This week HVIA and its members lodged a submission with the Vehicle Consultative Standards Forum (VCSF) on heavy vehicle and trailer status lights and displays. The final submission can be found here.
Late in 2025, it became clear to HVIA that outdated Australian lighting regulations for heavy vehicles provided very little guidance for fitment of external, illuminated status lights and displays on heavy vehicles and combinations. At this time, HVIA called out to members to provide feedback which resulted in an overwhelming response from industry, many of whom have contributed to the final submission.
The definition provided in our first article was quite narrow, only focusing on trailers and lights. This has since been expanded to heavy vehicles and trailers as well as lights and displays. The list of impacted systems expanded from five to nine with acknowledgement that more systems may exist and be affected. The final list included:
> Trailer electronic braking systems (TEBS);
> Refrigerated units;
> Battery systems;
> Reversing assistance systems;
> On-board mass systems;
> Tyre pressure monitoring systems;
> Fifth wheels;
> Tarp covers;
> Telematics trackers; and
> Other systems not yet identified as applicable.
HVIA’s submission states, “The fitment of status lights and/or displays on each trailer and/or heavy vehicle, adjacent to the equipment they relate to, allows for quick diagnosis of functional issues with critical hardware and can immediately inform the driver, or any trained observer, of a potentially hazardous situation or health and safety issue, prior to the commencement of a trip. This allows an opportunity to rectify the issue, modify the operation to reduce risk, or arrange for maintenance.”
Whilst the topic had been brought up for some time, industry felt the pain when the new Performance Based Standards regulations (PBS) for Directional Stability Under Braking (DSUB) were released. These standards mandated a device/s fitted to show Electronic Braking System (EBS) units are connected, powered on, and provide system fault status, but could not explicitly list trailer EBS status lights as an example for compliance due to ambiguity in the current Australian Design Rule (ADR 13/00) around their fitment.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) thankfully agreed to word the requirements such that status lights could be utilised in future but agreed that further work was required to clarify a compliant fitment pathway. This clearly highlighted that ADR 13 must be updated sooner rather than later to include provisions for these safety focused solutions which are easy for operators to work with and understand.
By way of background, ADR 13/00 has had only minor updates since its release more than 20 years ago in 2005 and is well overdue for a significant review. The Australian Government has formally announced this review, however, HVIA is advised that an introduction of new lighting ADRs 101/00-104/00 will take priority, with topics like status lights and displays being the secondary priority.
This submission informs government stakeholders that HVIA considers this topic a priority for lighting and that we are willing to work together to find a workable solution sooner as a matter of priority.
The good news is, in the background, HVIA has been already working with both the government and regulator to help them understand this topic. Discussions to date look promising that both an interim and long-term solution for can be carved out and set in motion in 2026.
To further progress, HVIA and its members are currently putting together a proposed draft specification sheet for status lights and displays which we will work on with the department moving forward. We acknowledge that limits and guidelines should be in place to ensure our vehicles are not creating confusion or unnecessary distraction to other road users, but also that heavy vehicle operators can get critical safety information in a simple and easy way.
A big thank you to all our members who contributed to this submission and continue to do so.