Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rodolfo Schöneburg, Head of Vehicle Safety Mercedes-Benz Cars, has been awarded the “Golden Belt” road safety prize of the Motor Presse Club Deutschland e.V. (MPC). The MPC is honouring the safety expert for his commitment in the field of vehicle safety.
“I also regard this award as a mark of respect for Mercedes-Benz Cars and the many colleagues who work hard in this sector day in, day out”, emphasises Prof. Schöneburg. For decades vehicle safety has had top priority at Daimler AG and is deeply anchored in the brand´s core. “We regard ourselves as a leading innovator and pacesetter in this field, in which we are continuously improving protection for vehicle occupants and other road users through new ideas. Even in times of increasing driver assistance and electric mobility, accident safety is perhaps the most important brand value of Mercedes-Benz”, says Prof. Schöneburg.
This is not the first time that the Motor Press Club Germany has awarded a prize for progress in vehicle safety at Daimler AG: in 2014 the “Golden Belt” went to Daimler development engineer Karl-Heinz Baumann for his life´s work in the field of vehicle safety. Prof. Schöneburg received the “IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies” from the engineering association “Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers” (IEEE) together with two colleagues back in 2015, and in 2013 the association of motor journalists “Verband der Motorjournalisten” (VdM) gave him the “Golden Diesel Ring” for his many years of service to increased vehicle safety.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rodolfo Schöneburg was born on 30 October 1959 in Ciudad Bolivar in Venezuela. He studied aerospace engineering and obtained his doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin. He holds an honorary professorship at the College of Technology and Business Economics (HTW) in Dresden. Since April 1999 he has been at Mercedes-Benz Cars as the Head of Vehicle Safety, Durability and Corrosion Protection. It was under his aegis that the preventive occupant protection system PRE-SAFE® entered series production in 2002, ushering in a new era in vehicle safety for the car industry.
