Mitsubishi Australia and others are calling for the Federal Government to bring vehicle design rules into line with the rest of the world, particularly child seat top-tether points.
Australian Design Rules need to be changed to fit in line with leading markets, a top-selling brand claims, questioning “if it’s good enough for Europe, the US, Japan what’s so different about us?”
Mitsubishi Motors Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Shaun Westcott, told Drive that changing Australian Design Rules (ADRs) – and in particular the requirement for a top tether anchor for child seats – would give car buyers more choice and pay less for their vehicles.
“The reality is that we have less choice in Australia because of these unique requirements. It doesn’t matter who you are, to modify your vehicle, to adapt it for Australia, that adds cost, adds complexity,” Westcott told Drive.
“At the end of the day, and I’m not arguing against ADRs, all I’m saying is let’s achieve some form of global harmonisation. It’s going to reduce costs, it’s going to reduce complexity and it’s going to increase choice for Australians.
“And my challenge to anybody is that if it’s good enough for Europe or it’s good enough for America or if it’s good enough for Japan, what’s so different about us?
“Are we trashing all the Europeans and saying they don’t care about safety for their kids? Really? Is that what we’re saying?”
Under the regulatory Australian Design Rules – ADR 34, specifically – set by the Australian Government, passenger vehicles have been required to have top-tether anchorage points fitted to rear seating positions since the 1970s.
It doesn’t, however, apply to light commercial vehicles like dual-cab utes – although many manufacturers of popular dual-cab ute models provide two top-tether anchorage points in the second row anyway.
Part of the problem, Mitsubishi argues, that Australia is a small car market by global standards, only selling around one million new vehicles a year, making up just one per cent of the world’s total volume.
Because we’re small we get less choice of vehicles, but because we’re also one of the few right-hand drive markets – that narrows the field even further.
“We’ve harmonised with all the rest of the world with ISOFIX [child seat mounts]. But top tether points are unique to Australia. In fact, the majority of ADRs are actually already harmonised with European regulations,” said Owen Thomson, Mitsubishi Australia’s Product Manager for Frame Vehicles and Product Strategy.
Asked if the rules were likely to change, Thomson told us: “I don’t have any insight on that. There’s been no indication.”
And Mitsubishi is not alone in believing ADR 34 is outdated and well overdue for a review, with sources telling Drive that the issue stems from a “very entrenched group of people [who think] this is Australian and we are the best in the world”.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) safety authority says it’s time the regulations were reviewed.
“It’s an area that should be considered whether we should be adopting the European standard. We’d like to see it examined and addressed,” said Chief Executive Carla Hoorweg.
“There are reasons I think historically why those different child set standards were brought in for the Australian market. Whether those still make sense with contemporary vehicle design is the question that we’ve got.
“That’s something that it’s not really a conversation for ANCAP to be involved in, but we can certainly see that there’s enough evidence being thrown around that it’s potentially an area that could be considered and reviewed.
“And if it turns out that the way we’re approaching things still makes sense then great. But it’s probably timely for it to be addressed given how far cars have come and the prevalence of all the side airbags and other things that have the potential to interact with those child seats.”
As previously reported by Drive, Mitsubishi Australia has put forward a recommendation to the Federal Government calling for the adoption of international design rules for new cars.
In a letter to the Australian Parliament’s Inquiry into the Transition to Electric Vehicles, Shaun Westcott submitted a formal recommendation to “enact measures to harmonise Australian Design Rules with international best practice to reduce costs and complexities associated with the supply of vehicles to the Australian market”.
The submission points out Australia’s “unique … child restraint tethering requirements,” claiming they are “largely out of line with global precedence in the design of automotive vehicles” for those made for markets such as the US, UK, Japan, and Europe.
Drive has contacted the Department of Infrastructure and will update this story when a response is received.
Meanwhile, last year a viral Instagram post suggested that many Australian parents are still unsure of when, where, and how to correctly attach the top-tether strap on their child’s car seats – particularly in utes.
While the US and Australia have different regulations in place for child-seat anchorage points, top-tether misuse is a common issue in Australia, according to local safety bodies.
“In terms of the anchor points and tether straps, we see a huge range of misuse,” Christine Erskine, Executive Officer at KidSafe NSW, told Drive at the time.
“People don’t attach the top-tether strap to the anchor, or they will attach it to a cargo clip [in the boot] rather than the anchor clip.”
In Australia, the top tether is accompanied by either of two approved methods for installing child restraints in cars: One uses specially designed ISOFIX anchors, the second uses the car’s standard lap-only or lap-sash seatbelt.
Even in older cars or commercial vehicles without a top tether point, Australian law requires one to be retrofitted before a child seat can be legally fitted.
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