Landmark safety improvement in store for dual-cab utes

Rear-seat safety in Australia’s best-selling new vehicles is set to receive a much-needed boost from later this year with the enforcement of tougher safety regulations.

However, a “phasing in” period means that vehicles including the top-selling Toyota HiLux and Nissan Navara may find a loophole past the measures until the end of 2022.

As it stands, Australia's most popular vehicles including the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger are currently exempt from an Australian Design Rule which regulates the design and construction of child restraint top-tether anchorages – because they are classified as light commercial vehicles.

The light commercial exemption is one reason why cars including the HiLux, Navara and Mercedes-Benz X-Class can get away with woven loops for top-tether anchorages on the rear bench seat, where regular passenger vehicles adopt a hard-welded metal lug.

Another contributing factor is that Australia is unique in mandating the use of both ISOFIX points and a top-tether point when securing a child seat.

Notwithstanding that, ute-makers will be made to pass the same legislation as passenger cars and SUVs from November with their inclusion in ADR34 regulations. The changes coincide with ANCAP’s inclusion of child occupancy protection in its crash testing from 2018.

The ADR34 enforcement will only apply to vehicles fitted with child anchorage points, which isn't compulsory. That means that vehicles including Great Wall models and the LandCruiser 70 Series double-cab would be excluded from the regulations.

Speaking with carsales.com.au, ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin praised the changes while reminding motorists to carefully consider which vehicle is best for them and their occupants.

“The enhancements are very welcome because it means it is improving the quality of child anchorage,” he said.

“Often we have this challenge of fitting three seats across the back seat of the family car. The advice is to look at what you need and make sure the vehicle is suitable for you.

“The vehicle brands are meeting the marketplace and offering that ability to put a child seat in place … They’re not necessarily user-friendly and they’re not the best they can be.

“I think that’s where people need to make a judgement call.”

Installing a child seat into a dual-cab ute can be a burdensome process, particularly if the distance between the upper tether anchorage and the child restraint is too close, or if there is another child seat already installed (forcing you to remove it to move the seatback forward).

Kidsafe Queensland chief executive Susan Teerds is one of the drivers behind the ADR34 changes.

“It’s just ridiculous. Even Kidsafe in other states said 'look you just won’t be able to get it changed', but that’s our job, we have to try. And then it did change because it didn’t make sense,” she said.

“It has changed, and this was work that I did that I am very pleased about. It just says that goods carriers, if they’re going to have child restraints, then they are not exempt from ADR34.”

The ADR34 rule comes into effect for utes from November but will only apply to new models, which presents a separate issue for law makers.

Given the typical lifecycle of a ute – about 10 years – the first candidate to qualify for ADR34 compliance will likely be the co-developed Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok due around 2021.

All car-makers will have until November 2022 before the ADR34 compliance becomes mandatory. Goodwin hopes the changes spark action sooner from car-makers to comply.

“Nobody understands their customers more than the vehicle brand,” he said.

“Don’t wait for someone to tell you to comply. If you wait for that to happen, you can miss the market. I urge the brands to constantly review what they’re doing

“If they can do a running change and make an improvement along the way, they should be doing that. With utes and vans, sometimes child occupation protection can be an afterthought, because that’s not what the vehicles are designed for.”

carsales.com.au has contacted Nissan and Toyota for comment.