Mandatory rollbars: Honda to cease ATV sales, rather than fit rollbars

Honda would rather pull its ATVs from the Australian market than fit them with operator protection devices.

Mandatory protection: Fitting operator protection devices, such as this LifeGuard, will become mandatory. Picture: Supplied

JAPANESE motorcycle giant Honda will withdraw its quadbikes from sale in Australia, in response to today’s Federal Government’s decision to make fitting operator protection devices to all new quad bikes mandatory within two years.

“While it seems that the Standard released this morning contains some differences to the original draft; as it looks, in 2 years’ time we will be forced to cease supply of quad bikes in Australia,” Honda Australia managing director Robert Toscano said.

Honda issue a media statement declaring “the standard represents a set of regulations that cannot be entirely met by any ATV (Quad) bike in the market today, and is unlikely to be met by anything in the future.

“The standard is effectively a ban by stealth – designed to move the safety issue to some other form of vehicle such as utilities, tractors or side-by-side vehicles (SSV),” Honda’s statement read.

It’s the second time Honda has made the threat, yet thousands of OPDs, in the form of the locally manufactured Quadbar and the New Zealand Lifeguard, have been sold and fitted to Australian quad bikes in recent years, including Honda vehicles, under state government rebate schemes.

In announcing the Federal Government’s decision in Melbourne today Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar said the new standard would reduce the frequency of rollovers and provide increased protection to operators in the event of a rollover, reducing the risk of serious crush injuries and deaths.

“This safety standard aims to address the high risk of rollovers, which is especially important for many of our farmers and their families who use these vehicles daily,” Mr Sukkar said.

“Importantly, these requirements will put the onus on foreign manufacturers to supply safer quad bikes into Australia, and protect Australian farmers and others who use them.”

Since 2011, on average 16 people a year have been killed in quad bike accidents, and an estimated six people a day present to an emergency hospital department with at least two of these admitted with serious injuries.

“Quad bikes are the leading cause of fatalities in Australia of all consumer products that aren’t

regulated,” Mr Sukkar said.

Within two years all new general use model (utility) quad bikes will be required to:

BE fitted with, or have integrated into the design an operator protection device (rollbar).

MEET minimum stability requirements.

Within the next 12 months all new quad bikes will be required to:

HAVE a warning label alerting riders to the risk of rollover.

MEET US or European standards (performance of components like brakes, suspension, throttle and clutch).

TEST for stability and display the result on a hang tag attached to the bike at point of sale.

Mr Sukkar’s announcement has meant the Federal Government had finally accepted the ACCC calls to fit OPDs, after almost two year’s of community consultation, delay and debate.

The ACCC first called for operator protection devices to be fitted to all new quad bikes in its final report into quad bike safety in February this year, after almost 18 months of deliberations, industry consultation and 119 submissions.

The Weekly Times has previously reported that Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack put pressure on the ACCC, before the May federal election, to abandon its OPD recommendation.

At the time Mr McCormack’s office said he had merely “consulted” with the then Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert “on the issue of quad bike safety and the recent ACCC report”.

The ACCC resisted the pressure, but Mr Robert refused to adopt the consumer watchdog’s recommendations, referring the matter to another round of public consultation, which ended on June 10.

MORE: ROLLBARS MADE MANDATORY ON ALL NEW ATVS

ACCC CALLS FOR PROTECTION ON QUAD BIKES

NEW QUAD BIKE SAFETY ALLIANCE

SENATE DEMANDS GOVT MAKE ROLLBARS MANDATORY

The new round of consultation offered the Japanese manufacturers Honda and Yamaha — who had both threatened to withdraw from the Australian market if the draft standard became law — a last-ditch bid to stop mandatory OPDs.

But a coalition of the nation’s leading farmer, medical and community groups demanded the Federal Government to stop stalling on adopting the consumer watchdog’s recommendation and require all new quad bikes to be fitted with OPDs.

The coalition, led by the National Farmers Federation, included the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Royal Flying Doctor Service, National Rural Health Alliance, National Rural Women’s Coalition, Country Women’s Association of Australia, Australian Workers’ Union, National Centre for Farmer Health, AgForce, NSW Farmers, Victorian Farmers Federation, Primary Producers South Australia and WA Farmers.

In the end the ACCC delivered yet another report to the Federal Government in September, which reiterated its call for mandatory OPDs, leading to Mr Sukkar announcement today.

NFF chief executive Tony Mahar said “today’s result is nothing short of life-saving”.

“Quad bike accidents have already claimed nine lives this year and 230 since 2011, about half from rollovers,” he said.

Mr Mahar acknowledged the Government, and in particular Mr Sukkar, for officially making the change, and thanked all MPs and senators who listened to the NFF’s concerns and put the safety of farmers first.

“We were also tremendously grateful to be supported in our call for reform by the leading voices of regional Australia and the medical fraternity,” he said.

“In the end, the weight of these voices could not be ignored.”

ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said developing the new safety standards had “not been an easy process”, but they gave manufacturers the opportunity and time to install and develop their own OPDs.

Mr Keogh said the ACCC’s recommendations were based on the simple fact that quad bikes were inherently unstable.