HVIA is excited to reveal we will be kicking off the first meeting for our new Heavy Vehicle Modifiers Working Group later this month.
The aim of this group is to review the current Heavy Vehicle Modification Scheme and identify key areas for improvement as well as current concerns or pinch points experienced by modifiers and operators when upgrading vehicles.
The first meeting will be held via Teams on Thursday, February 12 at 2:00pm Melbourne Eastern Standard Time.
Participation in these groups is open to any member, from any HVIA member organisation. To express interest in joining the group and receive a meeting invite, please contact HVIA Chief Engineer Rachel Michaud at r.michaud@hvia.asn.au.
A taster of the types of issues the working group may discuss is advocating for a consistent national approach to the requirements for Approved Vehicle Examiners (AVEs), which vary significantly by state.
In 2018, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) reported at an industry event that there was internal approval to commence a project to review AVE’s and harmonise the requirements for them. At the time, the regulator was liaising with the jurisdictions on a path forward. Since then, almost eight years later, there has been little progress or focus on this topic as no doubt other priorities have taken precedence.
HVIA members have also raised concerns about the lack of national register for modifications. This means, when searching for vehicle details in the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV), only the initial vehicle configuration details are available. Many workshops currently rely on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) systems alone or their own workshop databases or records to view critical vehicle details to obtain the most up-to-date information on vehicles.
In the past, stakeholders have suggested that an expansion of the current ROVER portal – the Federal Department of Infrastructure’s online portal for applications and approvals under the Road Vehicle Standards (RVS) legislation – could be expanded to include entries to the RAV for modifications. This may make the process for registering modifications more automated and streamlined as well as assist in audit control. This is something the group will seek feedback from members on.
The HVIA is also frequently receiving questions from members regarding what is considered a modification and when an AVE is required to sign off on upgrade work performed to a vehicle. There are concerns from members around operators not seeking approvals when they should and hence gaining a financial advantage through non-compliance, as well as the potential safety risk and implications if the modification is done incorrectly and not checked. We are keen to hear from members on how this topic could best be tackled moving forward.
Given this, the first task of the working group will be to receive feedback from members on the concerns around heavy vehicle modifications and formulate a submission to the NHVR. This submission will emphasise the importance of the topic and include recommendations on the next steps required to improve industry practice and the regulatory framework for heavy vehicle modifications.
If what happens in the aftermarket remains only an afterthought for our industry, compliant operators will continue to shoulder a disproportionate cost burden and, hence, safety on our roads will continue to suffer.
So please help us tackle this critical topic head-on by supporting HVIA’s new Vehicle Modifiers Working Group!