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Apr 2010 - Towbar Test Failure Prompts New Call For Safety Rule Thousands of New Zealand motorists could be driving cars or light commercial vehicles fitted with “deadly” towbars just waiting to fail and cause an accident and possibly death. The claim was made after a 2000kg rated towbar that was supposedly manufactured to a New Zealand Standard failed in just 41 seconds at only 800kg towing load. Again it has prompted call from a leading automotive industry body to have the Government get tough on dangerous substandard towbar manufacturers and introduce new rules making towing much safer to protect all road users. Stephen de Kriek, CEO of Best Bars Limited, says it is time the Government recognised the potential threat of poorly made or wrongly fitted towbars. “Our research shows evidence of as many as 1500 substandard towbars are being fitted to New Zealand vehicles each year,” says Mr de Kriek. “The possibility of thousands of motorists towing their heavy boat trailer or caravan on public roads who are totally unaware of the dangers if their towbar gives way is frightening. These are towbars that are purported to be made to NZS 5467 (the New Zealand Standard waiting to be enacted) but they are made cheaply from thinner metals, poorly designed or fitted incorrectly. “This has been going on for years and the Government needs to act or more lives will be lost and many more people injured and lives lost.” Mr de Kriek was prompted to make the call after his company put two towbars made by another company through the Best Bars test rig at its Auckland factory, which was filmed by an independent party. Best Bars conducted the tests against its own towbars to illustrate the difference in design, materials and manufacturing capability. The rig simulates typical loads and actions on a vehicle-mounted towbar that is hitched to a 2-tonne trailer. Bought off-the-shelf and fitted as per the maker’s instructions the substandard towbar began to bend under the strain within a few seconds and failed completely in less than a minute, reaching no more than 800kg, well under the 2-tonne rating given by its manufacturer. The Best Bars towbar, which was filmed undergoing the identical test, went on to reach 3000kg, or at least 1.5 times the stated rating, which passes the NZS 5467 test protocol. “Imagine if that was a 2-tonne boat and trailer breaking away from a car on the open road at 100km/h and careering into a vehicle heading in the opposite direction,” adds Mr de Kriek. “This isn’t a case of me wanting another manufacturer’s products off the market – I am shocked that these bars failed so easily and am really concerned for myself, my family and other road users. These dangerous, substandard towbars are a ticking timebomb and I believe urgent action is needed to make sure that all new towbars fitted to vehicles in this country meet the minimum standard. The particular towbars tested originate from a company that claims to make towbars to the NZ Standard, clearly this is not the case. To make things worse they have agents around New Zealand selling and fitting potentially dangerous products on their behalf – with serious flaws unknown to the New Zealand public. As an industry leader I see it as my responsibility to raise this issue at the highest level, ensure the general public are aware of latent dangers and to ensure our industry is vetted for the sake of New Zealand road safety.” Mr de Kriek says the real issue is that the NZS 5467 standard was released in 1993 but never enacted by the Government of the day. Since then, politicians and officials have ignored calls for the standard to be made into law, claiming that there isn’t a major problem with towbars and the statistics on accidents caused by towing are inconclusive. “Statistics show that in 2008 there were nine deaths and 39 injuries directly connected to accidents related to towing, I would have thought those figures were justification enough,” adds Mr de Kriek. He has written to the New Zealand Transport Agency, asking them to view the film footage of the tests and kick-start the process of putting NZS 5467 into legislation. Best Bars has also provided the test data and footage to the NZ Automobile Association, insurance companies and motor vehicle manufacturers so that they are aware of discrepancies in towbar quality in the local market. Mr de Kriek adds: “New vehicle distributore are held accountable for their vehicle safety and yet in New Zealand the automotive accessory and aftermarket industry appears to be allowed to get away with anything it likes.” He says that motorists who want to be sure of purchasing a quality towbar guaranteed to perform should talk to a franchised vehicle dealer and request approved accessories. Best Bars has uploaded the towbar test comparison to YouTube so that the public can see how they performed. The video can be found on our Youtube profile