Yamaha has joined its fellow Japanese company Honda in threatening to withdraw its quad bikes from sale in Australia, if the next Federal Government makes operator (rollover) protection devices mandatory.
The threat follows last month’s Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommendation to the Federal Government that all quad bikes be fitted with OPDs, plus a range of other safety measures.
Yamaha marketing manager Sean Goldhawk said the company would withdraw its top selling quad bikes from the Australian market if the ACCC’s draft standard became law.
“We will exit the ATV business if these proposals go through unchanged,” Mr. Goldhawk said.
“Our engineers will not modify bikes, based on flimsy science.
There’s no safety standard for these OPDs. They (engineers) are not going to make changes without rigorous testing.”
Honda Motorcycle & Power Equipment managing director Robert Toscano said yesterday that the firm “won’t fit devices to our ATVs (quad bikes) that real world studies have shown do not improve safety.”
Honda stated it had told the ACCC many times the Japanese automotive giant would not change the design of an ATV where the safety benefits of the change are unknown.
“Honda won’t risk customers’ lives. Of significant concern to Honda is the requirement to fit an aftermarket OPD, or similar in-house design.”
The ACCC’s recommendations followed almost 18 months of deliberations, industry consultation and 119 submissions.
But Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert ducked adopting the consumer watchdog’s recommendations in the lead-up to the federal election, by announcing yet another round of public consultation that would not be completed until at least June 10, well after the May 18 election.
The ACCC also called for the:
- Adoption of U.S. and European standards on quad bike longitudinal and lateral stability
- Rollover warning hang tags to be placed on all quad bikes, stating at what angle the quad could tilt onto two wheels.
The ACCC wants Operator Protection Devices—Quadbars and ATV Lifeguards—fitted to all general-use quad bikes, with manufacturers given the option of producing their own to a similar standard within.
Ten people died on ATVs in Australia last year.
