How the changes to policy reform threatens vehicle safety
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- Published: Wednesday, 27 September 2017 01:43
How the Government misplaced policy reform threatens vehicle safety.
As the video below explains, in 2015 the AAAA undertook suspension tests on 5 separate vehicle platforms in the USA at a cost of $250,000 to dispel the notion that small changes to the ride height of a vehicle have a negative impact on Electronic stability control operation. In these tests we adopted the same test protocols used by all vehicle manufacturers and major component suppliers around the world. Technical reports from the tests presented to Federal, State and Territory regulators showed the test vehicles all met Australian Design Rule requirements for ESC operation.
As a direct result of this testing, all State and Territory Governments agreed to change the ESC section of the National Code of Practice for Vehicle Modification (VSB 14) to allow for owner certified suspension modification of + or – 50mm without the need for an engineering inspection.
Unfortunately we now have a situation in which the Federal Government is proposing to move away from this position and require either a full ESC test or an independent engineering inspection of every vehicle to undertake Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) upgrades under the Federal Government Second Stage Manufacturers scheme.
We want to use this opportunity to try and get the Minister to rule that ESC testing is not required under either the low volume or full volume scheme if the overall lift is 50mm or less, which would mirror the arrangements negotiated with the States in VSB14.
Our request is that you share this video far and wide via your social media networks. We really need this video to have as many views as we can as it will come up on the Minister's media monitoring service and demonstrate that this is a larger issue than his Department is making out. We believe that the video portrays our industry in a positive light and so can be used as an endorsement of the due diligence that we undertake prior to putting product into the market as well as highlighting the safety benefits of suspension upgrades.
Check out the video
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