Industry bunfight over safety

Australia's peak motoring body and the organisation that represents vehicle manufacturers and importers at a Federal level are one step short of declaring war. The Australia Automotive Association (AAA) and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) are at loggerheads over a press release issued by the former yesterday.

The AAA statement entitled 'Australian Motorists Miss Out on Safety Features' (more here) said local new car buyers were missing out on "world-leading safety technology through the decision of some manufacturers to withhold safety equipment on some imported models."

The statement, under the cover of AAA Executive Director Mike Harris said "vital safety features, which were standard in vehicles manufactured and sold overseas, were sometimes not included in the same imported models on sale in Australia."

"Australian motorists are missing out on these vital life-saving technologies which are available in the same models overseas -- and that's not good enough," Harris said.

The AAA release listed a number of popular models and compared the availability of safety equipment (stability control and side and curtain airbags) on those models to that offered in the same cars in "EU" and "USA" markets. It contended that local models were often 'de-specced' from those offered in other markets.

The purpose of this list was, according to the AAA release, "for consumers to refer to in deciding upon their vehicle purchase."

Alas, according to the FCAI, and affected individual companies such as Suzuki, AAA got it wrong.

"Our view is that there are at least 14 separate counts of inaccuracy in the list that was initially published which seriously undermines the case the AAA is putting forward," FCAI Chief Executive, Andrew McKellar told the Carsales Network.

"We believe the release was calculated to unfairly show the Australian industry in a bad light.

Suzuki, whose Swift range (Swift Sport pictured) was shown as not offering side or curtain airbags or stability control on any model strongly refuted the "incorrect claims about the safety levels of its Swift range."

Suzuki Australia General Manager Tony Devers said the AAA release was "poorly researched and contained glaring errors."

"The claims that safety features such as side airbags and ESC were not available on Suzuki Swift are wrong and demonstrate a clear lack of research," he said.

The Carsales Network's own examination of the initial list also highlighted errors affecting Ford Fiesta and Focus and Mazda 2.

According to AAA, manufacturers' own websites were used to determine the availability of the safety features on the models listed.

AAA Director of Research & Policy, John Metcalf, told the Carsales Network: "We based our table on the information on the manufacturers' website. We were reporting, in good faith, information in the public domain."

Mr Metcalf said he believed the inaccuracies reflected badly on the manufacturers, not the AAA. He said he did not believe the problems with the information presented detracted from the bona fides of other AAA programs like the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) and the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP).

Metcalf stated that AAA would amend the safety feature list as manufacturers made the association aware of any mistakes.

"They've botched it and fallen on their face. The AAA has not bothered to check even basic facts with the brands themselves," FCAI's McKellar opined.

"For instance, it's a complete falsification to try and suggest there is one EU specification for all these models."

McKellar said the FCAI would be asking the AAA to retract its statements and issue "a clarification of the inaccuracies contained within it."

McKellar said Australian new car buyers were well served by the range of vehicles offered locally and that AAA should join with government and industry to present the car buying public with the facts.

"Australia new car buyers can look into any [new car] segment and purchase a car with curtain airbags and stability control and probably at a more affordable price than any other market," McKellar contended.

"The AAA says it hopes to work with the industry -– what this approach shows is the body is more interested in getting a cheap headline," he said.

To comment on this article click here