A vehicle which has introduced large car levels of safety
to the small vehicle market and an off-beat seat-belt campaign have won the major
categories of the 1998 Achievement in Automotive Safety Awards.
The Mercedes-Benz
A-class was the unanimous choice of this year’s judging panel in the industry
category, impressing with its advanced safety design in a small car package.
The community category was awarded to a program which promoted a "Buckle Up"
message to young rural male drivers at popular rodeos in the NSW North Coast and Great
Lakes Region.
The highlight of the campaign was the mascot -,Australian champion bucking bull Matador
- renamed Buckle Up Matador especially for the program.
| Winscreens O'Brien general manager Stan Robertson
(left) presents the awards to Jenny Kladis, road safety officer of Greater Taree City
Council, and Mercedes Benz Australia public relations manager Jeff Fisher. |
Sponsored by Windscreens O’Brien, the awards recognise major advances and
initiatives introduced by the automotive industry in the past 12 months.
The Mercedes Benz A-Class was praised for its clever design which features a
rearward-tilted engine which slides under the passenger compartment in a frontal impact.
The win is significant for a vehicle which was subject to major re-engineering after it
failed the now-famous (or is that infamous?) moose test in Scandinavia.
The vehicle also includes safety features such as dual airbags, front airbags, ABS with
brake assistance, and Mercedes-Benz’s Electronic Program (ESP) anti-skid technology.
"lt's a small car, but it's big inside and behaves like a big car in a
crash," said Dr Michael Henderson, a member of the judging panel since its inception.
Holden, the first Australian manufacturer to offer side impact airbag protection, was
highly commended for its commitment to address the effects of one of the most prevalent
road crashes.
Volvo was also highly commended for its unique approach to the problem of side impact
injuries, through the Inflatable Curtain technology on its new S80 model.
Windscreens O’Brien initiated the Achievement in Automotive Safety Award in 1992.
Australia’s leading automotive glass replacement and repair specialist wanted to
make a significant contribution to the quest to make our roads and cars safer.
The aim was to find the most significant achievement in automotive safety during the
year.
Past winners of the award include Volvo (1992 and 1994), Holden’s VR Commodore
Acclaim (1993), and Mercedes-Benz (1995).
The 1997 industry division award went to SAAB,Automobile Australia for its active head
restraint system, with the community division Award won by the Barwon Community Road
Safety Council in Victoria for a program which helped cut casualties among over-60s road
users by 42 percent since 1993.
