NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                AMERICAN STANDARD

                        ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT OF DIRECTOR

         Piscataway,  NJ - October 29, 1999 - American  Standard  Companies Inc.
(NYSE:ASD) today announced that Mr. Joseph S. Schuchert has informed the Company
of his decision to retire now from his service on the Board of Directors. He has
been a Director for more than ten years since  leading the  Company's  leveraged
buy-out in 1988 and will  reach the age of 71 this  December.  With the  Board's
recent election of a new Chairman and Chief  Executive  Officer,  Mr.  Schuchert
decided it would be timely to leave the Board and expressed his confidence  that
the Company is well positioned to enter a new phase of its development.

AMERICAN STANDARD is a $7 billion global,  diversified  manufacturer of Trane(R)
and AMERICAN STANDARD(R) air conditioning products, AMERICAN STANDARD(R),  IDEAL
STANDARD(R),  STANDARD(R)  ,  PORCHER(R),  ARMITAGE  SHANKS(R)  AND  DOLOMITE(R)
plumbing products,  WABCO(R)  commercial and utility vehicle braking and control
systems,   COPALIS(R)  and  Pylori-Chek  (TM)  medical  diagnostic  systems  and
DiaSorin(TM) medical diagnostic products. The company operates 116 manufacturing
facilities in 33 countries and employs approximately 57,000 people worldwide.

For Further Information Contact:
Ray Pipes (732) 980-6095 or
Lisa Glover (732) 980-6048

THE  LATEST  NEWS   RELEASE   AND   CORPORATE   INFORMATION   CAN  BE  HEARD  ON
1-888-ASD-NEWS.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON AMERICAN STANDARD IS AVAILABLE ON THE
COMPANY'S WORLDWIDE WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.AMERICANSTANDARD.COM