Am I missing something?
Can someone tell me what the legal limit is now and the proposed height for a LX Torana for example?
new suspension modification laws for NSW
Started by
_MYLJ_
, Jul 16 2009 03:10 PM
30 replies to this topic
#26
TerrA LX
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Posted 24 July 2009 - 09:46 AM
#27
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Posted 24 July 2009 - 10:32 AM
I can not even begin to describe how much of a joke the current premier is......a truely clueless wanker. These laws are just another demonstration that we infact don't live in a democracy........
#28
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Posted 25 July 2009 - 09:47 PM
PRESS RELEASE
AAAA: New NSW Government suspension regulations a farce
In an attempt to hamper modifications made by �car hoons�, on 16 July the NSW Minister for Roads Michael Daley announced changes in regulation that will cause havoc for both the automotive industry and thousands of drivers on NSW roads with minor, currently legal suspension modifications.
The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) is outraged by this poorly conceived new regulation. The AAAA is the national industry association representing over 1250 manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers of automotive parts and accessories, tools and equipment.
The Minister announced the new regulation in a media statement headed �Tough new rules for car hoons� and said the regulation will take effect from 1 August 2009. The regulation will mean that virtually all suspension modifications and wheel and tyre upgrades will require certification by authorised engineers.
AAAA Executive Director Stuart Charity said this announcement shocked both the industry and driver groups alike. �The industry has worked closely with governments nationally for many years to develop and promote vehicle modification guidelines designed to meet appropriate road safety requirements,� said Stuart Charity. �The industry is alarmed at this unilateral and unreasonable announcement.
�Neither the industry nor key driver advocacy groups have been consulted regarding this new regulation. No consideration has been taken of the impact that this proposed regulation will have on the wide range of road using industries that must make suspension modifications to their vehicles to improve safety and load carrying capability. Among these roads users are the building, construction, mining and rural industries.
�In addition, there are thousands of private vehicle owners that make suspension modifications to tow their animals, boats and caravans, or simply to improve vehicle handling across a range of driving conditions,� he said.
Unproven assumptions
Stuart Charity said the Minister, or his advisors, made untrue assumptions about the facts of suspension modification and in the language used to announce this proposal.
�Firstly � and unbelievably � they assumed that if you modify the suspension on your vehicle, you are a �car hoon�. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that this is fact. Recent AAAA research actually revealed that about 80% of the end users of modified suspension are aged between 26 and 49 years of age. Owners of 4WD vehicles are one of the largest groups making aftermarket suspension modifications and 66% of them are aged between 36 and 49 years. So, the major users of aftermarket suspension modifications are not the 18 to 25 years old high risk group. We also know that �hoon drivers� are only a small portion of the 18 to 25 years old group.
�Secondly, they assumed that if suspension modifications are tougher to access, then there will be less hoon behaviour on NSW roads. The reality is that those who behave illegally on the road are also likely to make illegal suspension alterations.
�A third issue is many of the modifications outlined in the Minister�s press release that will require engineering approval, are legal in every other state in Australia, making this �NSW only� scenario unworkable.
�Finally, the automotive aftermarket industry is totally dismayed at the arrogance exhibited by this announcement. This industry has an annual turnover of $5 billion, exports of $600 million and employs 30,000 people. In NSW, the AAAA membership is 400 companies employing 8,000 people. The AAAA enjoys close working relationships with NSW Government organisations, including the Road Transport Authority, which appears to have ignored an independent engineers report on the improved safety performance of suspension lift modifications submitted in June 2009.
�Given that the automotive aftermarket invests significant resources to ensure that road safety is paramount in the design, engineering and performance of aftermarket products, it is impossible to understand how the industry�s long term contribution could be ignored on this occasion.
�The real issue is that in trying to target �car hoons�, the NSW Minister has attacked the wrong �cause�. Hoon driving is a driver behaviour issue. It is not a vehicle suspension issue, or even a vehicle modification issue.
�We call on the Minister to immediately withdraw this ill-conceived, unworkable regulation and to engage in appropriate stakeholder consultation with a view to developing common sense laws that have the support of key industry and driver groups,� said Stuart Charity
notice how they say "car hoons" thats crap!
so any car enthusiest that lowers their car and improves their suspendsion is automatically a hoon?
#29
_Yella SLuR_
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Posted 25 July 2009 - 10:16 PM
Requested for circulation amongst car enthusiasts:
Note that the same rule has been adopted in the ACT unaltered. I don't know what other states are considering the same rules.
To: [email protected]; [email protected];
Dear Mr Daley
Vehicle Standards Information 50, Raising and Lowering Vehicles
I am writing to you regarding your press release on the 16th of July and the release of VSI 50 on the RTA website on the 17th of July.
Apparently, according to your press release and this new standard, I am a hoon. However I have never even attempted a burnout or have the behavior of a "hoon". Yet now, since I own a car with modified suspension, I am now a "hoon". My car was modified legally three years ago, and met all required laws for registration and insurance. Yet now, with only two weeks warning, my car may or may not be legal if I wish to modify "improve" more.
I own a four wheel drive with engineered lift, back in the Newcastle floods I saved the lives of many people including children and Ambulance officers, this would not of been possible in a 50mm lifted car. I've recued eight people (six with a disability & two staff) from the Watagan Mountains late one night in the pouring down rain after the emergency services & NRMA refused to help. I've rescued two men that had been stuck in a unmodified Nissan Patrol for thee days in the bush. Is this "hoon" behavior? This is some of so many cases where a properly engineered/modified car is safer than a factory car.
I take great offence at being labeled a hoon. I do not have a criminal record, I pay my taxes and follow the laws. I work as a Community Support Worker and currently studying to be an engineer and come from a family that traditionally votes Labor. However, this new standard, and the direct and poorly managed impact it has had on me, has caused me to re-think my voting decision come the next state election as will my family.
I have a number of questions regarding this new standard, and how it affects me. I have tried calling the RTA, they could not answer my questions and have a number of questions themselves that need answering. I tried calling my insurer AAMI to see how my insurance will be affected after the 31st of July, and they could not give me a definite answer either.
1. What statistics do you have that proves lowered or raised vehicles are over-represented in vehicle accidents in NSW?
2. Have you consulted with insurance companies to determine the impact on policy holders? My insurer cannot tell me if my car will be insured after the 31st without an engineer�s certificate. This is completely unacceptable.
3. I called your office to enquire about VSI 50 and your staff hung up on me. Why? The RTA cannot answer my questions, so hopefully your office can.
4. Have you consulted properly with the industry groups that will be affected by this? From my reading the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association has not been informed of these changes. They employ real people in real jobs, Mr Daley. In this economic climate the government should be doing everything in its power to protect jobs, not endanger them with rushed policy. Many of these companies invest thousands of dollars to ensure that their products are engineered and constructed according to all relevant standards. Yet you somehow feel that your judgment of 50mm is correct, based on no real time evidence?
5. If this standard is implemented, who is required to prove if a vehicle has been modified before the 31st of July 2009? Is it up to me to find a receipt for work done 2 years ago, or is it up to the RTA or the police to prove it was done after the 1st August? The best the RTA could tell me was �if it looks older than two years old due to wear and tear�. They also could not tell me who is responsible for providing proof. This is not acceptable, the VSI 50 should have answers but it lacks information.
6. Have you consulted with any stakeholders what so ever prior to this announcement? To me it is clear that insurance companies, component manufacturers, hotrod federation, four wheel drive groups, car clubs, even the RTA itself have not been consulted at all.
7. Do you feel it is even possible to have every car with modified suspension in the state either engineered or returned to standard within the next 10 days? Especially considering the complete lack of communication to the public.
8. Is the NSW government going to offer a buyback scheme for those who have already invested thousands of dollars ensuring that their suspension is roadworthy and engineered in the 50-150mm bracket? These people, who have followed the law to the letter and spend thousands doing so, are they to be left in the cold due to these changes?
9. Is the NSW government going to offer subsidized engineering to those whose suspension falls within the 0-50mm bracket that previously didn't require engineering?
10. Have you investigated the effect that this law will have on remote communities which require tourism from the 4WD community to survive?
11. Why have RTA approved engineering signatories been told by the RTA that all work after the 17th of July is invalid? Is this to prevent those who have already spent thousands from registering their vehicles under the old law?
12. How will police enforce these rules? Will every officer be issued with a tape measure and a book stating the height of vehicles as specified by the manufacturer? I'm sure they have other ways to spend their time like stopping real crimes.
13. What about so-called �dealer specials�, cars that have been modified by car dealers to sell them? They are not how the manufacturer supplied them, yet there are many on the roads and for sale in car-yards today. Not to mention ex-highway patrol cars bought at auction from the NSW government with lowered suspension. Will these cars also be illegal after July 31st?
14. What about new car manufactures? Were they informed as 4 new cars on the market don't meet the VSI 50 in standard factory trim.
15. Can you Mr Daley provide details of events where raised cars were the cause of the accident? If raised/lowered cars have been the major cause of accidents were they ALL engineered? I personally don't think so, so why make everyone suffer because irresponsible people don't consult with an engineer for their modifications.
The modified car and four wheel drive community is not a group of 17 year old P-Platters driving around in 15 year old commodores with cut springs, Mr Daley. Yet somehow you have swept everyone into the same group. Our community is diverse. From those with properly lowered cars to improve handling and braking, to people with raised four wheel drives to explore our country safely and sustain local tourism. The so-called �Grey Nomads�, retirees who have raised suspension to safely tow caravans across the country and enjoy their twilight years. From young men and women in the city, to farmers in the country. All of these people will be affected.
These groups create and support charity events and community. The Annual NSW Variety Bash, the children�s charity. Volunteer 4WD enthusiasts who maintain fire trails and clean up rubbish in our bushland. Countless classic and modern car clubs across the state who raise money for charity and support local communities by setting up car shows to increase tourism. All of these will be affected by your poorly conceived, unrealistic laws.
Mr Daley, please withdraw your statement labeling all those with modified suspension as hoons, it is offensive and discriminatory. Please remove the changes outlined in VSI 50, it is unrealistic, unfair, unplanned and uncontrollable. It clearly has not been thought out properly, it is simply an act to appear like this government is actually doing something.
How about the NSW government focuses on real problems, such as the recession, the criminal way in which swine flu is being handled in our hospitals (I know first hand!), public transport, housing affordability, homelessness, traffic congestion, and crime, just to name a few. Not putting on useless band-aid solutions on problems that don't exist, and can cost people their jobs, in a recession, just so that the cardigan brigade thinks the government is actually doing something.
I look forward to a personal response from you, Mr Daley. Not an automated reply from your office staff. Also from anyone else who receives a copy and wishes to respond with some answers I would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Daniel Bevear
Abermain, NSW
Note that the same rule has been adopted in the ACT unaltered. I don't know what other states are considering the same rules.
#30
enderwigginau
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Posted 27 July 2009 - 12:18 PM
DJ,
the 2+1 rule only applies where it is within the vehicle manufacturers specifications.
Many donot have 3 inches allowance.
Note many older 4WDs don't have a published upper suspension limit, therefore no height increase is allowable.
Grant..
the 2+1 rule only applies where it is within the vehicle manufacturers specifications.
Many donot have 3 inches allowance.
Note many older 4WDs don't have a published upper suspension limit, therefore no height increase is allowable.
Grant..
#31
_torana_umunga74_
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Posted 27 July 2009 - 12:53 PM
i asked a cop the other day he said if the car looks rediculous he gets a tape out and under 6 inches its a warning or a sticker and if he catches air bags doin the pump and drop thing or dragging he books them, but he knew nothing about new laws for all raising and lowering. obviously recieving all the training he needs sometime next week?
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