The annual awards recognise excellence in engineering, design and quality, and aim to raise the standards and public perception of the Australian automotive industry.

Holden’s Gold Award recognised such VT Commodore safety systems as its computer optimised front structure, occupant restraint system and side impact airbags - as well as the contribution of a unique crash investigation program conducted for Holden by Monash University Accident Research Centre.

"Holden’s integrated approach in using local and overseas generated software, together with data from local accidents, made their submission particularly impressive," said the SAE-A.

"In the vchicle’s front structure, the use of computer simulation to balance the competing requirements of a soft front structure to keep crash forces low...against the need for a stiff structure to absorb the energy of high speed crashes and to manage extreme crash energy.. .was judged to be a successful combination of science and synthesis," the citation continued.

Holden’s cooperation with RMIT in optimising the occupant restraint system was judged to be at world’ s best practice, and the SAE-A commented positively on the use of computer techniques to balance the characteristics of seat belts, seats and airbags for a range of occupant sizes, seating positions and crash types.

Also highly rated by the judges was Commodore ‘s combination of world-leading airbag design, pyrotechnic buckle pre-tensioners, webbing clamps and soft webbing, together with advanced features for rear seat passengers.

The Gold Award citation singled out the fact that Holden’s inclusion of side impact airbags was a first for a local manufacturer, and highlighted the attention paid by Holden to optimising safety design for female vehicle occupants, who face a higher risk of head and neck injury than males.

"Overall, the attention to real world collisions and Australian occupant fatality and injury data, rather than meeting the legislative requirements alone, was seen to make this submission the most outstanding in its excellence," concluded the Society of Automotive Engineers-Australasia.

Laurie Sparke, Holden’s manager-advanced engineering, said the VT Commodore represented the most ambitious new vehicle engineering program the company had ever undertaken.

"The Gold Automotive Engineering Excellence award recognises the work Holden’s advanced engineering team put into the Commodore’ s safety systems," said Mr Sparke.