Skaife lashes out at 'time bombs'

Mark Skaife has had a bonnet fly up and over the windscreen. But the former V8 Supercar driver admits that at least he was in a "controlled environment" when the incident occurred.

All the vehicles around him during the Oran Park incident in 1995 were travelling in the same direction as his VR Commodore, whereas a bonnet unlatching at speed on the road can have "potentially fatal consequences."

"An incident out on the road, with oncoming traffic or in a high-speed situation, would be absolutely terrifying," he observed.

Skaife was addressing his remarks to the local media at Holden's Salmon Street Port Melbourne HQ today, as part of a joint presentation by Holden and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries concerning the vexed issue of non-genuine parts.

The FCAI has been fighting a long-standing battle against the importation of what it calls 'counterfeit parts' through its 'Genuine is Best' campaign. Holden has now joined that fight officially as a leading proponent for genuine parts.

Holden's involvement followed a pedestrian impact test run on Holden's behalf in mid-2016 by the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) in Adelaide. The test found substantial differences in risk using a non-genuine bonnet for the Commodore versus the genuine item. This prompted Holden to conduct its own in-house testing of non-genuine bonnets for Commodore.

A team of engineers carried out its own testing of the VF II Commodore's aluminium bonnet against two aftermarket bonnets – one aluminium and one, believe it or not, steel. The steel bonnet was so heavy that the gas strut couldn't support it in a raised position.

"The non-genuine hoods tested are demonstrably inferior," said Holden's Engineering Group Manager, Rowan Lal.

"Dangerous defects in the striker wire are present due to poor manufacturing processes and a hazardous lack of research and development on the materials used.

"The non-genuine striker wire failed our pull strength testing, with the wire's hardness falling dangerously below our design specifications.

"The hood slam testing we conducted, using our factory-specified cycles, indicated excessive wear and a sawing effect on the striker wire.

Normal road driving would rapidly exacerbate this wear rate. A significant potential exists for striker wire wear-through, striker wire separation from the hood assembly and a serious potential for the hood to fly open while driving."

Holden's Retail Channel Manager, Paula Hilditch, says that the non-genuine parts "would certainly be recalled if they were genuine parts."

But Skaife had the most compelling argument, in summation.

"Safety is the number one priority in our 'Genuine is Best' campaign," said in his final remarks.

"There is a potential drama – certainly a time bomb – on Australian roads.

"You save money in the short term, but we believe the risk in the long term is very, very high. For you and your family, that is clearly unacceptable.

"Australian drivers need to ask themselves if they would buy a car that they knew had been fitted with non-genuine parts... and more importantly, would they put their son, daughter, partner behind the wheel?"