Popular cars could be banned

According to a report obtained by Radio New Zealand, the government is considering banning cars that have a poor safety rating from entering the fleet. 

The proposed ban was one of the top five priorities set out by the Vehicle, Vehicle Standards and Certification Reference Group, one of five groups advising the government on its new road safety strategy which will replace Safer Journeys next year.

The government is also looking into accelerating the removal of unsafe cars from the current fleet.

Three of New Zealand’s top-selling vehicles come under the proposed ban; the Suzuki Swift, any Mazda Demio and Toyota Corollas built prior to 2008. 

The report said about 45 per cent of cars had a safety rating of one or two stars, and about 65 per cent of deaths and serious injuries on the road were in those cars.

MIA welcomes discussion on sensible actions on this matter

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) says it would welcome discussion on sensible policies to ban unsafe used vehicles from being imported into New Zealand.

MIA chief executive David Crawford says that for too many years now, New Zealand has been importing older unsafe vehicles that are not designed for New Zealand conditions.

“We have a huge number of used vehicles coming through our ports that do not meet modern safety standards of New Zealand-new vehicles.”
  
“ESC can reduce the risk of crashing due to loss of control by 30 per cent and has been hailed as the biggest step towards reducing serious injuries and fatalities since the compulsory wearing of seatbelts.  
 
“Despite this technology being in place for more than a decade now, New Zealand is still importing old unsafe vehicles without this important safety feature.
 
“We’ve effectively been a disposal bin for other countries’ old bangers for many years now.  Many of these vehicles have been at the end of their use-by dates in their country of origin.
 
“This effectively means our fleet is older, more unsafe and less fuel efficient than most other developed countries. It means that we’re paying the cost in terms of increased injuries and higher transport emissions.”

One vehicle importer says the proposed ban is “absolute nonsense”

"I don't know who's cooking this all up, but this is absolute nonsense,” Peter Johnson told Radio New Zealand. 

"You know, if we come back to the road toll, the road toll is more about driver error.

"As far as vehicles go, our vehicles have improved. If you go back 20 years ago, before Japanese imports, we had a lot of very unsafe cars on the road.

"But with the advent of Japanese imports, the cars became a lot safer, they had airbags, they've got power steering, air-conditioning, they're a lot better quality car.

Johnston also added that cars without Electronic Stability Control (ESC) will be banned from being imported from next year anyway, as part of the Safer Journeys strategy.

Mark Stockdale, the principal advisor of regulations at the AA, told Radio New Zealand the organisation supported the proposal but wanted other measures to be taken first.

"What we'd like to see first is actually the public to be better educated around the safety ratings of the existing fleet that we already have in New Zealand, so that people can make safer choices about the vehicles that are already on the market."

"You can have one that has a high safety rating, and one that has a low safety rating - regardless of the age and regardless of the price - and yet the public isn't very well informed about that.”

Click here to read Radio New Zealand’s full report.