Vic Roads: electronic stability control from 1 Jan 2011

[Kym Haines]

A Vic Roads ad in the Weekend Australia announces:

"From 1 Jan 2011 when new vehicles are first registered in Victoria, they must be fitted with electronic stability control."

Are other states also doing this?

Is this going to kill the kit-car industry? Or just make it a lot more difficult and expensive?

 

[Simon]

Typical of a governments (any governments) stupidity trying to protect it's own citizens from their own stupidity with no regard to the consequences. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before nobody apart from "major" companies are allowed to build vehicles.:furious:

Simon

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

A Vic Roads ad in the Weekend Australia announces:

"From 1 Jan 2011 when new vehicles are first registered in Victoria, they must be fitted with electronic stability control."

Are other states also doing this?

Is this going to kill the kit-car industry? Or just make it a lot more difficult and expensive?

I didn't read the article, surely they don't mean all vehicles? For instance some of the smart type so called Eco friendly cars they are so fond of dont have ESC.

 

[Kym Haines]

From VicRoads web site:

ESC mandatory from 1 January 2011 : VicRoads

there seems to be an exception that may cover kit cars ("Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle"):


Vehicles manufactured on or after 1 January 2011 (i.e. compliance plate is after 1 January 2011) are required to have a compliant system of Electronic Stability Control (ESC).

This ESC requirement applies to:

* Passenger cars - A passenger vehicle having up to nine seating positions, including the driver. This does not include an off-road passenger vehicle or a forward-control passenger vehicle.
* Forward-control passenger vehicles - A passenger vehicle having up to nine seating positions, including the driver, and in which the centre of the steering wheel is in the forward quarter of the vehicle’s total length. This does not include off road passenger vehicles.
* Off-road passenger vehicles - A passenger vehicle having up to nine seating positions, including the driver and being designed with special features for off-road operation.

This ESC requirement does not apply to:

* a motor vehicle that has been registered in another state or a territory of the Commonwealth for one year or more immediately before the motor vehicle is brought into Victoria
* a motor vehicle that is not manufactured or marketed in full volume for normal road use
* a vehicle registered as a Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle
* a model of motor vehicle that has been declared by VicRoads to be exempt.

For more details, refer to the Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2009.

The table below lists the vehicles that comply with, or are exempt from, the requirement to have a compliant ESC system. This list applies only to those makes and models with a compliance plate after 1 January 2011.

Make Model Variant ESC Status*
Nissan Tiida All Exempt
Nissan Patrol All Exempt
Toyota Yaris 1.3L Hatchback Exempt


* The ESC status applies only to those makes and models listed with a compliance plate after 1 January 2011. The ‘Exempt’ status means vehicle is not required to have ESC but is still eligible for registration. The ‘Certified’ status means the vehicle has ESC and is therefore eligible for registration.

 

[Trevor Booth]

The ADR applicable is 31/02.
Implementation date for new models is 1 Nov 2011

Implementation date for existing models is 1 Nov 2013

Vic roads appear to be jumping the gun.

 

[Brian Mc]

I love Australia (my wife is from Melbourne, Vic.), but I have to say they go way too far in the Big Brother direction. For instance, car frames can have only so much diagonal movement under stress. I have talked to some people there and they don't seem too exercised about about these silly rules. The bad part is that a perfectly safe car can be deemed unroadworthy by some bureaucrat that isn't an engineer. I saw an example of a car that was "clipped" (the rear half of the car welded to the front. It was a beautiful job that was stronger than the original car and some guy with a lab coat and a clipboard called it "a death trap".

 

[clive]

In another move, to be totally welcomed by the 40 community, the Vic Gov has also decided (passed the regulations) that as of Feb 2011, a system will be introduced whereby any replica of a vehicle 25 years or older (plus other more historics) will be eligible for up to 90 days per year unrestricted travel.

Vehicle has to be certified as roadworthy (by either club registrar or RWC), and a log book entry made prior to the days travel, but otherwise the road is yours.

As most of our 40's are externally virtually identical to any of the miriad 'production' originals, this may well mean that we are not required to meet the stringent emission ADR's, the main bugbear of building a fully registerable 40 down under.

Unfortunately Vic only at the moment. May need to find a Mexican address.

Clive