         unaffected.

8.3      In addition, the Managing Director assigns all rights with regard to
         any data bases created within the scope of his contractual duties in
         such manner that the Company is the producer of the data bases
         according to Section 87a German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz).

8.4      The Managing Director grants the Company the right to assign all of the
         rights referred to under the Sections 8.1 - 8.3 above to third parties
         and to permit them to exploit the Work Products both within and outside
         Germany.

8.5      The above granting of all rights to use and to exploit the Work
         Products is deemed to be remunerated in full by the salary agreed to in
         Section 3.

8.6      The Managing Director hereby irrevocably and completely grants the
         Company all patentable inventions, inventions that may be registered as
         utility models and suggestions

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         for technical improvements made by the Managing Director as well as
         work products protected by industrial property rights. The Managing
         Director is obliged to immediately disclose to the Company any
         inventions and suggestions for technical improvement he makes within
         the scope of this Service Contract. The Managing Director will assist
         the Company with the registration of industrial property rights on
         behalf of the Company to the best of his ability, and will, in
         particular, make the necessary declarations to the respective
         registration authority and present the necessary documents.

8.7      In addition, all other work products created by the Managing Director
         during and in connection with this Contract belong to the Company and
         no additional remuneration shall be payable by the Company. The
         Managing Director is obliged to offer any other work products first to
         the Company for the purpose of exploitation.

9.       TERM OF EMPLOYMENT AND NOTICE

9.1      This Service Contract is concluded for an indefinite period. Each party
         is entitled to terminate this Service Contract by giving 12 months
         prior notice effective to the end of a calendar year.

9.2      The service relationship shall end in any event, without the need to
         give notice, not

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         later than the expiry of the month during which the Managing Director
         attains the age of 65, or the month during which the Managing Director
         is entitled to receive state old age pension or pension for reduction
         in earning capacity, whichever occurs first.

9.3      In case the Managing Director has been removed, the Company is entitled
         to unilaterally release the Managing Director from his duty to work for
         the remaining term of this Contract, whilst continuing to pay his base
         salary (Section 3.1) and the bonus (Section 3.3) calculated on the
         basis of the average percentage paid to the Leadership Team. The bonus
         payment, however, is under the condition that the other members of the
         Leadership Team also receive a bonus payment during the time at which
         the Managing Director is released. The Managing director is furthermore
         entitled to use the company car provided to him in the first 12
         (twelve) months of a release on the same conditions as before.
         Thereafter, he is obliged to return the company car to the Company.
         Other payments shall not be made during the period of release.

         Any open vacation claims shall be deemed to be compensated by such
         period of irrevocable release. The open vacation shall be taken from
         the first day after the release on without interruption.

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         After the vacation, any earnings the Managing Director receives due to
         other employment of his labour shall be deducted from his salary, but
         not such earnings that the Managing Director receives from his already
         permitted side activities for several agricaultural farms (number 2.1).
         The Managing Director has to inform the Company, without being asked,
         about any remuneration he obtains apart from the salary he receives
         from the Company. This duty to inform also includes the amount of the
         remuneration. If the Company so requires, the Managing Director has to
         prove this information by presenting auditable records.

         The obligations to seek explicit prior written consent of the
         shareholders or of President and Chief Executive Officer of Dura
         Automotive Systems, Inc. according to Section 2. before taking up any
         other activity, and to comply with the non-compete covenant effective
         during the term of this Service Contract remain unaffected during the
         period of release.

9.4      Each party's right to terminate in exceptional cases, in particular to
         give termination without notice, remains unaffected.

9.5      Notice of termination must be given in writing. A revocation of the
         appointment as Managing Director shall, at the same time, be

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         deemed to be a termination with notice, provided that no termination
         for cause has been given.

10.      FINAL PROVISIONS

10.1     This Service Contract represents the entire agreement and understanding
         of the parties. All previous employment contracts or service contracts
         concluded with the Company or its affiliates are cancelled explicitly
         and by consent of both parties effective to the commencing date of this
         Service Contract (compare Section 1.1).

10.2     Any amendments or additions to this Contract, including this clause on
         written form, are only effective if made in written form.

10.3     If one of the provisions of this Service Contract is held to be
         invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain valid. The invalid
         provision shall be replaced by a valid one, which is as close as
         possible to the economic effect of the invalid provision. The same
         shall apply in the event that the Contract is found to be incomplete.

10.4     In the event of disputes in connection with this Service Contract the
         place of jurisdiction shall be the corporate seat of the Company.

10.5     This Service Contract shall be governed and construed in accordance
         with the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

10.6     In case of doubt the German version of this Contract shall prevail.

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Die Gesellschaft/The Company vertreten durch/ represented by:

Place, Date: February 1, 2006

Signature: /s/ Theresa L. Skotak
           ---------------------
Name:      Thersea L. Skotak
Title:     Vice President Human Resources



Der Geschaftsfuhrer/The Managing Director

Ort, Datum: February 7, 2006

Unterschrift: /s/ Jurgen von Heyden
              ----------------------
Name:         Jurgen von Heyden
Titel:        Division President