Not for the first time, Australia’s unique ‘design rules’ governing new vehicles have delayed the launch of a European safety innovation.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) report on the drive.com.au website, brake lights that flash rapidly during an emergency stop or when the pedal is pushed abruptly on the new Mercedes-Benx C-class – helping to prevent rear end crashes – are not available in Australia because of “bureaucratic red tape”.
The technology will be deleted on the right-hand-drive cars sent ‘down under’ because the system does not meet Australia’s “outdated regulations”, the SMH said.
The paper noted that the flashing brake light system, fitted as standard on some overseas models, warns following drivers that the car is stopping in a hurry. The car’s electronics measure how fast and hard a driver brakes before activating the flashing brake lights.
Similar technology is already featured on most BMW models sold here in the UK and just-auto recalls that BMW (GB) experienced delays when it first tried to introduce the technology here several years ago.
Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman Peter Fadeyev told the Sydney Morning Herald that the new C-class’ flashing rear brake light improves driver reaction time by 0.2 seconds while Mercedes calculates the quicker reaction will allow a driver to stop 4.4 metres (roughly 13 feet) sooner in a car travelling at 80km/h (50mph) and 5.5 metres (about 16 feet) in a car travelling 100km/h (60mph).
The unique Australian Design Rules have their origins in the late 1960s when, for example, they imposed minimum requirements for such things as dashboard crash padding and the areas cleared by windscreen wipers and heater/demister units. The steadily growing number of requirements over the years – extended to emissions controls and most safety equipment – have often been unique to Australia, which some industry observers saw as a discreet government move to protect the indigenous motor industry.
Over time, as the local manufacturers’ import tariff ‘protection’ has been removed and local CKD kit ended, many of the ‘ADRs’, as they are usually known, have been brought into line with standards overseas such as the EC and US federal rules. Nonetheless, over the years, various English and French cars assembled in Australia have had to have unique redesigned screen wiper systems and a rule banning fully-tinted windscreens (band tint only) once saw Renault having to ship unique cars to that sunny country with clear glass windscreens and tinted side glass while Citroen simply fitted clear glass all-round.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the local motor importers haven’t quite beaten the Canberra bureaucrats into submission: also missing from the new Australian-specification C-Class are headlights that automatically adjust their brightness according to conditions such as fog or unlit backroads or motorways.
This ‘intelligent light system’ detects ambient light and monitors speed and steering to determine the best lights for the conditions.
But Mercedes Australia’s Fadeyev told the paper his company cannot get approval for either of the safety aids from the federal Department of Transport and Regional Services in time for the C-Class’s launch in late July, and therefore the car will not be fitted with the systems.
The C-Class will also miss out on a system that drops the height of the suspension and allows the car to ‘hug’ the ground to improve fuel-efficiency at freeway speeds – again Mercedes has been told its ‘advanced agility system’, that lowers the car by 15 millimetres, breaches Australian design rules that mandate the height of a car’s headlights and its clearance from the ground.
Fadeyev told the SMH that Mercedes hopes to be able to fit and sell all three systems in Australia later this year once it gains formal European approval, opening the door to Australian acceptance.
Once the brake flashing light system gains Australian approval, it could be retrofitted to vehicles already sold here, he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
However, the department told the paper it knew of no impediments to Mercedes having adaptive headlights or adjustable suspension heights on the C-Class.
A spokesman told the paper he was ‘‘not aware of any issues’’ concerning the C-Class’s safety features other than the flashing brake lights, which were in breach of Australian design rules. ‘‘Other vehicles come herewith variable ride height and cornering lamps,’’ he was quoted as saying.
The report noted that Australia’s slow approval process for new technology has thwarted Mercedes-Benz before – it faced a 2-1/2-year wait before the Australian Communications and Media Authority last year gave its approval to allow the car maker to use a segment of the radio spectrum for its radar-assisted cruise control (called ‘Distronic-Plus’) for the range topping S-Class.
