The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a reminder that the second stage of the Quad Bike Safety Standard will commence in October 2021.
According to the ACCC, quad bikes are a leading cause of death and serious injuries on Australian farms. In the past decade, 163 people have died in quad bike-related incidents, three of which have occurred this year.
Introduced in 2019, the Quad Bike Safety Standard aims to improve quad bike safety. It was introduced in two stages to provide manufacturers time to make necessary adjustments to quad bikes.
Commencing on October 11, the second stage of the Quad Bike Safety Standard requires all new and second-hand imported general use quad bikes sold in Australia to be fitted with operator protection devices and meet minimum stability requirements.
“The second stage requirements are absolutely critical for improving the safety of quad bikes and saving lives,” said ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh. “Suppliers have had plenty of time to make sure that all new quad bikes for sale meet all requirements of the Safety Standard. We will be conducting national surveillance again this year and cracking down on anyone supplying non-compliant quad bikes.”
The first stage of the Quad Bike Safety, which came into force in October 2020, required new and imported second-hand quad bikes sold in Australia to be tested for lateral static stability and have a hang tag showing the angle at which they tip onto two wheels and carry a rollover warning label. In addition, the owner's manual must include rollover safety information.
The ACCC and state and territory consumer protection agencies have coordinated national market surveillance to determine whether quad bike suppliers have complied with the stage 1 requirements of the Quad Bike Safety Standard – and found that 84% of quad bikes assessed by Australia's consumer law regulators complied with the first stage.
“In partnership with the states and territories, we have visited quad bike dealerships around the country to see if quad bikes being sold meet the stage 1 safety requirements,” Keogh said. “Although 16% of quad bikes inspected, or roughly one in six, were not compliant with the safety standard, suppliers have so far co-operated with our investigations and taken steps to fix problems, including recalling non-compliant bikes where necessary.”
