NSW rego increase targets safer cars

The poor old NSW motorist has had a bumpy ride this past week thanks to a state government that has shown a clear lack of understanding about cars.

Earlier last week, the NSW government announced it planned to increase the registration fee by up to $30 on cars heavier than 975kg -- effectively covering all but a few new vehicles on sale -- to help it fund a $51.2 billion future public transport plan.

But the rego hike may unwittingly encourage drivers into smaller, older and less safe vehicles, experts fear.

And now, in a knee-jerk reaction to calls to make hybrid vehicles exempt from the rego increase, pollies have given a free-kick to a 2.5-tonne luxury hybrid 4WD which costs close to $100,000 and a hybrid limousine which costs $250,000.

Speaking about the rego increase, Lauchlan McIntosh, the chairman of the Australian independent crash test authority ANCAP, told the Carsales Network: "It would be deeply unfortunate if the increase in registration fees on heavier cars pushed people into less safe vehicles.

"A car's weight alone is not a surrogate for safety or the environment. It sounds like the government is trying to oversimplify a very complex issue… The government should be encouraging people into safer vehicles."

McIntosh said crash statistics show that 25 per cent of all road deaths could be prevented if the victims were in newer vehicles.

The best example of the silliness of the rego increase is the Nissan Micra hatch. The base model without side impact airbags weighs 965kg and so scrapes in under the rego increase. But the Nissan Micra City Collection (which comes with head-protecting side-impact curtain airbags) weighs 995kg and cops the rego hike.

"This is just silly," said McIntosh. "Anything that encourages green while sacrificing safety isn't very clever. You can have green as well as safety."

As an example, the Fiat 500, which comes with seven airbags and has a five-star crash safety rating, is exempt from the increase as the base model weighs only 930kg.

Said McIntosh: "It sounds like the government is confused. On the one hand they've tried to do the right thing and make hybrids exempt. But how is it that big heavy hybrids have made the list and other, small, safe efficient cars have not?"

An illustration of the latter hiccup is the Lexus RX450h hybrid 4WD, which consumes 6.4L/100km and emits 150g/km of C02. This vehicle is exempt from the rego increase -- but a Volkswagen Golf hatch which consumes less fuel and pumps out fewer emissions (6.3L/100km and 148g/km) gets slugged.

A spokesman for Fiat (the only brand with a five-star car for safety under the 975kg threshold), Edward Rowe, told the Carsales Network: "If the aim of this taxation method is to persuade people to chose a cleaner car, why not use as the basis of the tax the level of emissions that the vehicle emits?

"Using the weight of the vehicle is an imprecise and often misleading method of deciding a vehicle's emissions. For a start it penalises diesel, LPG and hybrid cars, all of which produce lower emissions, but also, all of which are usually heavier than their straight petrol counterparts," Rowe opined.

"For consumers, if weight is the deciding factor, it will be harder to check which tax bracket their cars fall into because they will have to search through brochures. Yet CO2 emissions are already displayed on the windscreen along with the fuel consumption on every new car placed in showrooms."

Rowe said research in Europe has already shown that a CO2 label, combined with appropriate taxation, motivates people to buy cleaner cars. He said under the state government's current proposal, some super-efficient cars would get slugged with the rego increase.

"For example, the new 1.3 Fiat 500 Convertible with stop start technology is not just the most economical car in the Fiat 500C range, it is also the heaviest and would -- just -- fall outside the 975kg threshold because of the weight of the very technology that makes it so clean."

The NSW opposition leader, Barry O'Farrell, accused the NSW Government of "making it up as it goes".

Meanwhile, the NSW motoring authority the NRMA weighed in to the argument saying that motorists in rural areas -- who also get caught by the proposed rego increases -- should not be paying for public transport infrastructure in the city.

Cars have become heavier over recent decades as the number of safety features have increased and the construction of the bodies have become stronger.

Examples of older cars which will be exempt from the rego increase include 1980s and early 1990s hatchbacks such as Hyundais, Suzukis, Mazdas, Ford Lasers and Daihatsus (and similar). They are light because they small -- but they also lack such basic safety features as anti-lock brakes and even a driver's airbag.

The state government's announcement to increase registration fees comes as NSW road deaths are up by 73 per cent in January 2010 compared with January 2009 (45 deaths versus 26 deaths for the same month last year), according to figures from the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, which collates the data.

According to a check by the Carsales Network, only six new cars are exempt from the rego increase, and in some cases the fitment of extra airbags have been enough to push a car over the 975kg threshold.

Some vehicles come tantalizingly close to being exempt, such as the Suzuki Swift, which eclipses the 975kg mark by just 5kg.

Light vehicles exempt from NSW rego increase:
- Suzuki Alto: 855-910kg
- Smart ForTwo: 750kg
- Smart ForTwo cabriolet: 780kg
- Fiat 500: 930kg
- Nissan Micra: 965kg
- Proton Savvy: 942kg

Light vehicles that cop the NSW rego increase:
- Suzuki Swift: 980kg
- Nissan Micra City Collection: 995kg
- Ford Fiesta: 1085kg
- Toyota Yaris: 1035kg
- Mini: 1065kg
- Holden Barina: 1135kg
- Hyundai Getz: 1097kg
- Kia Rio: 1170kg
- Honda Jazz: 1065kg
- Mazda2: 1004kg
- Mitsubishi Colt: 1050kg
- Proton Satria: 1147kg
- Proton S16: 1050kg

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