Eighty-four per cent of quad bikes assessed by Australia’s consumer law regulators were compliant with the first stage of a new national safety standard that came into force in October last year, new figures from the ACCC reveal.
All new and imported second hand quad bikes sold in Australia must now meet the first stage of the government’s mandatory safety standard after it came into effect on 11 October.
In the first six months of 2020, 14 people, including three children, have died in quad bike-related accidents in Australia, compared to eight in the whole of last year. Seven of this year’s fatalities have been in Queensland.
Since 2011, 136 people have died as a result of quad bike accidents, while thousands more have been seriously injured, and the ACCC is urging people to be vigilant about safety when using quad bikes and side-by-side vehicles (SSV) this summer.
The ACCC has proposed major changes to improve the safety of quad bikes, including the introduction of a safety rating system, crush protection devices and mandatory minimum performance standards.
Chairman Rod Sims today announced the ACCC’s product safety priorities for 2018 at the National Consumer Congress in Sydney, and reaffirmed support for a general safety provision to be introduced in Australia law to reduce the risk of unsafe goods entering the market.
Quad bikes riders and industry can make a submission to the ACCC’s quad bike safety investigation, with proposed reforms outlined in an Issues Paper released today.
The Minister for Small Business, the Honourable Michael McCormack, has published a Safety Warning Notice on certain models of Polaris youth quad bikes supplied into Australia between 2000 and 2017.
Australian quad bike supplier Polaris has notified the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of a recall of 12 models in its ‘youth’ range of quad bikes due to the presence of asbestos in component parts.
