Flooded drivers to be saved by new technology
Car makers will be required to take measures to prevent motorists from drowning inside their own vehicles.
New technology could save drivers from drowning deaths in flooded cars.
From 2023, power windows and door locks in new models will have to remain functional for 10 minutes after a car is submerged.
The waterproof electronics are part of a suite of updated safety rules laid out by the EuroNCAP safety body and its Australian ANCAP equivalent.
ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg said cars would need to meet the requirements in order to be awarded a five-star safety rating.
“Where a car is taken away in floodwaters, submergence systems will assist rescuers, with the vehicle’s electronic systems needing to remain operable once submerged to allow car doors and windows to be opened,” she said.
If manufacturers are unable to prove that their electric windows work while fully submerged, to get the top rating, they will have to provide appropriate window breaking tools or mechanisms, along with instructions in the owners’ manual.
The safety switch announcement follows the drowning death of 25-year-old Ayaz Younus in floodwaters, in Glenorie, northwest of Sydney, in March.
Mr Younus was trapped in a new Toyota Camry for 39 minutes while on the phone to emergency services.
“We can only speculate as to why he couldn’t get out of the car and initial examination shows he made all reasonable attempts,” Detective Inspector Chris Laird told reporters at the time.
“You can only just imagine somebody fighting for their life to get out of a car. That’s what the inside damage to the car looked like … there were no broken windows.
“He clearly couldn’t get out.”
Grantley Smith, director of industry research at the University of NSW’s Water Research Laboratory said his world-first tests examining the way floodwaters can sweep cars off roads were telling.
“More than half of the people who perish in floods are in cars,” he said.
“People have been getting trapped in cars.
“You drive into water and cars stop working, a lot of that has to do with cars being moving computers … so they can’t unlock the doors.
“It is horrendous.”
He said windows present the best escape route for flooded motorists — as partially submerged doors are too heavy to open — and the new car technology would help greatly.
But ultimately, he said, it came down to education that floodwaters are as dangerous as bushfires.
“People are not taking flooding seriously enough,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody faced with 300 metres of burning bush in front of them would drive through it. But people with 200 metres of flooded water in front of them might try.
“But they’re equally dangerous.”
